Annika Sorenstam

Sorenstam's hard work paid off in the 2001 and 2002 seasons, as she became a breathtakingly consistent golfing machine. In 2001 Sorenstam reclaimed the Vare Trophy with a 69.42 scoring average, only one one-hundredth of a point below Webb's record-breaking 1999 average, and then in 2002 Sorenstam shattered her own record with a 68.70. She hit the fairway from the tee and the green from the fairway 80 percent of the time, which made her the most accurate golfer, male or female, in the world.

Armed with her new strength and her consistency, Sorenstam shot the best single round of golf ever by a woman on the LPGA Tour at the Standard Register Ping in 2001. She scored a 59, something that only six male golfers have done. Had she not missed a 9-foot putt on the last hole, Sorenstam could have claimed the scoring record all for herself: No one on the Professional Golfers' Association or LPGA Tour has ever scored a 58 in competition. Nilsson was in the gallery at that event, watching her former pupil put the "54-vision" into practice.

In 2002 Sorenstam tied another longstanding record by winning 13 tournaments in a single season, something that had been done only once before, by Mickey Wright. Sorenstam's achievement was even more impressive because she compiled her 13 wins in only 25 tournaments, while Wright played in 33 in 1963. Sorenstam added two competitions to her schedule in October in order to give herself a better chance at reaching 13, but it still came down to her last tournament of the year, the ADT Championship, which Sorenstam won with a score of 13 under par.