HILTON GRAND VACATIONS TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

January 18, 2024

Annika Sorenstam

Lake Nona Golf & Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Annika Sorenstam who is leading the field in the celebrity division here. Looks like you had a 68 today. Tell us about how the day went.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, no, I'm super pleased with my round. Thought I hit the ball very well. Putted well, too. Just it's not that often nowadays that I have a round that I feel like I really made the most out of it.

I did have a lot of chances too, but just made some good saves and rolled from some good putts. Hit a lot of fairways. I think I missed three greens. I know this is my home course, but still playing a little longer.

It feels great to have a round where you're like I'm really, really happy. I think I made one mistake and recovered pretty quickly.

Q. Talk about your group you were with, Landon Donovan and how was it playing with him?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It was super nice. Met him for the first time just a few days ago. I guess he had been looking forward to the pairing, and when I saw it I was excited to play with him and Cheyenne. Really pleasant. We had a nice day together.

We talked and it was just kind of cheering each other on. He's a super nice guy.

And I played with Cheyenne a few times before. No, I enjoyed it very much. Not sure what the pairings will be the next few days, but we enjoyed, and the caddies together, we had a good chat.

Q. ...I know your experience is made you as great as you were, in fact, the GOAT. To have a round like today, how much does that scratch that competitive itch where your leading a tournament, shot 4-under, saw what you were looking for?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, we all know it's such a long ways left. Just where I am today, it's nice to have a good round. I think in the press conference here I said I play okay and then it's always a few holes and few shots and I kind of throw it away.

I never used to do that but I do that nowadays. Today I didn't. It's like, well, this is fun again. I go back and forth. How much am I going to play. You have one round, this is exciting. Next day it's back to earth again.

Just going to enjoy this as much as I can and respond, and hopefully gives me some momentum. I've played in I believe 11 of these celebrity events and been close and never been able to finish.

I just would love to just kind of keep going what I have and then who knows what that will be. I want to just feel good about my game for 72 holes, and that's really what I care about now, just can you just avoid the stupid stuff that I do sometimes.

Q. What mentally clicked today?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: You know, I've been hitting the ball well. I always seem to rush. I seem to want to hit it harder when I play with players that hit it so far because I don't hit it far.

There is a part of me that wants to keep up. I know what it's like to be playing the course here. I know what I should hit. Then I push it a little too much and come out of a shot and then I end up in some tough places.

I ended up on No. 1 in a tough spot on the left side which I know you can't be. I made a nice chip and nice putt and I was like, well, that's fun.

That was the momentum. If I can do that, that would be nice. Today was very solid. A lot of greens. Going to keep playing my own game. To see putts go in is really important because then you feel good about it and don't question so much what you're working on or anything else.