BACK ON COURSE EL CABALLERO FITS SORENSTAM'S GAME.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer

So much for the bid for an unprecedented grand slam, at least for this year, and on to what Annika Sorenstam seems to do best - title defense.

The world's No. 1 women's golfer has accomplished that as well as anyone on the LPGA Tour, perhaps because she has so many opportunities, with 49 career tour victories - sixth most in that 54-year-old organization.

Sorenstam opens her bid for a 10th successful title defense today at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, where she faces one of the year's best fields in the Office Depot Championship and where she has never finished worse than second.

``I've always liked it here,'' the six-time LPGA Player of the Year said Thursday of the 6,394-yard, par-72 El Cab layout, where she won by four strokes at 5-under-par 211 last year, was second by a stroke to Se Ri Pak's 209 in 2002 and won it in 2001.

``I've always liked old traditional courses, and this is one of those ... It's a comfort factor, but then again, there are courses that fit your game better than others. I like to say this is a course that fits my game really well.''

Many courses might seem to fit that description since Sorenstam got serious about her game following Karrie Webb's two-year run as LPGA Player of the Year in 1999 and 2000.

Sorenstam, who had been Player of the Year in 1995, '97 and '98, responded by getting fitter and getting better, and the result has done more to raise the profile of her tour than anyone since Nancy Lopez dazzled golf fans with her nine-win rookie season in 1978.

Since that commitment following the 2000 season, Sorenstam has won 26 of 68 tour starts, made five successful title defenses and set or tied 72 LPGA records in the past three years, including the tour's only round of 59 and lowest season scoring average (68.70).

``She has done so many things for the LPGA,'' said Pak, who has emerged as Sorenstam's primary rival at El Cab and on tour. ``She has done great with her success, and at the same time it's been great for us.''

Sorenstam has endured her failures, such as her 13th-place finish in last week's first major of the LPGA season - the Kraft Nabisco Championship - after announcing her intention to sweep this year's four majors.

But the 33-year-old Swede, who already has a career grand slam and has been inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame, is not shy about setting her golf goals high. She has said more than once that if a player can birdie every hole on a course, it should be possible to birdie them all in the same round.

``It's the competition I like,'' she said Thursday, referring to a tour-wide level of play she has helped raise by example. It also was defining her attitude - which has not only raised interest in the tour but also has LPGA commissioner Ty Votaw fielding a question that has him shaking his head at the irony.

What happens when, as Sorenstam discussed at the Kraft Nabisco, she decides to retire?

``When I became commissioner in 1999, people said the LPGA needs a dominant star,'' Votaw said. ``Now we have a star, and people say, `What happens if she retires?' If it's not one thing, it's another.

``All I can say is, if Annika isn't there to play, someone else will step to the forefront.''

Some are making big strides already. Pak, No. 2 in the world, and Kraft Nabisco champion Grace Park are as determined as Sorenstam was to reach No. 1. Seventeen-year-old Aree Song nearly forced a playoff at the Kraft Nabisco in her first major as a professional. And somewhere on the horizon looms super-talented 14-year-old amateur Michelle Wie, ninth-grader from Hawaii who nearly made a PGA Tour cut in January and placed fourth at the Kraft Nabisco.

``We have so many young, talented players,'' Sorenstam said ``Michelle maybe in the next five, six years, or - who knows what her plans are? - maybe next week. The next generation coming up is really, really strong and I think that's good for women's golf in general and obviously the LPGA.''

Sorenstam likes a stronger tour for the challenge it presents, and she also is somewhat proud of having helped make it stronger - in terms of increased purses, increased viewership and lowered scores.

``Yeah, a little bit, I have to say that,'' she said of satisfaction over her contributions to a stronger product.

``I worked really hard to be No. 1 in the world and setting new goals and trying to achieve that, and that makes everyone else practice a little harder. ... That's how we all get better.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1) no caption (Annika Sorenstam)

(2) Annika Sorenstam acknowledges the crowd at El Caballero Country Club.

Tina Burch/Staff photographer

Box:

OFFICE DEPOT CHAMPIONSHIP