BELLEAIR, Fla. — The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican is being contested this week at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla. The field, like always, is incredibly strong, with athletes like three-time The ANNIKA champion Nelly Korda, England’s Charley Hull and 2025 major winners Mao Saigo, Maja Stark, Grace Kim and Miyu Yamashita teeing it up in the penultimate event of the 2025 season. They are joined by several members of the 2025 rookie class, including former Florida State University standout Lottie Woad, Japanese twin sisters Akie and Chisato Iwai and Epson Tour graduate Ingrid Lindblad, the last of whom was the 2024 ANNIKA Award presented by Stifel recipient during her time at Louisiana State University.

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

Thursday, 11:59 a.m.*/Friday, 7:44 a.m. – Brooke Henderson/Charley Hull/Megan Khang

Brooke Henderson is making her fifth appearance in The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican and is definitely a player to keep an eye on this week at Pelican Golf Club. In her four previous starts in Belleair, Fla., outside of a withdrawal in 2022, the Canadian hasn’t finished worse than T19, carding two top-10 results in 2020 (T6) and 2021 (5). This is the 28-year-old’s 23rd start of the 2025 LPGA Tour season, and so far this year, Henderson has collected her 14th career victory at the CPKC Women’s Open, an event that is annually held in her home country, and tallied five additional top-15 finishes, the most recent of which is a tie for 15th that came at the FM Championship in August. According to KPMG Performance Insights data, she is ranked inside the top 25 in both strokes gained off the tee (14, +0.59) and strokes gained tee to green (25, +0.84). Henderson is also fifth in ball striking (15) and 13th in greens in regulation (74.35 percent), the latter of which is critical at a venue like Pelican Golf Club. She is currently ranked 26th in the Race to the CME Globe and 27th in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.

Like her groupmate Henderson, Englishwoman Charley Hull is also a winner on the LPGA Tour this season, picking up her third career title at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G, what was her first victory since the 2022 Ascendant LPGA benefiting the Volunteers of America. In the 13 other events that she has played outside of that winning performance in Ohio, Hull has carded two other top-10 results, tying for 14th at the HSBC Women’s World Championship and tying for second at the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club. This is the 29-year-old’s third consecutive year playing in The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, and in her previous two starts at Pelican Golf Club, Hull tied for 25th in 2023 and tied for second in 2024. Looking at KPMG Performance Insights data, the three-time LPGA Tour winner is 11th this season in strokes gained tee to green, picking up 1.19 shots on the field per round with her long game. Hull is also ranked inside the top 15 in strokes gained total (4, +2.04), strokes gained off the tee (13, +0.61) and strokes gained putting (15, +0.70). She additionally ranks 11th in one-putt average per round (7.11); 13th in birdie percentage (22.95 percent), scoring average (70.28) and average driving distance (272.87 yards); and 14th in both birdie or better percentage (23.19 percent) and birdie or better average per round (4.17).

Megan Khang is making her 19th start of the 2025 LPGA Tour season this week at Pelican Golf Club and will be working to add to her top-10 tally before next week’s CME Group Tour Championship. In her 18 tournaments this year, the Massachusetts native has made 15 cuts and carded five top-10 results, the best of which is a solo second that came at the Dow Championship alongside her playing partner Lexi Thompson and the most recent of which is a tie for seventh that came at the CPKC Women’s Open in August, the tournament at which Khang became a Rolex First-Time Winner in 2023. Khang is one of the stronger ball-strikers on the LPGA Tour at the moment, currently ranking second in strokes gained approach (+1.19) and third in strokes gained tee to green (+1.70), according to KPMG Performance Insights. In terms of proximity to the hole, the 28-year-old is fourth in proximity from 150 to 175 yards (28 feet 2 inches) and fifth from 175 to 200 yards (35 feet 1 inch). This is Khang’s sixth consecutive appearance in The ANNIKA since 2020, and in her five previous starts, she has recorded two top 10s – tying for seventh in 2023 and tying for eighth in 2024 – a pair of performances the veteran will be working to improve upon in Belleair, Fla.

