(Stockholm, August 8 2004) Annika Sörenstam won her fifth title on home soil with a record breaking final round eight under par 64 around Ullna GC on the outskirts of the Swedish capital of Stockholm to claim the £50,000 first prize at the HP Open.

Annika – Record breaking 64 Picture: Bethan Cutler

“I’m very happy and I thought it was amazing to come out today and play the way I did,” said Sörenstam, who has won six events in 14 starts this season and finished in the top ten on 12 occasions.

“I really don’t know where I got the energy from but I couldn’t ask for a better day at home and in front of my home crowd and it’s very special.”

“I was tired earlier in the week and yesterday, there were some signs of some good golf and it all came right today.”

There were no plans to celebrate long into the night in the fashionable bars and clubs of Stockholm, even if she did have the energy. Sörenstam will head back to her home in Lake Tahoe and enjoy the fruits of her labours with her husband and take a long break “until I feel like coming back to play again.”

Who would deny Sweden’s biggest sporting icon a long sabbatical for the woman who has given countless children, including hundreds here this week, a good reason to pester their parents for some golf lessons and a set of golf clubs.