BELLEAIR, Fla. — The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican marks the penultimate event of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and the Tour’s best have turned out in droves to compete in Annika Sorenstam’s namesake event at Pelican Golf Club. Seven of the top 10 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings are teeing it up, including world No. 1 Nelly Korda and defending champion Lilia Vu, and so are 17 of this year’s winners, most notably AIG Women’s Open champion and Olympic gold medalist Lydia Ko, U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally winner Yuka Saso and KPMG Women’s PGA Championship winner Amy Yang. Florida native Lexi Thompson, two-time LPGA Tour winner Rose Zhang and 18 LPGA Tour rookies are also in the 120-player field.

Take a look at just a few of the featured groups this week at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican using data provided by KPMG Performance Insights:

Thursday, 7:33 a.m. – Nelly Korda/Lilia Vu/Patty Tavatanakit

Nelly Korda is a two-time The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican champion, winning the event for the first time in 2021 and then successfully defending her title in 2022. She finished in a tie for 25th last season and will be looking to return to her winning ways once again this week in Belleair, Fla. It’s been an unbelievable season for the 26-year-old, who won six titles in seven starts earlier this year, five of which came consecutively at the LPGA Drive On Championship, FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship, Ford Championship presented by KCC, T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards and The Chevron Championship. She has earned three other top-10 results in her 14 total tournaments, tying for seventh at the Cognizant Founders Cup to end her win streak, tying for second at the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews and tying for fifth at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G, her last start on the LPGA Tour before she took some time off to rehab a neck injury. That strong slate of performances helped Korda clinch Rolex Player of the Year honors after the conclusion of the TOTO Japan Classic just a couple of weeks ago. Statistically, Korda is ranked 27th or better in six major strokes gained categories this season, according to KPMG Performance Insights, most notably ranking first in strokes gained total (+2.37), second in strokes gained driving (+0.88), fourth in strokes gained tee to green (+1.51) and seventh in strokes gained around the green (+0.38). She is also second Tour in scoring average (69.92), tied for second in putts per green in regulation (1.76), fourth in greens in regulation percentage (75.06%) and ninth in rounds in the 60s (29). Korda is not eligible to win the Vare Trophy, an award given to the player with the lowest scoring average at the end of the season, because she has not met the minimum number of Official Tournament rounds played.

Last year’s The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican was Lilia Vu’s fourth win of the 2023 LPGA Tour season and was a victory that ultimately helped the Epson Tour graduate earn Rolex Player of the Year honors after the CME Group Tour Championship. She is looking to successfully defend her title this week at Pelican Golf Club in just her second appearance ever in the event, something Vu has yet to do in her time as a professional golfer, and a goal that should be well within reach for the 27-year-old at a golf course that she adores. The California native has been dealing with a lingering back injury this year, even taking an extended break from competitive golf after withdrawing from her title defense at The Chevron Championship in April to rest and rehab that injury. But despite those physical challenges, Vu has still had a ton of success throughout the 2024 LPGA Tour season. In her 16 starts ahead of The ANNIKA, she collected her fifth career Tour title at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give in June after outlasting Grace Kim and Lexi Thompson in a playoff at Blythefield Country Club and has also earned four additional top-15 results, including a pair of T2s that came at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club and the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews. Vu also tied for seventh at the Honda LPGA Thailand and tied for 12th at the CPKC Women’s Open. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Vu is ranked in the top 25 of three strokes gained categories, including strokes gained total (15, +1.27), strokes gained putting (15, +0.67) and strokes gained around the green (25, +0.18). She is also fifth in bogey avoidance (13.37%), ninth in scoring average (70.51) and 10th in birdie-to-bogey ratio (1.55).

Patty Tavatanakit is making her fourth appearance at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, and in her three previous starts, she tied for sixth in 2021, missed the cut in 2022 and tied for 15th in 2023. This is the Thailand native’s 17th event of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and in her last 16 tournaments, Tavatanakit picked up her second career title in her home country at the Honda LPGA Thailand and has earned three other top-10 finishes, the most notable of which is a solo third that came at The Amundi Evian Championship in Evian-les-Bains, France. She has five other top-25 results on her 2024 resume, one of which was a tie for 24th that came at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. The Rolex Rankings No. 23 is showing up strong in several statistical categories this year, looking at data provided by KPMG Performance Insights. She is currently second on Tour this season in strokes gained around the green (+0.46), sixth in strokes gained tee to green (+1.22), 18th in strokes gained total (+1.14) and 27th in strokes gained driving (+0.40). Tavatanakit additionally ranks 11th in birdie or better average per round (3.93) and is 12th in birdie or better percentage (21.83%).

