Not exactly the farewell Annika Sorenstam had in mind

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It was hardly the exclamation point Annika Sorenstam planned to put at the end of her storied career in professional golf. She shot a three-over-par 75 Friday after a 74 in the opening round on Thursday and missed the cut in the ADT Championship at West Palm Beach, Fla.

‘It’s over,’ said Sorenstam, who had won 72 events and become a member of the LPGA Hall of Fame. She announced earlier this season that this was her final year on tour.

She said the one saving grace of the event was the crowd that turned out to watch one of the LPGA’s greatest players wrap up her career.

‘What’s been the coolest thing this week is all these people who showed up that I don’t know, my fans,’ she said.

But there was one person whom Sorenstam wasn’t exactly thrilled to see. Shortly after her final shot, an LPGA official told Sorenstam hat she needed to submit to a random drug test.

‘I really don’t know what’s going on,’ Sorenstam said in an Associated Press account. ‘They’re not going to let me go [away].’

Jill Pilgrim, the LPGA’s general counsel who oversees drug testing, said the tour was simply following protocol. Sorenstam’s number came up, so she had to be tested. The tour will hold her $8,000 check from the tournament until the test results come back.

A nice going-away gift for a player who was the face of the tour for well over a decade.

-- Mike James