Annika Sorenstam hits a shot from the 11th tee during the first round of the Gainbridge LPGA tournament on Thursday in Orlando, Fla. (AP photo)

ORLANDO, Fla. — Annika Sorenstam doesn’t remember golf being this difficult.

She still managed plenty of smiles Thursday when the most dominant player of her era played her first LPGA Tour event in more than 12 years. With one birdie and one bad hole, Sorenstam had a 3-over 75 in the LPGA Gainbridge on her home course at Lake Nona.

“It seems a little bit more stressful, this kind of golf,” she said.

Sorenstam was 10 shots behind another Lake Nona member, Lydia Ko, who opened with a 7-under 65 for a two-shot lead.

But then, this week isn’t about Sorenstam adding to her 72 career victories or even starting a comeback at age 50. The LPGA Tour came to her home course and she wanted to play.

With that early heard turn and tee shots that more often than not found the fairway, it didn’t seem like Sorenstam had been away from the LPGA Tour since Nov. 23, 2008, when she retired after a three-win season to start a family.

It was the rest of the game that felt so foreign.

“I could have been more aggressive on the putts, I could have been more aggressive on iron shots,” she said.