Thursday, 11:58 a.m.* – Lydia Ko/Rose Zhang/Lexi Thompson

This is Lydia Ko’s fifth start in The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, and in her four prior appearances, the New Zealand native has collected two top-five finishes, tying for fourth in 2020 and tying for second in 2021 after falling in a playoff to Nelly Korda. The 27-year-old is making her 19th start of the 2024 season after earning three victories at the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews and the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G and racking up six other top-15 results, the most recent of which came in her last start at the BMW Ladies Championship, where Ko ultimately tied for 12th. While it doesn’t count as an official LPGA Tour victory, Ko also took home the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics at Le Golf National, a performance that earned her the final point she needed to automatically qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame, one of the most prestigious Hall of Fames in all of sport. She returns to Pelican Golf Club ranked third in the Race to the CME Globe, fourth in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and fifth on the Official Money List this season, a testament to just how strong the 22-time LPGA Tour winner has played in 2024. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Ko is gaining strokes in five major categories so far this year, only losing shots in strokes gained driving, a metric in which she is ranked 101st. She is ranked fourth in strokes gained total (+1.92), eighth in strokes gained around the green (+0.37), 16th in strokes gained putting (+0.66) and 18th in both strokes gained tee to green (+0.93) and strokes gained approach (+0.72). Ko is additionally ranked second in bogey-free rounds (12), third in bogey avoidance (12.52%) and 10th in scoring average (70.52) on the LPGA Tour this season.

Rose Zhang is making her debut in The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, after not teeing it up last year as a 2023 rookie. This is the Stanford University alum’s 20th start of the season, and in her 19 previous events, Zhang earned her second career victory at the Cognizant Founders Cup in May and notched three other top-10 results – tying for seventh at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, tying for fifth at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards and tying for sixth at the CPKC Women’s Open, the last of which she recorded back in July. Zhang hasn’t competed on the LPGA Tour since the BMW Ladies Championship last month and will be working to fine-tune some things in her game as she tries to win for a second time this season at Pelican Golf Club. Statistically, Zhang is currently sitting in the top 20 on Tour in strokes gained approach (7, +1.00), strokes gained total (11, +1.46) and strokes gained tee to green (17, +1.00), according to data provided by KPMG Performance Insights. Like her groupmate Ko, Zhang also participated in the Paris Olympics, ultimately finishing in a tie for eighth at Le Golf National, and she was additionally a member of the winning U.S. Solheim Cup Team at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.

Lexi Thompson is teeing it up in one of her last few events as a full-time LPGA Tour member this week at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, having announced at the U.S. Women’s Open that she will be drastically dialing back her competitive schedule next season, and will be working once again to conquer Pelican Golf Club over the next 72 holes. She has never finished worse than T27 in her four previous appearances at this event and has earned three T7 or better results in those prior editions of The ANNIKA, tying for second in 2021, coming solo second in 2022 and tying for seventh in 2023. The 29-year-old has teed it up in 16 tournaments ahead of this week in Belleair, Fla., and posted four top-10 finishes, a slate of performances that includes a tie for third at the Ford Championship presented by KCC, a tie for second at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give, a tie for eighth at the Dow Championship alongside her playing partner Brooke Henderson and a tie for ninth at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee. She has five other top 20s on her resume this season, the most recent of which was a tie for 17th that came at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, Thompson’s last start on the LPGA Tour. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Thompson ranks sixth on Tour this year in strokes gained putting (+0.91) and 19th in strokes gained total (+1.12), only losing shots around the green, a metric in which she is 103rd (-0.15).

