2004 Season Review/Women: If Tiger Woods had his mantle as golf's kingpin unceremoniously grabbed from him in 2004, nobody - despite the efforts of many - could take Annika Sorenstam's place as women's world number one.
Although the Swede was selective in the number of appearances she made, playing only 15 times (so far) on the LPGA Tour in America, she was able to maintain a win ratio unmatched in any era of the sport.
On her 15 appearances, Sorenstam managed to win six times - including a major, retaining the McDonald's LPGA Championship - and broke through the $2 million barrier in prize money won. So, while Grace Park took the season's first major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, and there were rather surprising winners in the Weetabix British Open - won by Karen Stupples - and the US Women's Open - won by Meg Mallon - it was Sorenstam who again dominated the season.
Sorenstam's haul on the LPGA Tour took in wins in the AS Safeway Invitational, the Office Depot Championship, the LPGA Corning Classic, the McDonald's LPGA Championship, the Hammons Classic and the Samsung World Championship.
The invasion of the US women's circuit by high-profile international players - Sorenstam was responsible for a host of Europeans bypassing their home tour to play Stateside while Se Ri Pak has inspired a Korean invasion and Karrie Webb an Australian one - has led to concerns about the future of American women's golf, but Sorenstam offered the assurance their time will come again.
"I don't look at it as, 'she's an American and she's not'," said Sorenstam recently. "I go to the first tee knowing that I want to be the best. We will continue to see great players from all around the world (playing the LPGA Tour). You will see a resurgence of the American players, there are some young American girls coming up."
Of those, the most high-profile is Michelle Wie and the 14-year-old was part of the US team that defeated Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup at Formby (although she did lose twice to Claire Coughlan, Ireland's only playing representative on a team captained by fellow Cork woman Ada O'Sullivan).
"They played their hearts out," said O'Sullivan of her team. "They had this unforgettable 'never-give-up' attitude and produced some majestic shots when the pressure was really on and they sank any number of incredibly difficult putts."
As for Irish women's golf, things have rarely been better. Ireland successfully defended the Home Internationals - staging a fantastic final day's recovery to beat Scotland 7-1 at Royal Porthcawl - for just the seventh success in the championship and the first time to successfully record back-to-back victories since the event's inauguration in 1895.
Deirdre Smith of Co Louth won the Lancome Irish women's close championship at The Island, where she defeated Tara Delaney in the final, but Delaney gained consolation later in the season when winning the Irish women's strokeplay championship at Little Island.
