Through years of unprecedented achievement, Annika Sorenstam has earned a distinction few in life have come to attain – to be widely known by her first name only.
With 72 LPGA Tour titles and 10 major victories, Sorenstam has more than earned her place on a short list of icons in golf that includes Babe, Inbee, Tiger, Arnie and Jack.
This week, the Hall of Famer will lend her name to the next stop on the LPGA Tour – The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. The tournament’s name change comes ahead of what will be the fourth playing of the event at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla.
Sorenstam is the first LPGA Tour player since Lorena Ochoa in 2017 to have a tournament bearing her name. Her foundation will be the charity beneficiary, and she will lend her support to one of the strongest events of the regular season. The tournament’s $3.25 million purse is one of the largest outside the LPGA Tour’s major championships and has attracted 120 of the top players in the women’s game, including eight of the top 10 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.
And as they begin arriving at Pelican Golf Club, the attention will shift to another player who is often referred to by her first name alone – Nelly Korda.
The two-time defending champion returns to Belleair in a similar position in which she found herself last season – in search of a first win of the year on the LPGA Tour. And while it seemed improbable that Korda could defend her title last year after missing four months of the season after stepping away to rehab a blood clot in her arm and having missed two cuts ahead of her title defense at Pelican, she did what all of the greats have done at one time or another – the unexpected.
In 2022, Korda came from two strokes back with a final-round 64, punctuated by birdies on two of her final three holes, and held off Lexi Thompson for the second straight year. The tournament was ultimately reduced to 54 holes due to weather, but the victory was an official one for Korda, who returned to the top of the Rolex Rankings after the win.
This week, Korda has a chance to do something that only the greats have done: win the same tournament for a third consecutive time. The last time a player won three consecutive years on Tour was in 2015 when Inbee Park won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship for a third straight time. Sorenstam did it multiple times in her career and holds the record for most consecutive wins in an event, capturing five total Mizuno Classics from 2001 to 2005.
But Korda will have to hold off a stacked field if she wants to hoist the trophy once more. Celine Boutier, already a four-time winner this season and frontrunner for the Rolex Player of the Year award, will be vying for yet another title as she looks to extend her lead in the season-long points races ahead of next week’s CME Group Tour Championship. Major champions Ruoning Yin and Lilia Vu are also in the field as they continue to trade spots atop the Rolex Rankings. They’re joined by other winners this season, including Jin Young Ko, Minjee Lee, Brooke Henderson, Linn Grant, Megan Khang and Allisen Corpuz, just to name a few.
They’ve all enjoyed seasons worth celebrating, but there are few in the history of the game who will achieve as much as a Babe, an Inbee or an Annika. That shouldn’t be a deterrent; instead, it should be a source of inspiration. A reminder of what can be achieved. Of what’s possible. And that’s what The ANNIKA represents – a tournament that celebrates one of the game’s legends that also inspires the next generation.
That next generation is now, and Korda is one of its stars. This week, she has a chance to grab her own piece of history with a third consecutive title and, with it, an opportunity to etch her name in the record books beside the icons of the game. And a step towards, maybe one day, being simply known as Nelly.
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