`DREAM COME TRUE': SORENSTAM REPEATS.

Byline: Ron Sirak Associated Press

Annika Sorenstam's stomach was doing flips when she woke up Sunday thinking about defending her U.S. Women's Open championship.

``When I came in this morning I had a little stomach ache, butterflies all over,'' she said after shooting a 66 and shattering the Open record with a 72-hole total of 8-under-par 272 for a six-stroke victory over Kris Tschetter.

``I wanted to do it so badly.''

The emotion of the day, the week and the year since she won for the first time in the United States at the Open finally caught up with her when her par putt on No. 18 fell.

She raised both hands over her head, her eyes filled with tears and she struggled for the first time to keep her composure.

``It was a dream come true again,'' she said, choking back the sobs.

Later, with more time to reflect, she grasped the magnitude of what she had done.

``It's a wonderful feeling to win this championship,'' Sorenstam said. ``Once was wonderful. To win it twice was more than wonderful. I will never forget this place.''

Tschetter was second at 2-under-par 278. Brandie Burton, Jane Geddes and crowd favorite Pat Bradley matched par at 280.

``I knew that Annika needed to falter,'' Tschetter said. ``But that's just not something that Annika does very often. I kept saying to myself, `What golf course is she playing?' ''

Sorenstam certainly showed Greg Norman how to do it. With a big lead going into the final round, she played with the same precision she had all week - hitting fairways and greens and making putts.

When the lead started to grow, she shifted into a more conservative mode, unlike Norman on his last day at Augusta, when he squandered a six-stroke lead over Nick Faldo.

``I was aiming a little more for the middle of the greens,'' she said. ``I figured I'm not the one who has to make birdies out here.''

But she made a bunch of birdies - and an eagle.

Sorenstam's score bettered the 7-under 277 shot by Liselotte Neumann in 1988 and Patty Sheehan in 1994. And it made her only the sixth woman to win back-to-back Opens.

The 25-year-old Swede took a three-stroke lead into the final round at Pine Needles and was never challenged. No one made a move and Sorenstam gave no one any glimmer of hope she would come back to the field.

When Sorenstam made her one brief slip, making consecutive bogeys at Nos. 13 and 14, she followed with birdies on the next two holes.

This would not be like the Masters. Sorenstam protected her lead wisely and padded it when the chance was there.

She picked up two birdies on the front nine to stretch her lead over Burton to five strokes at the turn and then virtually put away the tournament when she hit the par-5 10th hole in two and made a 20-foot eagle putt to get to 8 under par.

Her 4-under 66 was the lowest round of the tournament - matching Tschetter - and came under the most pressure.

``I was in the zone today,'' she said.

Burton started the day three strokes behind and fell to four with a bogey on the second hole. Geddes got to three with a birdie on No. 1 but fell five back when she bogeyed No. 4.

And Laura Davies got as close as three strokes but her final-round 69 was simply not enough.

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Photo

Photo: (color) Sweden's Annika Sorenstam kisses her secondU.S. Women's Open trophy.

Associated Press