ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Trailing by three shots entering the final round, Angelina Ye (Bradenton, Florida) used a 1-under par 71 today to claim victory in the Annika Invitational USA presented by Rolex at the Slammer & Squire Course of World Golf Village.
Ye finished at 2-under par overall, two strokes ahead of second place and three in front of third-place finisher Mathilde Claisse (Poissy, France), the 36-hole leader.
“The most important thing for me going in was about keeping a relaxed mindset and really just enjoying the round of golf, taking it one shot at a time and not thinking about the result,” said Ye, who carded a 3-under par 33 on the back nine.
The final pairing featured Ye and Claisse, as well as Frida Kinhult (Fiskebackskil, Sweden). When the group made the turn this afternoon, Claisse held a 4-stroke lead. That changed quickly.
Claisse stretched her advantage to five with a birdie on No. 10, but between holes 12-16 she went 5-over par. During that same stretch, Ye fired 3-under par. An 8-stroke swing proved to be the deciding factor.
“I remember going into No. 17, on the drive I’m just like, ‘Just hit this drive right down the middle at that tree. Don’t think about the next shot or anything else,’” said the two-time Rolex Junior All-American. “I didn’t know I was leading.”
For Ye, the tournament was won on No. 15 when she holed a birdie and watched Claisse struggle to double bogey, giving Ye a 1-shot advantage.
“It actually did kind of help that I didn’t know what the scores were for everyone,” said Ye, who is No. 15 in the Rolex American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Rankings.“I guess I knew I had a shot at this, but the fact I didn’t know that I was leading took a little bit of the pressure off.
Born in Shanghai, China, Ye moved to the United States in January of 2016. A member of the IMG Academy class of 2019, the 16-year-old has also verbally committed to play college golf at Stanford University. This is her second AJGA win and first invitational victory.
Over the past two years, Ye has attempted to qualify for several Epson Tour tournaments and now that dream is finally realized. The victory earns Ye exemption into the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic from March 16-18 at the Country Club of Winter Haven in Winter Haven, Fla.
“Between now and then, I’ll just be doing everything I can to make sure I am ready for the Epson Tour. This is going to be really cool, definitely really exciting,” said Ye, who will also represent China at the Asia Pacific Amateur in Singapore next month.
The partnership between the Epson Tour and AJGA is not only thrilling for the players, but also for those hosting tournaments with an exemption on the table.
“I’m certainly proud that we have a partnership with the Epson Tour. Talk about inspiration for these young girls to be able to have a chance to play in the bigger league, in the better league,” said 10-time LPGA Tour major champion and 2003 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee, Annika Sörenstam. “A lot of their goals is to play in a professional event. It’s just giving them opportunities, opening the door, giving them a chance to experience something they probably haven’t done before. I’m very proud of that.”
Meanwhile, it is 10 years strong for the Annika Invitational USA, although this year marked the first at the World Golf Village. The previous nine tournaments were held at Reunion Resort in Kissimmee.
In total, the 2018 field featured players from 16 countries and 15 states.
“It warms my heart when you see how good these young girls are and how mature,” Sörenstam said. “Obviously their skills are fantastic, but just to see how they represent the game very well. I’m excited to see that the numbers for junior girls are growing. It’s the fastest growing segment of the game. This is the cream of the crop of junior girls.”
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