Thursday, 12:10 p.m.*/Friday, 7:55 a.m. – Nelly Korda/Miyu Yamashita/Grace Kim

Fifteen-time LPGA Tour winner Nelly Korda loves Pelican Golf Club, as evidenced by the three victories she has collected at The ANNIKA since 2021. Korda won for the first time in Belleair, Fla. in a playoff over Sei Young Kim, Lydia Ko and Lexi Thompson after finishing with a four-day total of 17-under, and she then successfully defended that title in 2022, a year that saw the event shortened to 54 holes due to inclement weather. After a T25 showing in 2023, the 27-year-old Floridian triumphed again in 2024, what was the seventh and final victory that she racked up last season on the LPGA Tour. While it’s been a year since that victory and Korda has been doggedly pursuing a 16th career victory in 2025, that elusive title just might come this week at one of her most highly-favored hunting grounds. This is Korda’s 18th tournament of the year, and in her 17 tournaments before this week at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, she has made every cut and carded a whopping eight top-10 results, the most recent of which is a tie for fourth that came at the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei and the most notable of which was the tie for second she posted at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally at Erin Hills in Erin, Wisc. Statistically, according to KPMG Performance Insights data, Korda is leading the Tour in strokes gained off the tee (+0.93), additionally ranking third in strokes gained total (+2.33), fourth in strokes gained tee to green (+1.68) and 17th in strokes gained approach (+0.66). She is also first in par-5 scoring (4.56), second in birdie percentage (25.93 percent), second in birdie or better average per round (4.73), second in birdie or better percentage (26.28 percent), third in scoring average (69.70) and 10th in average driving distance (273.43 yards).

Miyu Yamashita is one of only two athletes who have collected multiple victories on the LPGA Tour this season, becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner at the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club and then picking up her second win of the year at the Maybank Championship after defeating the Republic of Korea’s Hye-Jin Choi and Australian Hannah Green in a playoff at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club. Along with those two titles, the Japan native has racked up 10 other top-10 results, most recently finishing solo third in the TOTO Japan Classic last week in front of a home-country crowd. Yamashita’s putting can be credited for much of the success she has enjoyed during her inaugural campaign, as according to KPMG Performance Insights data, she leads the LPGA in strokes gained putting (+1.38), putts made from 10 or more feet (192), putting from 10 to 15 feet (44.2 percent) and putting from 10 to 20 feet (35.9 percent). She also ranks inside the top five on Tour in several other statistical categories, most notably doing so in bogey-free rounds (1, 14), driving accuracy (2, 82.19 percent), sub-par rounds (2, 60), rounds in the 60s (2, 42), birdies (4, 345) and strokes gained total (5, +1.97). Yamashita is currently leading the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year race and is second in Rolex Player of the Year points behind only Rolex Rankings No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul. This is her debut appearance in The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.

Grace Kim became a first-time major champion at The Amundi Evian Championship, winning in a thrilling playoff over Jeeno Thitikul at Evian Resort Golf Club in France in July. It was the Epson Tour graduate’s first win on the LPGA Tour since she became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei during her rookie season in 2023. The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican is her 21st event of the 2025 LPGA Tour season, and in addition to her major triumph over the summer, Kim has carded two other top-10 results, finishing alone in ninth at the Black Desert Championship presented by Greater Zion and coming in fifth at The Standard Portland Classic in August. Statistically, according to KPMG Performance Insights, Kim is only ranked inside the top 20 of one major strokes gained category this season, currently sitting at 20th in strokes gained around the green (+0.25). This is her second appearance in The ANNIKA, and the 24-year-old Australian is looking to improve upon her T23 showing that she recorded in her debut in 2023.

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Featured Groups: 2025 The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican

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