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Annika's decision has been in the works

CLIFTON, N.J.--Annika Sorenstam's caddie of nine years, Terry McNamara, gave some interesting insights into the Sorenstam camp's decision to announce her retirement on Tuesday at the Sybase Classic Presented by ShopRite. McNamara said the original plan was to make the announcement at the U.S. Women's Open in late June, but Annika's performance this year (three wins in eight starts) prompted the switch to the Sybase, a tournament Sorenstam has won twice.

"As the year went on, [the U.S. Open] didn't seem very practical because she was going to try and go win it," said McNamara, who's been by Sorenstam's side for eight of her 10 major championships. "As she said in her press conference today, I want a chance to win there, and if she brings that up early in the week, that cuts down on her chances."

McNamara believes that Sorenstam would have retired at the end of last season had it not been for a neck injury which limited her to just 13 starts. Sorenstam went winless on the LPGA Tour for the first time since 1994, but did successfully defend her title at the Dubai Ladies Masters on the Ladies European Tour in December.

"Last year she played her heart out with one arm because the other arm was hurt, because of the neck," McNamara said. "But her expectations were, 'I should be able to win anyway.' "

It was after Dubai--which is slated to be Sorenstam's final tournament in 2008--that she started thinking about when to announce her retirement. Despite her fierce competitive nature, McNamara doesn't think Sorenstam will have trouble staying retired.

"People think Annika just turns on this button and plays well. It's not like that," said McNamara. "She puts a lot of time into it, whether it's going to the gym or mentally thinking about it. The commitment is unbelievable. It's a grind at times. Once you've done it all, that grind becomes hard. If she's gonna play, she's going to want to practice, because she's not going to go out there and finish 10th and be happy. It takes a lot of time to be that good."

Asked what he thought Annika's legacy would be, McNamara said, "I would hope that it would be class. "I've been lucky to have this time with her, and I'm better off because of it. It takes a good player to make a good caddie."