Annika Eyes 6th Straight Mizuno Win

Do pro golfers have their own tournament?

Annika Sorenstam (Sweden) has developed a remarkable career in the Mizuno Classic in the LPGA tour. She has swept all five trophies of this tournament since 2001 up to last year. While doing so, she shot a 65.67 on average for 15 rounds. She marked scores lower than 70 for 14 times, and won $801,000 of prize money.

Sorenstam is now on a challenge to add another line on the history of LPGA. In the Mizuno Classic, which is to open on November 3 at Kashikojima Country Club (Par 72, 6,450 yards) in Shima Mie, Japan, she will aim to win a single tournament for six successive years, an unprecedented record in the LPGA.

With 69 career wins, Sorenstam is determined to secure the title and reach the 70 milestone with this tournament after suffering from a sore defeat in the Samsung World Championships last month. In the championship tournament, she was shockingly beaten by Lorena Ochoa (Mexico) in the last round, after taking lead in the first three rounds. After winning the Dubai Ladies Masters in the European Ladies Tour, she is now on an updraft.

The host aroused spectator interest by changing the course from Seta Golf Course in Shiga Prefecture, where the Mizuno Classic tournament took place from 2002 to 2005. Among the opponents to stop Sorenstam’s ambitions are the Koreans, who have had 11 wins collectively this season, including those at the recent two tournaments. With 16 Koreans affiliated with the LPGA and six with the Japan LPGA, there will be as many as 22 Koreans playing in the Mizuno Classic.

Among the Koreans attracting notice are Jang Jeong (Industrial Bank of Korea), who took the sixth place last year, Kim Young (Shinsegae), who listed her name on the top 10s of this tournament for the last two years, and Jeon Mi-jung who won three titles in the Japanese tour this season.

If a Korean player wins this trophy, it would be another rare record in that it means that the Koreans have swept away all the three LPGA tournaments held in Asia this season.

Karrie Webb (Australia) and Miyazato Ai, the most popular Japanese player eager to have her first win in the American tour, will be competing for the trophy as well.

kjs0123@donga.com