Which golfer's women's sports career prize-money record did Serena Williams pass in 2009?

In 2009, Serena Williams passed golfer Annika Sorenstam’s record for career prize money earned by a female athlete.

Williams moved ahead of Sorenstam during her outstanding 2009 season, when she won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the WTA Tour Championships in singles, along with major doubles titles with Venus. Her earnings came from tournament prize money, not endorsement income, which is a crucial distinction in sports-record comparisons.

Sorenstam had been the leading career prize-money earner among women across sports after a dominant golf career. The Swedish golfer won 72 LPGA Tour events, including 10 major championships, and became one of the defining figures in women’s golf. Williams’s rise past her showed how tennis’s global prize purses and Grand Slam structure could produce enormous career totals.

This record is often confused with Williams’s separate 2009 single-season mark. That year she also earned $6,545,586, breaking Justine Henin’s record for one-year prize money by a female tennis player. The question asks about the broader career record, whose previous holder was Sorenstam.