Annika Sorenstam Returns to Colonial 20 Years After Historic Tournament Rounds

Annika Sorenstam recalled on Tuesday the moments — and anxiety — in the run up to her historic first tee shot at the 2003 Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial, then known as something else altogether.

She was on the putting green with her caddie as the crowds swelled to see the first woman in nearly 60 years to play at a PGA Tour event. It was a mass of humanity tantamount to a tsunami at Hogan’s Alley.

The native Swede was after all the best women’s player going in the world — probably ever —facing off with the venerable Colonial layout of innovator Marvin Leonard, playing from the tips with a field of some of the world’s best men’s competitors. This was the ultimate "what-if" reality TV sporting event in perhaps the history of ever, if there is such a thing. 

“About 15 minutes before [teeing off] I turned to my caddie [Terry McNamara] and said, ‘What have we gotten ourselves into?’ And he looked at me, he said, ‘It's a little too late [to think about that].’”

Sorenstam’s sponsor’s exemption into the Charles Schwab made history, as well as headlines. Her participation generated immense worldwide attention and scrutiny, which manifested in some controversy — the good Lord knows what kind of hot potato the topic would have been on social media, then, thankfully, only in its nursery age — but overwhelming approval and support. The most notable critic was Vijay Singh, that year’s Byron Nelson champion, who pulled out of the tournament because of Sorenstam’s presence.

There is no record of anyone missing him. There is, however, well-documented history of what happened here.

On Tuesday, in a packed ballroom, Sorenstam, 52, returned to Colonial on the 20^th anniversary of her appearance here as the very special guest of the Charles Schwab Challenge Executive Women’s Day luncheon. She did an hourlong Q&A with emcee Deborah Ferguson, host of NBC 5 Today, the weekday morning program that begins at the unconscionable hour of 4:30 a.m.

As part of the proceedings, Executive Women’s Day and Fort Worth Colonial Charities presented checks to Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County and The Women’s Center of Tarrant County in the amounts of $40,000 and $35,000, respectively, a result of an ambitious fundraising campaign, “Help A Sister Out.”

Meanwhile, Sorenstam, a Hall of Fame, 10-time major winner, was presented with an honorary membership to Colonial Country Club. That’s something previously bestowed on 15 others, including Ben Hogan, Ben Crenshaw, Jack Nicklaus, and Arnold Palmer, to name a very select few.

Julie Butner, chair of the Executive Women’s Day, joked that unlike in 2003 when Sorenstam entered Colonial through the delivery entrance, she could now enter through the front door.  

Sorenstam is the founder of the ANNIKA Foundation, which hosts tournaments for girls in more than 60 countries, and a spokeswoman for a number of corporate entities. An “entrepreneur by spirit,” Sorenstam and her husband Mike McGee, the parents of a 12- and 13-year-old, recently launched Fizzy Beez, ready-to-drink cocktails sweetened with a touch of organic honey. (She’s looking for a distributor in Texas, by the way.)

"I think she handled herself really well," said Marty Leonard, who added that she believed her father, Marvin Leonard, would have approved of Sorenstam's exemption. "I think he would think it was a good idea, too. He was pretty much a forward thinker, for sure."

Sorenstam has called the experience at Colonial life-changing, despite not making the cut after rounds of 71 and 74, an even-par 145, the same two-round total of playing partner Aaron Barber, a rookie on the PGA Tour, as was the third member of the group, Dean Wilson.

“We were on the putting green and that's when I turned to my caddy and said, ‘Hey, what have we got ourselves into?’ But then when we walked down to the first tee, Aaron put his arm around me and he said, ‘Let's do this together,’” Sorenstam said. “I mean, they felt like my brothers. I only met him for a few minutes, but they were just super encouraging. They were nervous, I was nervous, we didn't know what to do.”

Sorenstam was the No. 1 women's player in the world at the beginning of 2003 and had just won another tournament. While Tiger Woods was doing his thing in the men's game, Annika was doing hers. During a press conference, a journalist asked her if she would ever consider playing with the men.

“I didn’t hesitate,” she recalled. “I said, ‘sure, why not?’ We left the press conference and my agent at the time said, ‘Do you have any idea what you just said in there?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I'm gonna compete against the men.”

She chose Colonial over other invitations because the course fit her abilities better than others. Colonial isn’t so much about distance, but about accuracy, control, and strategy, which "has always been my strength."

“Knowing I'm gonna play against the men who hit it miles past me, I wanted to make sure that it was more about putting the ball in the right place.”

Sorenstam didn’t play Colonial to make history, which makes itself, of course. Sorenstam, who flashed a great sense of humor — the best news with “playing here was I had the lady’s locker room all to myself” — described herself as shy growing up. So much so that she would purposely lose tournaments in her youth, so she wouldn’t have to make an obligatory speech afterward. She balanced that bashfulness with an inherent competitiveness that would one day dominate the women’s game like no other.

The center stage and public eye were not her objectives. No, Colonial was always about challenging herself.

“Can I play under this pressure? Can I be under the microscope? How does my game stand up and what can I learn?” Sorenstam said. “Was I ever comfortable? No. I didn't really know what to expect, but I decided to do it because I wanted to get better.

“I wanted to reach my full potential.”