Annika Sorenstam takes advantage of Paula Creamer's mistakes and Lorena Ochoa's absence to win her 71st victory

Annika Sorenstam edged out Paula Creamer in a one-hole sudden death playoff to pick up her 71st victory today at the Stanford International Pro-Am, her second win of the season.

After Thursday’s first round, Sorenstam called the course “silly tough.” I’m sure Creamer is thinking along the same lines today after one missed birdie opportunity after another.

The playoff hole (Creamer’s first playoff as a pro) was particularly underwhelming. Both Sorenstam and Creamer laid up on the long par-5, then hit their third shots over water, Sorenstam hitting the green, Creamer landing on the fringe. Both missed their birdie putts, Creamer sending hers screaming five or six feet past. Sorenstam tapped in for par, Creamer did the unthinkable and left hers short, a mistake she attributed to nerves. You gotta feel good for Sorenstam but jeez, no one wants to win a tournament like that.

The hug they exchanged after the round looked less like a congratulations to Annika and more like a consolation for Paula.

Sorenstam said afterward, “Obviously it was not the finish Paula had in mind, but we fought very hard, both of us, and we just gotta take it.”

It’s the first time in five weeks someone other than Lorena Ochoa won an LPGA tournament. Why didn’t she win this week too? For one thing, she wasn’t there?she took the week off.

Which of course leaves us wondering?had Ochoa been there this week, would the Sorenstam/Creamer battle been a fight for second?