Sorenstam wins record fifth straight Mizuno Classic

Annika Sorenstam won her record fifth consecutive Mizuno Classic title Sunday, closing with an 8-under-par 64 for a three-stroke victory over Jennifer Rosales.

Sorenstam finished the event at 21-under under steady drizzle at a soggy Seta Golf Course layout east of Kyoto.

Rosales shot 66 to finish second, while Young Kim, who led through the first two days, finished tied for third with Sophie Gustafson and Japan's Yuri Fudoh after closing with a 2-under 70 to leave her at 16-under-par.

With her tenth victory this year, including a women's event in Europe, Sorenstam becomes the first LPGA player to win the same event five years in a row.

Laura Davies, who won the Standard Register Ping event from 1994-97, is the only other LPGA player to win an event over four successive years. Last month, world No. 1 Sorenstam tied Mickey Wright's LPGA record for most wins in a single event when she won her fifth Samsung World Championship title (1995, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2005).

Sorenstam pocketed US$150,000 (-125,700) for her victory Sunday, boosting her season's earnings to US$2,373,240 (-1,988,800). The Swede has now won a career total of US$815,826 (-683,672) at the Mizuno Classic.

Sorenstam, who now has 65 career LPGA Tour victories, had already wrapped up her eighth Player of the Year award and eighth money title this season.

The US$1 million (-830,000) Mizuno Classic, an official LPGA event, features 43 players from the LPGA Tour and 35 from the Japan LPGA Tour.

The next stop on the LPGA Tour is the Tournament of Champions at Alabama next week, AP reported. V.A.