Annika Sorenstam on playing with her son, why she sympathises with Rory and how she’s giving back to women’s golf

One day before last week’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, one of the most legendary figures in golf, Annika Sorenstam, was hosting an outing to benefit her foundation just 60 miles away in Caldwell, N.J. We got a chance to chat with the 72-time LPGA Tour winner at Mountain Ridge Country Club and gave her an opportunity to predict the future.

“I’m from Europe, so of course that’s who I have to pick,” said Sorenstam when asked for a Ryder Cup prediction. “I’d love to see it be super tight coming down to the last few matches.”

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Welp, she nailed that one. Hardly surprising given all she ever does is win. Speaking of winning, the Annika Foundation is now in its 18th year and has given back nearly $10 million to women’s golf in that span, a number that grew exponentially last Thursday in New Jersey. It’s something Sorenstam might be more proud of than her 10 major championships.

“It’s all about empowering young women on and off the course,” Sorenstam said. “We do a few of these [events] a year, and it’s all about putting it back into the girls initiatives, whether it’s a development program, a college event, we actually do a lot of different things now. We have about 1,000 girls a year that are involved one way or another.”

To hear our full chat with Sorenstam, where we discuss how special it is to play golf with her son, why she sympathises with Rory McIlroy and her thoughts on the ball rollback discussion, please listen to the full podcast below, which also features a full Ryder Cup recap. And please like and subscribe to The Loop wherever you get your podcasts.