ANA INSPIRATION IS GOLF’S FIRST MAJOR

Major championship golf returns to the California desert this week at the famed Dinah Shore Course at Mission Hills Country Club for the 48th staging of the ANA Inspiration. The 112-player field includes the top 25 players in the Rolex Women’s Golf Rankings and all seven winners from this season, competing for a $3 million purse and the chance to hoist the Dinah Shore Trophy and make the leap into Poppie’s Pond at week’s end.

In 2018, five different players from five countries won the five LPGA majors, but none of those wins was more dramatic than that by Pernilla Lindberg. The Swede picked up her first professional victory at the 2018 ANA Inspiration after a marathon eight-hole, two-day playoff with seven-time major winner Inbee Park.

11 past ANA Inspiration champions are competing this week, including: Juli Inkster (1984, 1989), Lydia Ko (2016), Stacy Lewis (2011), Brittany Lincicome (2009, 2015), Pernilla Lindberg (2018), Inbee Park (2013), Morgan Pressel (2007), So Yeon Ryu (2017), Lexi Thompson (2014), Yani Tseng (2010) and Karrie Webb (2006, 2000).

DEFENDING CHAMPION LINDBERG SOAKING IT ALL IN

When Pernilla Lindberg was driving through the California desert fresh off her second top-25 finish of the season, she spotted a familiar face on the highway.

“It was pretty cool driving in,” she said on Tuesday at Mission Hills. “Coming down the valley the other day coming from Kia Classic I saw my face on a billboard farther up the road here. That's probably a first, that I get to see my own face on a billboard.”

The billboard was just one sign of how her week ahead at the ANA Inspiration is different than any other week on Tour for the 32-year old.

For starters, Lindberg returns to Rancho Mirage this week as a defending champion for the first time in her career. The 2018 ANA Inspiration was a storybook week for Lindberg, with her then-fiance (now husband) Daniel Taylor on the bag, she led wire-to-wire and took down LPGA Hall of Hame member Inbee Park in a marathon eight-hole playoff that ended on Monday.

With a year to reflect on her first professional win and her jump into Poppie’s Pond, Lindberg started off her week being honored at the annual ANA Inspiration Champion’s Dinner on Monday night and said the memories of her win are ones that will be with her forever.

“It's really cool to be able to say that I belong in that group,” Lindberg said. “It's really a step into history books. It's really nice to be able to know that I'm welcome to that champion's dinner for as long as I want to and know that the invitations are not just thrown out there. You have to work hard to get there.”

WORLD NO. 1 PARK SETS HER EYES ON NEXT WIN

Heading into her fifth consecutive week as World No. 1, Sung Hyun Park has been anticipating the 2019 ANA Inspiration. The 25-year-old South Korean has six wins on the LPGA Tour, including major wins at the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open and the 2018 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. But Park doesn’t credit her golf prowess as the reason behind her major success. Instead, she claims she was on the better side of luck those two weeks.

“I do have two major wins under my belt,” said Park. “Honestly, at those wins I had good luck those weeks. I think myself, including all the other players in the field, we focus more on the majors and players put a lot more emphasis on it, as do I. I'm just focusing on getting those low scores, but overall I think it's just good luck.”

Park is making her fourth start of the ANA Inspiration with a best finish of T6 in 2016. Her goal for the 2019 season is to win five times on Tour and with one victory already this season at the HSBC Women’s World Championship, she’s already got her eyes set on her next win.

“Of course, my goal here is to win,” said Park, who will tee off with 2018 major winner Georgia Hall at 1:11 p.m. off No. 10. “The ANA Inspiration is a major that I've targeted that I would like to win.”

That major win comes with a big tradition, one that is already weighing heavy in her mind. In a rare moment of levity for the normally reserved Park, when asked if she knew how to swim in the case she has to make the traditional leap into Poppie’s Pond, she answered with a smile, “No, I don't know how to swim, and so if the water level is deep then I might drown.”

LINCICOME READY TO LEAP AGAIN

When asked about her memories from the ANA Inspiration, Brittany Lincicome says she continues to cherish every moment, from embracing the tournament’s history to the beautiful Dinah Shore Course at Mission Hills. Lincicome has quite the history in Rancho Mirage; this year is the 10th anniversary of the first time she won the tournament in 2009, where she eagled the final hole to earn her first major title one stroke ahead of Cristie Kerr. In 2015, she finished on top again after beating Stacy Lewis in a playoff on the third extra hole.

Participating in her 12th ANA Inspiration this year, she is hoping for her third jump into Poppie’s Pond. “Everybody literally dreams about it. When you walk around 18 on the practice days you try not to think about it. You're looking in that pond and you're thinking, ‘How cool would it be to jump in there?’” said Lincicome.

This year is a bit different for the 33-year-old. The mom-to-be, who is expecting a baby girl this September, is playing her first major tournament pregnant. Lincicome said the pregnancy may have her feeling a little different, but that she and her caddie, Missy Pederson, are taking it one hole at a time. “I can definitely feel when I swing, especially with driver, there are some things stretching, and growing around the belly area,” said Lincicome. “I hit it and, ‘Oh, that was a little painful.’”

Despite the changes, Lincicome is still aiming to do her best this week. “I feel like I've been driving it well. If I can keep it on the fairway, get it on the green, eliminate mistakes, I definitely have a good chance of winning,” said Lincicome. “I have so many wonderful memories from this event I think that'll carry me through and I'll be on Cloud 9. Definitely feel like I have a strong chance of winning for sure.”

DRIVER IN HAND, THOMPSON READY TO TACKLE MISSION HILLS

At just age 24, Lexi Thompson has playing in her 10th ANA Inspiration, dating back to her debut as an amateur in 2009. To put that in perspective – of the 112 players in the tournament field, only 17 have made more appearances on the Dinah Shore Course than Thompson and all but one of them is over age 30 (Michelle Wie turns 30 in October).

So how does someone so young fare so well on this course? According to Thompson, who won the tournament in 2014, it all comes down to one simple thing. She just plain loves this course.

“I think it's just I get to play aggressive out here,” said Thompson, who has three other top-10 finishes to go along with her win. “I get to take my driver and just the setup of the golf course, you know, aim up the right side and hit my draw out there with my driver. I think it suits a ball striker, which major championships usually should. It's just a great layout and I love coming here.”

Thompson often speaks of being comfortable on the golf course, and she takes plenty of comfort in a new, yet old, face by her side. Starting at last week’s Kia Classic, Thompson re-teamed with former caddie Benji Thompson (no relation), who caddied for her from 2013 to mid-2016, including for her jump into Poppie’s Pond here in 2014.

“He has an upbeat personality, very positive,” said Thompson, who will tee off No. 1 at 8:19 a.m. alongside 2016 ANA Inspiration winner Lydia Ko. “He has an aggressive personality out on the golf course. I think he brings out the best in my game.”

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE ANA INSPIRATION

This is the 48th playing of the ANA Inspiration at the famed Dinah Shore Course at Mission Hills Country Club. The tournament became a major in 1983 when it was the Nabisco Dinah Shore.
There are 26 different winners in the tournament’s history as a major. Annika Sorenstam, Amy Alcott and Betsy King have the most wins with three each.
The 2019 tournament purse was raised to $3 million, up from $2.8 million last year.
Players from the United States have won the most titles at this event (14 different winners).
The overall tournament record, 19-under 269, was shot by Dottie Pepper in 1999. The tournament’s lowest round, 62, was recorded in 2006 by Lorena Ochoa in the first round.

Lincicome Ready to Leap Again and More for ANA Inspiration

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