MICHAEL DARDEN / WEST HAWAII TODAY Annika Sorenstam beat Lorie Kane with a birdie putt on the first playoff hole to win the Takefuji Classic on the Big Island yesterday. Sorenstam shot a three-day total of 14-under 196.

Sorenstam slams
door on Takefuji

Lorie Kane misses her chance
to beat the LPGA's best
when a putt rims out

---

By Kalani Simpson
ksimpson@starbulletin.com

WAIKOLOA, Hawaii >> And yesterday, we saw Annika Sorenstam.

This is a different game with pressure, isn't it? There were no eye-popping scores this time around. There were no 9-unders for the day. On Friday, the leader was 13-under. Yesterday, the winner improved on that by just a single stroke. But somehow, yesterday, the action got hotter just the same.

And Sorenstam, the biggest name in women's golf, made a back nine charge that included four birdie putts, three of them between 18 and 28 feet, to force a sudden-death playoff. There, she set up a 4-foot birdie putt to win the 2002 LPGA Takefuji Classic. It was classic Sorenstam.

"She is where she is," runner-up Lorie Kane said. "And I just assume top players ... will rise to the occasion. There's never a doubt in my mind. You have to assume that they're going to hole every shot. Because that's how they've gotten to where they are."

Sorenstam had started the tournament slowly -- by her standards. Her game wasn't quite there, thanks to a dearth of practice time, so Sorenstam figured out what her deficiencies were, and went with them. She tailored her strategy around the fade she was playing with, relying only on a sharp short game, and still scored well. She was in third place to start the final round, and was three back for much of the day.

But yesterday, on the back nine, the real Annika arrived.

"Sooner or later she's going to have to make something," Kane said. "And she did."

It was Sorenstam's 32nd career win, her 11th via playoff and 11th come-from-behind victory. And after finishing second at the Takefuji the last two years, she finally had broken through in this tournament as well.

"What can I say?" she said. "I'm overwhelmed. I'm just super happy."

She was a mere 4-under on the day, but it was a clutch 4-under. She finished at 14-under, 34-32-66 on the day, a three-day total of 196.

And on the playoff hole, she set up her short birdie with a sweet sand wedge from 81 yards out.

"Annika laid up to a yardage that she is just deadly at," Kane said.

But it was on the back nine that Sorenstam was at her best. Her stroke was coming back to her.

"It was really sweet," she said. "It came off the face and I knew it was good. It was one of those feelings that you just love."

On 18, however, she was mortal again, missing a birdie putt to leave victory on the table. Kane had one more shot to win it, and her 20-foot birdie attempt from the fringe looked as if it would break true.

But Kane's hop of joy turned into one of frustration in mid-air when the ball barely lipped around the cup.

"It hit almost all of the hole," Kane said. But it didn't go down.

And Kane, last year's champion, ended regulation play 63-66-196, 14-under par.

It was then into sudden death, where Sorenstam, now 11-3 in playoffs, has been an overwhelming favorite.

And Kane, who made just one bogey over the course of the tournament, had to swallow being second to the best player in the world.