ASSOCIATED PRESS Hawaii's Michelle Wie has only finished outside of the top 20 once in her last nine LPGA tournaments.

Sorenstam charges
back to win

Honolulu teen Michelle Wie shoots
a final-round 71 to tie for 12th at
the LPGA event

SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, Ariz. » Annika Sorenstam has rallied to win in the final round 19 times.

She just couldn't recall many in more dramatic fashion than her repeat victory in the Safeway International yesterday.

Sorenstam nailed a 4-wood second shot onto the green on the par-5 18th hole, made up the final shot of her comeback and forced a playoff with her birdie putt, then beat Lorena Ochoa with a par on the first extra hole.

"This is in the top three, for sure," said Sorenstam, who won her fourth straight LPGA Tour start. "Again, carrying 217 (yards), with the wind here, it was on the edge. I had to take a chance, I really did, and I think it just carried by inches."

Sorenstam made up four strokes in the last three holes and improved to 14-5 in playoffs. Ochoa was in her first playoff.

The victory - Sorenstam's career 58th - was her second in two tournaments this year and the sixth in her last eight.

She finished with a 2-under 70 to match Ochoa (74) at 11-under 277.

Juli Inkster (72) and Soo-Yun Kang (76) tied for third at 8 under.

Liselotte Neumann (71) and Rosie Jones (72) were a shot back, with Michele Redman seventh at 6 under after an impressive 67 on a blustery day.

Hawaii's Michelle Wie shot a 71 to tie for 12th. Also in her group at 4 under were Jennifer Rosales (70), the winner in Hawaii last month, and Siew-Ai Lim (74), who shared the first-round lead with Ochoa.

Sorenstam, the four-time LPGA player of the year and scoring record-setter, won her season debut in Mexico City two weeks ago, dashing the 23-year-old Ochoa's dream of a victory in her native land. It was more of the same this time, but with a twist.

Ochoa overcame three bogeys in the first six holes with three birdies in four holes midway through the round and was 14 under to Sorenstam's 10 under after birdieing the 15th hole.

But it was a train wreck after that for the rising Mexican star, who won twice last year and had 16 other top-10 finishes, winding up third on the money list behind Sorenstam and Grace Park.

"I saw Lorena climbing the leaderboard with more and more birdies, and I was trying really hard, but I couldn't make any birdies," Sorenstam said. "And it wasn't until the 16th that I heard that she double-bogeyed, and then 18, I realized, 'There's a big chance here.' "

Ochoa double-bogeyed the 16th hole for the second time in two days and two-putted from 7 feet for a bogey on the 17th.

She said she didn't fear No. 16, a 412-yard par 4, despite having lost three shots to par there in three previous rounds. But she drove into a fairway bunker, barely got her sand wedge over a transition area and three-putted from 15 feet.

"Even when I was putting for par, I just thought, 'Make two putts and let's get out of here,' " Ochoa said. "I wasn't even trying to make the putt too hard. But, I guess, too much adrenaline and just, you know, everything happened so quick."

Sorenstam took advantage, lofting her 4-wood within 22 feet, and two-putted for the tap-in birdie. Ochoa, playing in the last group with Kang, had the green to herself because Kang dunked an eagle on the fly to improve her paycheck.

Ochoa lined up an 8-footer for birdie while Sorenstam watched, but just missed, and both went back to the 18th tee for the playoff.

Ochoa put her tee shot in a long, narrow lake on the Prospector Course's only water hole, and the conclusion was never in doubt from there. Sorenstam was pin-high with her second shot again, sent a 25-yard chip across the green to within 7 feet and two-putted for par.

Ochoa didn't even putt after her attempt to save par with a chip from short grass left of the cup went 5 feet past, conceding Sorenstam's victory.

"I'm pretty upset, but I'm going to try not to be too hard on myself," Ochoa said. "I'm going to try to learn from this. You know, Annika is the best player in the world, and hopefully I come back next week."