Phoenix ? Annika Sorenstam spent the weekend playing from the championship tees with Tiger Woods, and finding out what a test Colonial can be. She returned to more familiar ground Tuesday to begin a season that figures to be extraordinary even by her standards.

After weeks of searching for the secret to competing on the PGA Tour, Sorenstam faces the big task this week of trying to focus her attention back with the women she has dominated the past two years.

It won’t be easy, if the questions posed to her on the eve of her first LPGA tournament of the year are any indication.

They had nothing to do with the historic 59 she shot here two years ago or the final-round lead she blew on the same course last year. They were all about two months from now, when Sorenstam will become the first woman to play on the PGA Tour in 58 years.

“I’m learning this is part of the whole thing,” Sorenstam said. “It’s not just about me playing Colonial. It’s going to be everything around me and it’s going to be every week. This is a good test for me, good practice.”

Sorenstam teed it up with a foursome of women Tuesday for one of the few times since she pondered a reporter’s question in Florida a few months ago and decided that, yes, she would take a shot at the PGA Tour.

Why not, when there’s little left to prove on the woman’s tour where Sorenstam has won 21 tournaments in the past two seasons.

“That’s part of her motivation,” said Pia Nilsson, who helped develop Sorenstam as coach of the Swedish national team. “She thinks ‘I’m good, but if I can’t get better it’s not so much fun.'”

The practice round for the Safeway Ping tournament came after a weekend where Sorenstam played with Woods in Florida and then got in her first round at the Colonial in Texas.

“I’ve had a lot of adventures lately,” she said.

Sorenstam declined to say what she shot at Colonial, but she admitted that birdie opportunities were rare in a practice round with former Colonial winner David Frost.

She was a bit more expansive about her experience with Woods at his home course at Isleworth, Fla.

“We played 18 holes and it gave me a chance to see what he’s all about, his game, see how he practiced and gave me some pointers,” Sorenstam said. “It was very, very nice. It was very friendly. We had a good time.”

Woods said Sorenstam was a few over par Saturday in a threesome that included pitcher John Smoltz.

“She didn’t hit the ball that well. She was a little rusty. You can tell she had been practicing, but she hadn’t been playing at home,” Woods said.

Sorenstam played the back tees with Woods, just as she has been doing the last few weeks at home and just as she did on Sunday at Colonial.

Various reports had her shooting 75, though Sorenstam said she didn’t really keep score. She did concede, however, that Colonial will be a test when she plays there in May.

“There’s not so many birdie holes out there,” she said. “I can’t reach the par-5s in two so I’m laying up to my favorite yardage, which is 80 yards. From there, hopefully my wedge game will work.”

Sorenstam said she didn’t hit driver on every hole, had some par-4s where she had to hit 7-woods from 210 yards to the green and concentrated on being accurate.