Annika Sorenstam

Annika Sorenstam, the world’s leading women’s golfer, began 2006 as she finished 2005, in unstoppable form on the golf course. Partnering her fellow countrywoman Liselotte Neumann, she secured a three-stroke victory for Sweden in January at the Women's World Cup of Golf at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City, South Africa.

Sorenstam’s record in 2005 was stunning. She won ten of the 20 tournaments she entered, including two major championships – the Kraft Nabisco and the McDonald’s LPGA – her eighth and ninth majors. She also won the Player of the Year Award for a record eighth time, she became the first woman to pass US$18 million prize money. To complete her golden year she won her own tournament, the Scandinavian TPC at Barseb?ck in Sweden.

It was another fantastic 12 months for the 2004 Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year. She has more tournament wins than any other golfer over the past four seasons and victory only seems to build in her a thirst for more. Sorenstam captured her first LPGA Tour victory at the 1995 US Women's Open and she has not stopped winning since. The Swede collected more LPGA titles than any golfer in the 1990s (18) and in 2002 joined Mickey Wright as the only players in LPGA history to win 11 times in a season.

Sorenstam is the holder of numerous LPGA records, including the lowest round in LPGA history (59). By winning the LPGA Championship and Women's British Open in 2003, she became the sixth woman to complete the career grand slam. This is the fifth consecutive year in which she has been nominated for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award.