Since it turned out that I happened to be the first person to get Peggy Kirk Bell on the telephone Tuesday, it fell upon me to inform her that Annika Sorenstam was retiring from competitive golf at the conclusion of the 2008 LPGA season.

Bell was startled.

"Are you certain? This information has to be wrong," she said. "I just can't believe that's right. Surely there's some mistake."

There was no mistake, however.

Bell, the 86-year-old grand dame of women's golf and ageless queen of the Pine Needles Golf Club and Resort in Southern Pines, was so flabbergasted by the news of 37-year-old Sorenstam's decision that second, then third, validations were requested.

"Well, unfortunately, that's very bad news for women's golf," Bell said. "Annika is one in a million. I prefer to assume that we're not losing her forever."

Amen to that, Miz Peg.

And at the same time, Bell was predictability understanding. If ever there has been a woman in golf who has been there and done that, it is she.

Much like a grandmother coming to grips with an off-spring's determination to stray from the family business, Bell said Sorenstam had reached a life stage that dictated an emphasis on personal values. Sorenstam, arguably the best female golfer of all time, will soon marry Mike McGee, the son of one-time PGA regular Jerry McGee.

"I have to think that Annika is looking at life beyond golf, which is a perfectly normal thing to do for a young woman in her situation," Bell said. "It's something that young women golfers -- women athletes, really -- have had to deal with for several years. There comes that time when you just can't see your way through to do everything at the same time. You think about having children, starting a family and things of that nature. But at the same time, she is just such a wonderful, wonderful gal, and it'll hurt the sport to lose her, even if it's not forever."

Other than Lorena Ochoa, it's difficult to identify the face of women's golf with Sorenstam out of the picture. The LPGA Tour is awash with players possessing potential and talent, but relatively slim on actual winning production. Sorenstam's 72 tour wins are behind only Kathy Whitworth and Mickey Wright, who ironically basically ended her career at age 34 in 1969.

"It's got to come from the youth movement," Bell said. "This makes it so important that one or two or three of these younger players do emerge. There are several girls out there with that potential, and many more have the talent that you're looking for in so-called 'star' players. The bright side for the future of women's golf is that there are so many young girls coming along with the talent to be great players. They just have to go through the process and make the most of that talent."

But losing Sorenstam is more than a blow for women's golf. It's also a blindsided blow. At no point did she seriously hint that retirement was in the immediate future. The closest she came to that was a statement at the end of last season when she said "the back nine" of her tour career was nearing.

Bell hopes that Sorenstam, a la Jack Nicklaus on the men's tour, will have an impact on the sport during her 40s. But that's years away, should it happen at all. For now, the LPGA is in the uncomfortable position of having to wait and hope for the female Tiger Woods to appear, and it's not likely that Michelle Wie is the solution.

The Tiger riddle isn't easy to solve, either. It's one part talent, one part competitiveness, one part personality, one part timing, one part this, one part that and countless parts marketability. Sorenstam was close to piecing together the right parts at the right time. But history -- golf history, that is -- might be forced to remember her as the player who WD'd while in command of an insurmountable lead and thereby leaving the future to someone else.