This wasn't exactly the way Annika Sorenstam thought it would end, if this actually was the end. It might not be, because Sorenstam conceded earlier this year that there was an outside chance we may not have seen the last of her yet.

For now, though, the plans of the greatest female player of her generation are to sop playing competitive golf and start a family before her biological clock ticks down. And as she turns the page, a quick look back at her final -- for now, at least -- appearance in the U.S. Women's Open serves as a microcosm to her final year on the LPGA Tour.

A few groups behind her on a windy Sunday at Interlachen Country Club, a teenager from South Korea was on her way to a final-round romp to become the youngest U.S. Women's Open winner ever. Sorenstam was once that kind of player, but at the age of 38 her desire to play golf for a living is waning at the same time her desire to have children and do more normal things grows.

She wanted to leave Interlachen in style, cradling her fourth Women's Open trophy before heading overseas for her final major championship at the Women's British Open. She hit the ball well enough to do just that, but the putter wouldn't cooperate and her emotional tank had long since run dry.

Now she stood on the 18th fairway, 199 yards from the last hole of a championship that helped define her career. With a 6-iron in her hand, she needed to get up-and-down just to avoid embarrassing herself by not being able to break 80

Then the player who had always dreamed of a perfect day on the golf course got the next best thing -- a perfect ending to her Women's Open career.

The shot sailed majestically toward the green, bounced once just in front and a few more times before sliding into the right side of the hole. From the fairway, Sorenstam heard the roar grow as the ball got closer and dropped into the hole for an eagle 3.

She had saved her best for last. And the fans, it seems, had saved their love for last.

They cheered her as she walked up the fairway arm-in-arm with her caddie. They called out for her to come back for another year. And finally they stood as one to give her a farewell that should have reduced her to tears.

It didn't, perhaps because there just wasn't anything left inside to cry about. She was never the emotional sort anyway, something that may have prevented her from connecting with fans in a more personal way over the years.

A day earlier, Sorenstam said she felt like crying, but that was only because her birdie putts kept missing the hole. She always seemed cold and calculating on the course, largely because that was how she needed to play to win, but she could also usually count on an emotional reserve that is much harder to find now.

"My tank is empty," Sorenstam said. "You need adrenaline, you need energy. It's just very hard to run just on fumes. You can only take it so far."

Sorenstam has been running on fumes for quite some time now, looking little like the player who dominated women's golf so totally that when she didn't win it came as a surprise.

The game is still there, even if the burning desire isn't. Indeed, Sorenstam was the best from tee to green in the first three rounds in the Women's Open before it all came apart on a final day when her usual laser-like drives found the rough and trees instead of the center of the fairway.

She has other things in her life now, a new fiance, a golf tournament of her own, and business ventures on the side. When she announced in May that she would not play past this year, it came as a shock to many but little surprise to those who could see she no longer had the drive to be the best.

It was that drive that helped her win 11 tournaments in one year, be as dominant on the women's tour as Tiger Woods is on the PGA Tour, and give her the confidence to play -- and play well -- with the men. She always thought she could do better, and subscribed to the philosophy that a perfect round of 18 birdies on a golf course was entirely possible.

Sorenstam never had that round, but she came close. She is the only woman to shoot a 59 competitively, and still plays a special Callaway ball with that number stamped on it.

She'll go down as the best of her time -- a victory in the Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open on the Ladiea European Tour this fall was the 90th of her professional career, giving her two more than the legendary Kathy Whitworth chalked up between 1962 and 1985.

But she's not quite ready to have her career obituary written yet. As she's said down her final stretch of tournaments, she purposely isn't using the word "retirement," because there may yet be more to her amazing story.

"This means I could make a comeback to competitive golf if I get the itch to come back," she said. "But for the time being I'll be out of mainstream golf events as I look forward to my marriage in January and do the many things I plan to do -- teaching golf, organizing golf tournaments, golf course designing and so forth.

"I have mixed feelings -- good times and bad," she added. "Too many good things to forget, but there were times I made lots of mistakes and I learned from my mistakes. Those were my glorious days. I met a lot of people and experienced many good things -- shooting a 59 and winning the U.S Open. I'll cherish these moments for the rest of my life.

"For 15 years I was working inside the ropes and now I want to do things outside the ropes," she explained. "I've come to a point where I need a change in my activities, get married and raise a new family and do other things in the development of golf. I need to get re-motivated, thus the change will give me a new zeal.

"I'm still young -- 38 only -- but 15 years on the tour is a bit too long," she said. "I'll still be involved in golf, but in other ways and, as I said, if I get the itch to comeback to competitive golf, I'll do so, but it may not be too soon."

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