GREAT TRADITION CONTINUES

The great tradition of major championship golf will return to the desert for the 45th staging of the ANA Inspiration at the famed Dinah Shore Course at Mission Hills Country Club. All Nippon Airways will be in its second year of title sponsorship of the historic event and will once again present the champions robe after this year’s winner makes the leap into Poppie’s Pond. The event is the second-oldest golf tournament continuously held at the same course.

All six winners on the LPGA this season will be in action as well as the top-46 players in the top 50 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.

Defending champion Brittany Lincicome is one of nine past champions in the field and one of four to have won the event multiple times: Lincicome (2009, 2015), Karrie Webb (2000, 2006), Juli Inkster (1984, 1989) and Amy Alcott (1983, 1988, 1991).

ANA will elevate the event in several ways including the addition of the inaugural ANA Inspiring Women in Sports Conference, which will take place on Tuesday afternoon. The conference seeks to celebrate the participation of women in sports and to help welcome golf into the Olympics for the first time since 1900. World-class athletes and former and active Olympians headline the event including Missy Franklin, Julie Foudy, Lindsey Vonn, Abby Wambach and Kristie Yamaguchi.

LINCICOME DEFENDS, GOES FOR THIRD ANA INSPIRATION TITLE

Brittany Lincicome returns to the desert for the season’s first major as defending champion and will set out on her second title defense of this tournament. Lincicome won her second major title and second ANA Inspiration victory last year when she shot a final-round 69 and eagled the 72nd hole to force a playoff with Stacy Lewis. The Florida native outlasted Lewis with a par on the third hole of sudden death and made the leap into Poppie’s Pond for the first time since 2009. She became the seventh multiple winner of the event.

The 30-year old has one top-10 finish in six starts in 2016 and best finish was a tie for eighth at the season-opening Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic. She’s coming off a T54 finish last week at the Kia Classic.

KO COMING IN HOT

Lydia Ko silenced the questioners last fall of “when will Lydia win a major?” In record-breaking fashion, Ko claimed her first major title at the Tour’s last major – The Evian Championship – and became the youngest to do so in LPGA history at the age of 18 years, 4 months and 20 days old. She broke Morgan Pressel’s previous record (18y/10m/9d) set at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in 2007.

The No. 1 player in the Rolex Rankings is coming into this week in prime form and picked up her 11th career LPGA title and first of the season last week at the Kia Classic. She’s been consistently good so far in 2016 and has yet to finish outside the top 15 in her six starts worldwide. She defended her title at the ISPS Handa New Zealand Women’s Open in February on the Ladies European Tour and held off world No. 2 Inbee Park in Carlsbad for a four-shot win last week.

Ko hasn’t fared particularly well at this championship in her first three appearances and recorded a career-best T25 finish in 2013. She finished T51 at Mission Hills a year ago. Now that she doesn’t have any streaks or records to beat this week, Ko said the pressure is off.

“Going into last year, there was Annika’s record of the under-par streak, so I had that going on, and I don’t have to worry about that going into next week,” said Ko. “I think my goal is to have my personal best finish at ANA. That’s a good start. I didn’t strike the ball very well last year there, so hopefully I’ll be able to hit a few more fairways and give myself a good chance, and obviously it helps to have played well here going into the first major of the year.”

LYDIA KO’S WORLDWIDE RECORD SO FAR IN 2016

Event	Scores	Finish
Coates Golf Championship	69-69-67-75=280 (-8)	T3
ISPS Handa Women's New Zealand Open (LET/ALPG)	69-67-70=206 (-10)	Win
ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open	70-70-68-67=275 (-13)	2
HSBC Women's Champions	71-74-67-69=281 (-7)	T15
JTBC Founders Cup	70-67-64-65=266 (-22)	2
Kia Classic	68-67-67-67=269 (-19)	Win

EARNED IT

Last week’s Kia Classic offered the final opportunity for players to earn their spot into the season’s first major championship. A total of 13 players, who were not otherwise qualified, secured spots in the top 80 on the 2016 LPGA Official Money List at the conclusion of the Kia Classic. Cydney Clanton was the only player who was not in the top-80 before last week’s event. She moved from No. 82 on the money list to No. 68 with a T27 finish at the Kia Classic.

Those players are as follows:

Player	Money List Position
Jacqui Concolino	22
Megan Khang	37
Paula Reto	41
Gaby Lopez	57
Simin Feng	58
Julie Yang	59
Jodi Ewart Shadoff	64
Kelly Tan	65
Cydney Clanton*	68
Annie Park	73
Tiffany Joh	75
P.K. Kongkraphan	76
Thidapa Suwannapura	79

*Played her way into the field with a T27 finish last week at the Kia Classic

FUTURE STARS IN THE FIELD

The ANA Inspiration will continue its tradition by awarding spots in the first major championship of the year to several top amateur players and provide the opportunity for the young stars to tee it up next to the world’s best female golfers.

Sierra Brooks (Sorrento, Florida, 17 years old) – Runner-up at the 2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship; No. 4 ranked female amateur golfer in the world; went 3-0 for the victorious U.S. Team at the 2015 PING Junior Solheim Cup and 2-1 on the victorious 2014 U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team.

Karen Chung (Livingston, New Jersey, 20 years old) – A third-year member of the University of South- ern California (USC) golf team where she won two collegiate titles and earned All-American honors in 2014; went undefeated while representing the U.S. in the 2012 Junior Ryder Cup, represented America at the 2011 and 2013 PING Junior Solheim Cups

Bronte Law (Stockport, England, 20 years old) – A third-year member of the UCLA golf team; in 2015 also named Pac-12 Conference Golfer of the Year, First Team WGCA All-America, All-Pac-12 and led the conference in stroke average; currently ranked 5th in the amateur world rankings; represented Europe in the Junior Solheim Cup and Junior Ryder Cup, as well as Great Britain & Ireland in the Curtis Cup

Leona Maguire (Cavan, Ireland, 21 years old) – Currently ranked No. 1 on the Official World Amateur Golf Rankings; also currently ranked No. 47 in the Olympic Golf Rankings; a sophomore at Duke University and won the 2015 Mark H. McCormack Medal, ANNIKA Award as National Player of the Year, the WGCA National Freshman of the Year and the Golfweek National Player of the Year – closing the year with 10 top 10 placements and three victories; became the first woman from the Republic of Ireland to make the cut in a major last summer (Evian Championship)

Albane Valenzuela (Geneva, Switzerland, 18 years old) –Currently ranked 12th on the Official World Amateur Golf Rankings and 5th in Europe; junior career included victories at the 2015 Orange Bowl, Doral Public Junior Classic and the Spanish International Amateur Stroke play; will be making her second major appearance, having played in the 2015 Evian Championship.

Andrea Lee (Hermosa Beach, California, 17 years old) – Earned a spot in the field today after shooting 5-under 67 at the ANA Junior Inspiration at the Palmer Course at Mission Hills Country Club; currently ranked No. 20 in the world amateur rankings; committed to play at Stanford starting in the fall of 2016

Storylines To Follow At ANA Inspiration

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