After graduating from Stanford in 2023, Angelina Ye struggled with where she could compete to help her develop and advance to the Epson Tour and eventually the LPGA Tour. Thanks to the Annika Women’s All Pro Tour, Ye now has a place to further develop her golf skills, challenge herself, and pursue a path to the highest levels of women’s professional golf.
On July 11, 2023, the Annika Foundation and the Women’s All Pro Tour announced a partnership rebranding as the Annika Women’s All Pro Tour. In 2024, the newly named Annika WAPT consists of 11 tournaments in the U.S. representing more than 200 players from 20 countries. The top two performers from each tournament receive exemptions into an Epson Tour event. The season’s top five performers receive exemptions into the second stage of LPGA Tour’s Q-Series, providing access to the Epson and LPGA tours. Going directly to second stage assures players some level of status on the Epson Tour, with the ultimate goal of moving to Final Stage to compete for an LPGA Tour card.
For Sörenstam, who ranks third on the LPGA’s all-time victory list with 72 titles including 10 major championships, this partnership made perfect sense. The Annika Foundation, established in 2007, has grown significantly and evolved over the years with the goal to “develop, empower and advance young women around the world through golf and in life.” At the grassroots level, the foundation’s “Share My Passion” clinics introduce young girls to the game. The foundation also conducts seven junior girls’ invitational events over five continents, two collegiate events consisting of the nation’s top teams, the Annika Award which recognizes the top female collegiate golfer of the year, and the Annika Development Program to assist a dozen female college graduates as they pursue their professional golf dreams. In total this year, the Annika Foundation will affect more than 1,000 girls and young women in 60 countries.
The origin for the Annika Foundation’s partnership with the Women’s All Pro Tour was based on strategy and fit, as well as an organizational push to assist more young women who hope to reach the next level. Rob Ohno, the Annika Foundation’s president and CEO, recalls talking with Sörenstam and her husband, Mike McGee, about the importance of the Annika Development Program and what a big step it was for the foundation to assist college graduates pursue their dreams of playing professionally. But where would these players compete if they had one poor round at LPGA Q-Series and failed to earn any Epson Tour or LPGA Tour access? The number of talented female golfers coming out of college continues to grow, but the number of spots on the Epson Tour and LPGA Tour is fixed. So, a substantial number of highly skilled players are left searching for a place to compete, develop, and advance. The Annika WAPT fills this void.
“We all want to play like Annika did, but she also has shown us how we can do so much more outside the ropes.” — Krista Junkkari
Sörenstam and the foundation team believed the partnership with the WAPT could help in numerous ways, including increasing its credibility with tournament sponsors, further solidifying its pathway to the Epson and LPGA tours for players, and helping to increase purses and reduce player entry fees over time. Additionally, the new initiative could generate further exposure for the Annika Foundation and add to its namesake’s legacy of helping the next generation of female golfers.
“The idea felt natural,” said Gary DeSerrano, the founder of the WAPT and Men’s All Pro Tour. “The WAPT, Annika, and the Annika Foundation shared the same goal of helping young women achieve their dreams of playing golf professionally. Adding Annika’s name to the tour would lend instant credibility to our mission.”
For Sörenstam, the partnership is about more than lending her name. She wants these young women to find success on and off the course. Through a virtual Q&A session for Annika WAPT members, she shared invaluable golf and life advice.
“Annika is a great mentor and role model for players like us who are in the beginning of their journey in professional golf and still learning,” said Krista Junkkari, an Annika Development Program ambassador and Annika WAPT member. “Annika has not only inspired us with her stories about her one-of-a-kind golf career and unmatched accomplishments as a professional golfer, but also with her wisdom and values about life in general. Of course, we all want to play like Annika did, but she also has shown us how we can do so much more outside the ropes. By helping and inspiring others and lifting up the game of golf for girls and young women all over the world, we can further empower each other for the better, like Annika has done for us.”
After a World Golf Hall of Fame career, Sörenstam continues to cement her legacy of impacting the next generation of girls and young women around the world through golf and in life. The addition of the Annika WAPT to her foundation work was the next logical step.
The inaugural Annika WAPT season is more than halfway complete. Nannette Hill (Wake Forest) leads the money list, with Hailee Cooper (Texas A&M), Alison Muirhead (Fresno State), Victoria Gailey (University of Nevada-Reno), and Ye rounding out the top five in the Callaway Race to Stage II. The season will end in early August at the Heritage Classic in Wichita, Kansas.