SORENSTAM

CLIFTON, New Jersey (AP):

ANNIKA SORENSTAM has few peers on the LPGA Tour after one of the brightest careers in golf. So when it was time to announce her retirement, she drew a parallel to a star in a different sport.

Sorenstam recalled what NFL's Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre said when he called it quits in March.

"One of the things he said was that he loved the competition but not the daily grind," she said. "I feel the same way."

Calling her decision one she'd "been thinking about for a while," Sorenstam said on Tuesday she will retire after the season.

Defining moment

The 37-year-old Swede ends an LPGA Tour career in which she has won 72 tournaments to date and delivered a defining moment when she teed it up against the men on the PGA Tour.

"I have made a decision to step away from competitive golf after this season," she said at the Sybase Classic. "Obviously this was a very difficult decision for me to make because I love this game so much. But it's the right one."

Her final event will be the Dubai Ladies Masters after the LPGA Tour season ends.

"I'm leaving the game on my terms," she said.

Tiger Woods called Sorenstam "the greatest female golfer of all time" and said it was sad to see her walk away from the game.

"It has been a pleasure watching Annika play for all of these years, but even more of an honour to call her a friend," he said.

Business and family

Sorenstam has hinted at retire-ment the past several seasons, saying she wanted to devote more time to her growing business and to start a family. She is engaged to Mike McGee, son of former PGA Tour player Jerry McGee.

"I respect Annika for wanting to go out on top," LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens said. "I'm surprised with the timing, but it's the way she wants to do it. In the long run, she'll have just as much of an impact outside the game of golf, if not more."

The decision comes two days after Soren-stam won the Miche-lob Ultra Open at Kingsmill by seven shots for her third victory of the sea-son, and first against a field that included Lorena Ochoa. It was a sign that Sorenstam had fully recovered from injuries and was poised to make a strong bid at recapturing her stature as the best in women's golf.

"The win the other day was just a bonus, really," said Sorenstam, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the New York Mets hosted the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night.