Sorenstam completes career slam

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England - Annika Sorenstam completed a career Grand Slam at the Women's British Open on Sunday, beating Se Ri Pak by a stroke in a thrilling head-to-head showdown.\nIt's the second major title of 2003 for the Swede, who in May became the first woman in 58 years to play on the PGA Tour.\nBy closing her 2-under 70 with a par at the 18th, Sorenstam finished the tournament at 10-under 278 to end a bit of a jinx: She was the British Open runner-up in 1994, 1995 and 1999.\nIt was an impressive comeback, too. Sorenstam was four shots off the lead and tied for ninth place after two rounds.\nPak, the 2001 champion, helped Sorenstam with a bogey on the final hole after hitting her tee shot into a bunker. That left the South Korean with a final-round 72 and put her at 9 under overall.\nSorenstam has dominated women's golf with 26 tournament victories over the past three years, including the LPGA Championship in June.\n"I am thrilled," Sorenstam said. "I have been wanting to win the tournament for so long and been close. I can't believe it.\n"I've won another major, and now I've won all the four, so all my goals are coming true."\nNow she has her sights set on another milestone: a calendar-year Grand Slam.\nAnd who would argue that she couldn't do it?\n"I have played eight majors in the last two years and had chance to win seven of them. It's been that close," she said. "I have proved to myself I can win all four majors."\nShe has six major titles and 56 tournament victories, including five this season. She joins Louise Suggs, Mickey Wright, Pat Bradley, Juli Inkster and Karrie Webb as career Grand Slam winners.\nStarting in 1994, she has won at least one tournament each year, including a career-best 13 last season. Her Grand Slam collection includes the U.S. Women's Opens in 1995-96, and the Nabisco Championships in 2001-02.\nSorenstam has been so dominant against women that she took a shot against the men with an invitation to the PGA Tour's Colonial. She fared admirably, though missed the cut.\n"Colonial was such a great week," she said. "I did what I wanted to do. Now after winning two majors, I know it was the right thing to do."\nDefending champion Webb (71 Sunday) and Grace Park (70) tied for third at 8 under. Third-round leader Patricia Meunier-Lebouc, who is 2 1/2 months pregnant, finished with a 76 and was fifth, another two shots back.\nAmericans Wendy Ward and Vicki Goetze-Ackerman tied for sixth.\nSorenstam charged into sole possession of the lead for the first time at the tournament's 65th hole, with a birdie at the par-5, 465-yard No. 11 to get to 9 under.\nThat began a great stretch duel between Sorenstam and her playing partner, four-time major winner Pak.\nPak pulled even at 9 under with a birdie at the par-3, 151-yard No. 12, but then Sorenstam went back into the lead with a birdie at the par-5, 455-yard 15th.\nThe Swede parred each hole the rest of the way.\nPak again tied things by making a 6-foot birdie putt at No. 16, and parred No. 17. But she ceded the championship with a bogey at the par-4, 371-yard 18th.\nPak's tee shot at the last hole landed in a fairway bunker, and she could do no more than chip out short. That shot just about made it to where Sorenstam's tee shot landed. Sorenstam then put her second shot within 10 feet of the flag.\nPak's third got to 12 feet and she missed that putt to make bogey. Sorenstam's birdie putt missed by an inch, but she tapped in to seal the victory.