The 50th anniversary of the Women's Open witnessed record crowds watching Sweden's Annika Sorenstam win her first Women's Open championship. Played on the East Course of the Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs, Colo., the event featured a gathering of 25 champions, among them Patsy Berg, Louis Suggs, and Betsy Rawls, who reminisced about the first half century of history pertaining to the ultimate test of women's golf.

Sorenstam quietly but methodically worked her way around the layout, laboring in the shadow of more celebrated players and past champions such as Betsy King, Pat Bradley, and Meg Mallon. Mallon, in fact, had recorded an extraordinary third round of 66, to give her a 54-hole score of 205, which represented a new Women's Open record.

Although Mallon stumbled home with a final round of 74, she remained in contention until the final hole when her 15-foot birdie putt stopped four inches wide left. Thus Sorenstam who earlier had finished her round with a two-under 68, claimed a one-stroke victory with a two-under par total of 278.

Sorenstam became the 13th player to make the Women's Open her first professional victory in the United States. This list included four consecutive champions beginning in 1985: Kathy (Baker) Guadagnino, Jan Geddes, Laura Davies, and Liselotte Neumann.