Thursday, 12:09 p.m.* – Haeran Ryu/Ruoning Yin/Hannah Green

Haeran Ryu collected her second win on the LPGA Tour just a couple of months ago at the FM Championship in Norton, Mass., after beating former Rolex Rankings No. 1 Jin Young Ko in a playoff at TPC Boston, but it seems like Ryu should have a lot more titles to her credit considering how well she has played in just her second year as a member. In addition to that victory, the Republic of Korea native has racked up 12 other top-10 results in 24 tournaments, four of which she has recorded in her last five LPGA Tour starts. Eight of those top 10s actually saw Ryu finish in the top five, and she did so twice in major championships this year, coming solo fifth at both The Chevron Championship in April and The Amundi Evian Championship in July. Ryu also tied for ninth at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June in Sammamish, Wash. But looking at the 23-year-old’s game on paper, her statistics are just as impressive as her top-10 count. According to KPMG Performance Insights, Ryu is ranked first in strokes gained tee to green (+1.95), second in strokes gained approach (+1.52), third in strokes gained total (+1.93) and 10th in strokes gained driving (+0.61). She is ranked third in scoring average, but Ryu is actually the highest-ranked player eligible to take home the Vare Trophy at the end of the 2024 season, as both Jeeno Thitikul and Nelly Korda will not meet the minimum number of Official Tournament rounds required to win the award. Ryu is also currently first in rounds in the 60s (37), second in greens in regulation (76.84%), third in birdie or better percentage (23.96%), third in birdie or better average per round (4.31) and third in subpar rounds (51). This is Ryu’s second time competing in The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, and she will be working to improve upon the T12 finish she recorded in 2023.

Ruoning Yin went on a tear during the LPGA Tour’s fall Asian swing, winning two titles in three starts at the Buick LPGA Shanghai in her native People’s Republic of China and at the Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The major champion had already picked up a victory earlier this season at the Dow Championship alongside her playing partner Jeeno Thitikul, and 2024 now marks her second consecutive LPGA Tour season with multiple wins on her resume. Yin has teed it up in the last two editions of The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, tying for 17th in her tournament debut as a rookie in 2022 and tying for seventh in 2023 at Pelican Golf Club. The four-time LPGA Tour winner has been dealing with some injuries this season, but this week marks her 19th start of the year, with Yin earning three top-10 results in addition to her three victories, one of which was a tie for second at the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews. Yin recently just moved up one spot in the Rolex Rankings to No. 2, overtaking Lilia Vu, and is currently ranked fifth in the Race to the CME Globe and sixth on the Official Money list. Despite the injuries she has battled at different points throughout the season, Yin’s statistics don’t show any signs that the strength of her game has suffered. Looking at KPMG Performance Insights, Yin is ranked fifth in both strokes gained tee to green (+1.46) and strokes gained approach (+1.06), sixth in strokes gained total (+1.63) and 13th in strokes gained driving (+0.53). She is also seventh in scoring average (70.32) and ninth in birdie or better percentage (21.96%).

Like Yin, Australian Hannah Green has won multiple times this season, capturing a victory at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in March before successfully defending her title at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro in April and then grabbing another win at the BMW Ladies Championship in the Republic of Korea last month. This year marked Green’s first-ever year earning three or more titles, and it is also her first multi-win season on Tour since she won both the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and Portland Classic back in 2019. Along with her three wins, Green has picked up three other top-10 results, coming solo second at the Mizuho Americas Open, tying for 10th at the FM Championship and then tying for sixth at the Maybank Championship, her most recent start on the LPGA Tour. Green is making her tournament debut this week at Pelican Golf Club, but considering how hot she has been on the LPGA Tour this season, figuring out the ins and outs of a new venue shouldn’t be too difficult for the Aussie. Statistically, the Rolex Rankings No. 5 is picking up shots in every major strokes gained category in 2024, according to KPMG Performance Insights, most notably ranking eighth in strokes gained total (+1.57) and 14th in strokes gained putting (+0.69). She is also 20th in strokes gained approach (+0.70), 23rd in strokes gained tee to green (+0.88) and 25th in strokes gained around the green (+0.18), additionally ranking first in putts per green in regulation (1.75), fourth in birdie or better percentage (22.74%) and fifth in scoring average (70.22).

*Off No. 10

For a full list of tee times, please click here.

Featured Groups: 2024 The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican

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