NOT JUST ANNIKA AT THE OFFICE CREAMER MAIN FOE AT LPGA TOURNEY.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer

The world's most successful female golfer takes on another strong LPGA field today, when Annika Sorenstam opens her bid for a record third consecutive title in the Office Depot Championship.

Sorenstam and a field including 29 of the tour's top 30 players get a new venue this week, as the event moves to Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes after a three-year run at Tarzana's El Caballero Country Club.

Much of the rest is a familiar scenario, with most of the LPGA's best players attempting to outscore not only the best LPGA player of her generation - and perhaps ever - but also one who has contributed hugely to the rising popularity of the women's game.

``She is probably, without question, one of the greatest female athletes of our time,'' LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens said of Sorenstam, whose 63 career tour victories, seven Player of the Year awards and well-publicized entry into the PGA Tour's 2003 Bank of America Colonial have boosted awareness not only of her play but her tour.

``Before she even teed it up, they were talking about the LPGA in every major publication across the country,'' said Natalie Gulbis, one of the many talented young players to join the LPGA Tour in recent years. ``When she said she was going to play, it got people talking about the LPGA.''

Others also have increased the interest in the LPGA this year, including Office Depot entry and likely Rookie of the Year Paula Creamer, the recent high school graduate who already has two tour victories and was second by a stroke to Sorenstam in the most recent LPGA event - the John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic.

Creamer, 19, might be contending for Player of the Year honors herself but for Sorenstam, who has won seven of 14 season starts, including the first two majors of the year.

That makes it 45 wins since the start of the 2000 season for Sorenstam, whose achievements in that span include a tour-record round of 59 in 2001 and a tour-record season scoring average of 68.69 last year.

``She's raised the bar,'' Creamer said of Sorenstam, who won two U.S. Women's Open titles in her first three years on tour, then stepped up her play six years ago with a commitment to fitness that has helped her dominate the LPGA the way Tiger Woods has dominated on the PGA Tour.

She enters this week 25 wins shy of Kathy Whitworth's career LPGA record and - with a career grand slam included among her nine majors - convinced she can make a few more strong runs at winning a season grand slam.

So much for the likelihood that Sorenstam, 34, is considering slowing down on a tour that is undergoing a surge of youth and talent.

``I have a lot of goals left,'' she said, ``and my thoughts are that I always want to become a better player. I love the competition and I still have a lot to do.''

Sorenstam's pursuit of excellence has helped spawn excellence in her pursuers, not to mention early incentive.

``What makes Annika Sorenstam so great is her consistency, and I've worked on that,'' said Gulbis, 22, who tied for fourth in this year's U.S. Open, three shots behind winner Birdie Kim - who also is in the Office Depot field.

Said Creamer, barely four months removed from high school: ``I think right now, the rivalry in my mind is obviously Annika. She's the No. 1 player in the world and she's done so much for women's golf, and I respect what she's done.''

Sorenstam hopes to do a little more, but wonders, with others, how long the motivation will last.

``I'd like to say that if I wake up in the morning motivated to play, then I'll play,'' she said. ``One of the things that keeps me motivated is going out there and winning. Having said that, let's see how long I can do this.

``I don't know how long I can do this. I'll always give it my all. I've obviously done so much more than I've expected.''

Dave Shelburne, [phone]

dave.shelburne(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

(color) SORENSTAM

Box:

OFFICE DEPOT CHAMPIONSHIP