Looking back at Annika Sorenstam at the 2003 Colonial

Annika Sorenstam (Google Images)

Golf is making headlines on Thursday as the Charles Schwab Challenge is taking place at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. At this time, Olympic gold medalist Justin Rose of England is at -7 and has a one-stroke lead on Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela and Abraham Ancer of Mexico. The Charles Schwab Challenge is currently going on without any spectators, and is the first round of golf on the PGA Tour since the tour was postponed after the first round of the Players Championship on March 12.

There have been some glorious golf moments at the Colonial Country Club in past years. Ben Hogan has won the tournament five times. Other winners include Rose, Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott, Zach Johnson, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Ben Crenshaw, Nick Price, and Tom Lehman. However, one could argue the most memorable PGA Tour event at the Colonial Country Club came in 2003.

The 2003 event was sponsored by Bank of America and won by Kenny Perry. If you do not remember Perry winning the title by six strokes over Justin Leonard, you are excused. At the 2003 Colonial, Annika Sorenstam of Sweden made headlines when she became the first woman to compete on the PGA Tour in over 50 years. Sorenstam, who was a 10-time major winner on the LPGA Tour, shot a score of +5, and finished in 96th place out of 111 golfers. Even though Sorenstam missed the cut, she made a lot of golf fans that weekend, and her presence strengthened the overall presence of women’s sport. As the Charles Schwab Challenge takes place at the Colonial this weekend, it is time for golf fans to reflect back on Sorenstam’s presence in Fort Worth in 2003.