Sorenstam has been running on fumes for quite some time now, looking little like the player who dominated women’s golf so totally that when she didn’t win it came as a surprise.

The game is still there, even if the burning desire isn’t. Indeed, Sorenstam was the best from tee to green in the first three rounds in this Open before it all came apart on a final day when her usual laser-like drives found the rough and trees instead of the center of the fairway.

She has other things in her life now, a new fiance, a golf tournament of her own, and business ventures on the side. When she announced in May that she would not play past this year it came as a shock to many but little surprise to those who could see she no longer had the drive to be the best.

It was that drive that helped her win 11 tournaments in one year, be as dominate on the women’s tour as Tiger Woods is on the PGA Tour, and give her the confidence to play — and play well — with the men. She always thought she could do better, and subscribed to the philosophy that a perfect round of 18 birdies on a golf course was entirely possible.

Sorenstam never had that round, but she came close. She is the only woman to shoot a 59 competitively, and still plays a special Callaway ball with that number stamped on it.

She’ll go down as the best of her time, but is not ready to have her career obituary written just quite yet. She’s got one more major and another eight or nine tournaments left as she plays out the string this year.

After that, it’s goodbye, though Sorenstam insisted she was not looking for a victory tour or one last lap around the world when she announced her retirement.

She leaves with enough Open memories to last a lifetime, both good and bad. She’s won three of them, but lost at least that many that she thought she should have won.

This may have been one of them, though she had nothing left in her when she really needed it.

The only consolation was she was able to make one more special memory at the end.

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