She won early and often, and often by overwhelming margins. She won on four continents — in Australia, Sweden and Japan and in six of the 50 United States. She won a major, the most money and a remarkable 10 times in just 20 starts worldwide.

Small wonder, then, that what was an average year for golfer Annika Sorenstam was more than good enough to earn her recognition as the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for the second year in a row.

Sorenstam received 40 first-place votes and 263 total points. Diana Taurasi, who led Connecticut to the NCAA women’s basketball title and then captured the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year award, finished second. She had 15 first-place votes and 154 points, two more than Russian teen tennis sensation Maria Sharapova.

Sorenstam’s performance this season wasn’t nearly as eventful as 2003, when she won two majors and 11 times on the LPGA Tour, became the first woman since 1945 to play on the PGA Tour and entered the Hall of Fame. But it was just as efficient.

Sorenstam, 34, began with a win in the ANZ Ladies Masters on Australia’s Gold Coast, making up a four-stroke deficit at the midway point by closing with a pair of 65s. She ended it by edging Cristie Kerr in a playoff in the ADT Championship, the final tournament on the LPGA calendar, with her only victory that didn’t come by multiple shots.

Sorenstam locked up a fourth consecutive LPGA money title — her seventh in the last 10 years — tied her own scoring average record at 68.7 and led the tour in top-10 finishes, rounds under par and greens in regulation.

“Naturally, I’m pleased with my season in many different ways,” Sorenstam said, “and especially because I’ve played less tournaments and still won so much.”