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Annika's real test begins today

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WILMINGTON, Del. -- Annika Sorenstam finished ahead of 11 men when she played on the PGA Tour at Colonial. All that matters now is beating the 143 women she faces in the LPGA Championship.

That's something that has never come easily.

Despite back-to-back titles in the Nabisco Championship and the U.S. Women's Open, her record in the majors hardly compares to everything else she has done on the LPGA Tour.

Four majors is no small feat, unless they belong to the No. 1 player in women's golf who has won 40 other tournaments, set 30 scoring records and has been the LPGA Tour's player of the year five times in the last eight years.

"The majors is what means the most to me," she said. "I've won 44 times, but I want some more majors, so that's my biggest challenge, to see if I can peak when I want."

That's one reason Sorenstam wanted to test her game against the best at Colonial. Along with the pure challenge of playing against the men -- she missed the cut by four shots -- she wanted to prepare herself for four biggest events of the year.

"The next time she goes to a major on the LPGA Tour, it will seem like nothing compared to this," Jesper Parnevik said at Colonial. "It will be like a practice round for her."

Sorenstam didn't get a practice round Wednesday. The course was closed after overnight rains that also forced the cancelation of Wednesday's pro-am.

LPGA Championship

- Today: First round.

- TV: 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., The Golf Channel.



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