US TOUR: The shot heard round the world was high and straight and landed 243 yards down the fairway. One solid nine-iron and two putts later and Annika Sorenstam had announced her arrival in the world of men's professional golf with a nervous smile and, in the circumstances, a sensational par.
It was that kind day for the world's best female golfer: historic in its sporting significance, metronomic in its execution and ultimately triumphant in its spirit of personal accomplishment.
The bare statistics do not tell the entire story, of course, but they speak loudly of Sorenstam's ability to play great golf under extraordinary pressure.
She hit all but two fairways, missed only four greens and made one birdie, two bogeys and 15 pars. All of this added up to a first-round score of 71, one over Colonial's miserly par of 70. Given the quality of her play, 71 was the worst she could have scored. (For the record, the Las Vegas oddsmakers had her down as likely to score 76, while the naysayers and chauvinists had her down as a candidate for golf's hall of infamy.)
The Swede's round left her six behind the early leaders, in 74th place, but ahead of some illustrious names including two US Open winners, Scott Simpson and Lee Janzen. More to the point, none of the men ahead of Sorenstam had to cope with the circus confronting her when she stepped on to the 10th tee, her first hole of the day. Roaring fans, 10-deep galleries, TV cameras galore and a man wearing a white chicken hat - this place had the lot.
Sorenstam, dressed in white trousers and blue shirt, surveyed the bedlam and took deep, yogic breaths. She looked, to be honest, petrified.
It no doubt helped calm her down to know that she was last to play in her group and that her two playing partners, Dean Wilson and Aaron Barber, both managed to hit their tee shots into the middle of the fairway. She did likewise and then some, almost smacking her adrenalin-fuelled four-wood too far and into the rough.
In the build-up to this week's tournament Sorenstam said her intention was to play regulation golf; hitting greens in regulation and then hoping to sneak a birdie here and there. This she accomplished through the first few holes but she did it in a manner that suggested she was set to outperform even her own expectations.
It is unfair to single out Wilson and Barber for comparison with the female phenomenon but, as of this moment, there is no one else available. Frankly, neither was in her league as a golfer. Their swings will not be making an appearance in the textbooks and, by contrast, hers seemed compact and classically fluid. Even Ben Hogan, a notorious perfectionist who spent much of his adult life playing on the wonderful Colonial Club lay-out, would have been impressed.
Of course, Wilson and Barber had the advantage of brute strength, which accounted for the fact that she finished the day level with the former and one stroke behind the latter. Only when it came to putting, seen as the weakest part of her game, did Sorenstam appear to fall short of the standard required to compete in the men's game.
Even so, she managed to roll in a 20-footer from just off the green at the 13th for a birdie to go one under par.
That earned her a high five from her partners and put her on the leaderboard briefly, sending raucous cheers across the golf course and a few whispers: she could not win the tournament, could she?
The answer is almost definitely not, but her chances of making the weekend cut - the benchmark of success, at least in pure golfing terms - is now at least realistic.
After that birdie the balance of Sorenstam's day shifted from making history to playing golf. Pars at the next three holes were followed by a missed opportunity at the par-three 16th, when she slid a six-footer past the hole. A two-shot cushion to par would have been welcome, especially as Colonial's front nine is appreciably more difficult.
Level par would have been magnificent. Still, one over par seemed satisfactory for an elated Sorenstam. "I've had a great day, a fantastic day," she said as she stepped off the final green. "I enjoyed it very much but I've been waiting for this moment for so long that I'm glad it is finally over."
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)