The LPGA lost two times on Tuesday. First, Annika Sorenstam announced she would be stepping away from competitive golf at the end of this season.

She’s not yet 38 years old, so the announcement was a bit of a shock.

At 38, she seems young to be getting out. But as someone who is getting married next year, wants to start a family and isn’t in love with the idea of being a summer absentee mom, this is the right time for her.

Sorenstam really has been at least the Tiger Woods equivalent on the LPGA Tour. She has won 72 tournaments in 15 years, and even Woods called her “the greatest female golfer of all time” after the announcement.

I would agree with that evaluation totally.

Some expected she might retire when she missed much of the 2007 season with back and neck injuries. But she wouldn’t have wanted to go out on anything but her own terms.

Obviously, the LPGA will miss her at or near the top of the leader boards. But it will miss one more thing as well.

Right now, the only thing the PGA is missing is someone who can consistently duel at the top with Woods. Phil Mickelson was the hope, but he has proven to be too unreliable. So the wait continues. Each time some non-Tiger player wins, that person is the next hope.

Until Tuesday, the LPGA had everything set up for just such a duel between Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa. When both are at the top of their games, it is probably the greatest duel on the links. Now it will only last for seven months.

And what a seven-month stretch we can anticipate.

Sorenstam would like to go out ranked as the world’s No. 1 player, but she seems comfortable with the legacy she has. She is more likely to finish atop the money leaders or earn Player of the Year honors. Numbers seem not to mean much. If they did, it would only take another LPGA season or two to reach Kathy Whitworth’s mark of 88 tour victories.

She also isn’t motivated by the chance to duel week after week against Ochoa. She’s had her time alone at the top. During a five-year stretch, she won 43 times in five years.

Sorenstam, nearly by herself, rejuvenated interest in the LPGA Tour. That interest had dimmed a bit as the Nancy Lopez-era golfers faded from the top of the leader boards.

She will be greatly missed. Until then, I personally will be rooting for her to win every event. Ochoa’s time can begin in 2009.

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