Annika, as Tiger Woods would say, did not have her A game last week.

For the first time in 58 years, a woman teed off in a PGA event. In other words, a girl played with the boys. Her presence at the Colonial drew a record number of press members. It was the king of all media circuses.

Only Sorenstam left all the commotion early.

The winner, Kenny Perry finished -19, six strokes ahead of second place Justin Leonard. Sorenstam, however, did not make the cut, ending up with a final score of .

Out of total of 144 players, she finished ahead of only eleven. Most players would feel that kind of performance provides an impetus to jump into the nearest bunker and bury oneself in the sand

Annika has no need to do so.

Looking at her two days objectively and one can see why she did not make the cut. On Thursday, she had a brilliant performance of driving the ball, missing only one fairway the entire morning/afternoon. If she had only sank a few putts, she would have been -2 or -3. As it was, she did not and ended the round , still an admirable score considering the circumstances.

The second day was less kind to the 32 year-old Swede. Her drives and ball striking were more erratic, and her putting was even less spectacular. Add it all up and you have a bad round of golf. Bad rounds on the PGA Tour means missed cuts and that’s what happened.

Sorenstam is the best woman golf player in the world at the moment. She has won a bevy of tournaments, and continues to train and practice in order to improve her game. She has increased her strength tremendously and it was only by hitting the weights that she was even able to fathom playing in a PGA tournament.

She did what she came to do, and saw it through, (even though it was by an exemption). Her detractors might feel that she failed, either because she did not finish in the top 20 or even make the cut. Yet if we are to believe her and there is no reason we shouldn’t, she stated that her true purpose in playing the Colonial was to seize the opportunity to test herself against the world’s greatest golf players in a competitive environment. She accomplished that. She had no grandiose vision of lifting the Colonial trophy on late Sunday afternoon. She just wanted to play with best. Luckily, there were some people out there that willing to give her the chance.