May 23: Annika Sorenstam carded a respectable one-over-par 71 in the first round of her historic challenge at the Colonial tournament in Texas as Rory Sabbatini took the early lead. In front of the size of galleries usually reserved for Tiger Woods, Sorenstam, the first woman in 58 years to play on the men's tour, bogeyed just two holes, including the last.
She has every chance of making the halfway cut, which is the target she has set herself for this week.
Afterwards she said, "My heart was beating. I felt a little sick in my stomach and my hands were a little sweaty.
"Everything that you feel when you're under pressure and stress and I mean it was. I've been nervous before, but this was a little more than usual." Sorenstam's round, though, left her seven shots off the lead, set by South Africa's Sabbatini after his six-under-par 64.
He holds a one-stroke advantage over American duo Patrick Sheehan and Mark Calcavecchia, while 16 others are tied for fourth a further shot back.
All the attention was on Sorenstam, though, whose first error came at the fifth (her 14th), a 470-yard par four, where she three-putted from 60 feet.
She began her round with a 243-yard drive into the fairway at the 404-yard 10th hole and then slumped in mock relief and laughed before walking down the fairway.
Her lone birdie came on a 15-foot putt off the back fringe at the 178-yard 13th, her fourth hole.
Despite the caustic comments her challenge has received from tour professionals such as Vijay Singh, Sorenstam was loudly cheered at every hole.

Bureau Report