By DOUG FERGUSON/AP Golf Writer

Published: Sunday, November 20, 2005
Updated: Saturday, November 19, 2005 11:52 PM CST

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Annika Sorenstam survived gusty conditions Saturday to stay in the lead at the season-ending ADT Championship, but just barely.

Sorenstam played cautious on the final hole and settled for a bogey, giving her a 2-over 74 to end her streak of nine consecutive rounds at par or better at Trump International. The only good news was her one-shot lead over Marisa Baena and Liselotte Neumann as she tries to win for the 10th time this year.

Sorenstam was at 3-under 213, one of only five players who remained under par as 20 mph gusts turned Trump into a severe test for just about everyone.

The exception was Baena, who started the third round in a tie for 20th and wound up in the final group Sunday with Sorenstam. Having secured some 70 tickets for friends and family, Baena treated them to 6-under 66 - the only round in the 60s - with birdies on seven of the final 11 holes.

“That was one of the best rounds of golf I've ever played,” Baena said.

Neumann felt the same way, going around Trump without a bogey and tied for the lead with Sorenstam until one bad swing cost her. Neumann hit into the water on the par-3 17th and took double bogey, giving her a 71.

Catriona Matthew had a 70 and was at 1-under 215, along with Hee-Won Han (74).

It was an exasperating day for most everyone else, best illustrated by the way Cristie Kerr left the course. She three-putted from the fringe on the 18th for a bogey and a 76, then angrily tossed her ball to the water. But she left that short, and had to run across the green and into the rough to retrieve the ball, exiting through a tunnel beneath the bleachers to reach the scoring tent.

Sorenstam felt it, too.

She knew par would be a good score, and she had a chance to get there with a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th. But it caught the lip, and then came the bogey on the 18th that soured her mood.

Asked if she was being hard on herself, Sorenstam said, “This wouldn't be the first time.”

“It's difficult out there,” she said. “To leave with a bogey and miss a great birdie opportunity, I felt I was there and couldn't finish. If you look at the score I had, I should give myself a break. But I'm hitting great shots, and there's no reason to throw away those shots.”

Paula Creamer, the 19-year-old rookie of the year, stumbled in the middle of the back nine and wound up with a 74 to finish at 1-over 217, still only four shots behind.

Sorenstam ended her streak of 26 holes without a birdie - although she had three eagles in that span - with a 4-wood that barely reached the par-5 ninth green and two putts to join Neumann in the lead. Then came a 25-foot birdie on the next hole to take the lead.

But enough things went wrong to make her realize this wasn't her day, and she decided not to take any chances on the 18th. Her ball was nestled in sticky rough on the left side of the fairway, and she had only 147 yards to the front of the green, with the hole another 32 yards back.

She figured the lowest iron she could hit was a 7-iron, but doubted that would get her to the green. The other option was a 7-wood to the pin, but that brought water on the right into play.

“I went back and forth, back and forth, and the fifth time I said, 'I'm just going to lay up,”' she said. “I'm not having one of those days where things are going right. This was too dangerous.”

At least she still had the lead, and ultimately that was all that mattered.

It was the seventh time this year Sorenstam has had at least a share of the 54-hole lead, and she has won them all. She has won 11 of the last 12 times from the lead, dating to the 2003 ADT Championship.

Sorenstam was told that starting times for the final round had been moved up a couple of hours because the weather was supposed to be terrible - mostly rain.

“Terrible? I thought it was terrible today,” she said.

Baena agreed, although it might not look that way on her scorecard. She made three of her birdies with a 4-iron, including a 2-foot putt on the par-3 fifth hole. The yardage to the front pin was only 160 yards, and Baena normally hits her 4-iron 160 yards.

“That's a 20-yard wind,” she said.

She also hit 4-iron into 12 feet on the last hole to cap off a birdie-birdie finish that sent her into contention. Even Baena was surprised by that.

“My caddie yesterday told me to be patient, that we are not that far off with a good round,” she said. “I said, 'Yeah, right.' I thought he was crazy.”