ANNIKA Blog

PGA Show Recap

Wow-last week was another busy one! It was a great weekend of meetings, seeing old friends and more during the annual PGA Merchandise Show. The PGA Show has been going on since the 1950s; it started as a small event held in parking lots and has grown to what it is today, with more than 1,000 vendors and 40,000+ PGA Professionals, buyers and industry leaders in attendance. Were any of you able to make it this year?

I always love the week of the Show because it is very exciting to see all that is up-and-coming in the golfing world. It's a chance to showcase the latest and greatest products and try them out firsthand. I also love it because it brings everybody in the industry together at the same time. It was wonderful catching up with my friends at Lexus, Callaway, Cutter & Buck, V1 and more.

Another highlight was receiving the ING Industry Honors Award in the Business Achievement category! It means a lot to be recognized for the work I am doing off the course. I am so lucky to be able to continue to share my passion and I very much appreciate receiving this award from ING. ING exists to bring golf media together with representatives from all walks of the golf industry to discuss issues, exchange information and improve communication.

I'd love to hear about your PGA Show experience. If you weren't able to make it this year, I hope to see you there next year!

ANNIKA e-News: The Turn

It's time for the second edition of e-News! I hope you received it via email this morning but if not, please check it out here and email info@annikaclub59.com to subscribe.

Have a great Thursday!

 

My Interview with President Clinton

I think it's safe to say I have done my fair share of interviews throughout my career. That said, I have never been the one asking the questions...until this week. For my first interview, I talked with President Clinton at his Health Matters conference, kicking off the Humana Challenge.

Check out the video here and let me know how I did!

Geoff Shackelford’s Golf Digest Blog

Wow-yesterday was quite a day! I wanted to share a brief recap on Geoff Shackelford’s Golf Digest blog  with you from the Health Matters conference, hosted by President Clinton's Foundation. His kind words mean a lot to me and I appreciate him taking notice that health & wellness is certainly not something I take lightly. I 100% stand behind the mission of my Foundation, to teach children the importance of living a healthy and active lifestyle through fitness and nutrition, and am very passionate about this cause.

Here is an excerpt from Geoff's blog:

- Notah Begay and Annika Sorenstam both spoke about their interests in the area of health and both not only held their own on a stage with talented speakers and an audience full of health care professionals, but represented the world of golf in high quality fashion. Both are eloquent and knowledgeable when discussing their causes. They are certainly not just lending their name to a foundation for tax purposes. These are genuine, involved and impressive individuals. Golf is lucky to have them.

You can view the entire post here.

Return to the West Coast

The ANNIKA Invitational was very successful! I want to say a special thank you to everybody who helped make it so special. I was very impressed with all of the talent on the course; Congratulations to all of the girls who participated. You all did very well! A big CONGRATS to Alison Lee for winning her first AJGA Invitational title!

Stay tuned for photos and video from the tournament. In the meantime, I wanted to talk about what’s next. I headed straight to the airport after the Invitational for a private speaking event in Palm Springs and the Health Matters conference, an event President Clinton’s Foundation hosts to kick off the Humana Challenge. I’m very much looking forward to talking with others who share my passion for living a healthy and active life. I am part of a “Building Healthy Communities” panel discussion with Susan Dell, Notah Begay III, Goldie Hawn and Lakeysha Sowunmi.

Do you have a question you’d like asked during this panel? The conference is accepting questions via twitter! Send in your question and include “#HealthMatters” in your tweet. You can watch the conference live at http://clintonfoundation.org/healthmatters/ to see if your question is asked and to learn more about what the panelists are doing to promote healthy lifestyles.

What do you do to stay active and healthy?

ANNIKA Invitational

This is a very exciting week; the ANNIKA Foundation is kicking off the fourth annual ANNIKA Invitational on Friday at Reunion Resort! The ANNIKA Invitational is an award-winning tournament on the AJGA circuit that gives the top female golfers from around the world the opportunity to compete against each other, while also participating in activities with me off the course. Two of the three previous champions, Simin Feng and Celine Boutier, are returning this year to try to re-claim their title; I'm looking forward to seeing them again! Victoria Tanco, the 2010 Champion and two-time Rolex Junior Player of the Year earned her LPGA Tour card at the 2011 Q-School. We will miss Victoria this year but wish her the best of luck in her professional career!

Through the ANNIKA Invitational, my Foundation has endowed a $100,000 AJGA ACE Grant, which affords juniors the chance to play who may not otherwise be able. Additional proceeds from the event go toward implementing the SPARK Physical Education program into Florida elementary schools. This research-based, quality PE program helps kids stay active and fit, which is so very important as one-third of kids today are overweight or obese.

The Invitational will begin with the Callaway Golf Junior-Am on Friday and that night, I'm very excited get to know the girls better when I host them at a Welcome dinner. I won't keep them out too late because the first round of the tournament will begin on Saturday morning and that afternoon, I am hosting a golf clinic sponsored by Rolex at the ANNIKA Academy. Hopefully they will learn something and will be able to put it good use the rest of the weekend!

A highlight of the Invitational for me is the Florida Hospital Healthy 100 Celebration, which will take place after Round Two of the tournament on Sunday. The girls will go through media training and lessons on the importance of proper skin care while in the sun all day, fitness and nutrition. This is a unique element of the tournament that allows the girls to get a better understanding of what it's like to play collegiate and professional golf. It's not just about what happens on the course; there is so much more and I love being able to show that to them.

The tournament concludes on Monday. Please join me in wishing all of the participants good luck (not that they need it!)!

Stay tuned to the blog and twitter for updates throughout the weekend.

First Edition of New E-newsletter

I hope everybody is having a great week! We are having a wonderful time in Tahoe. Even though there is a lack of natural snow, we are enjoying spending time together and playing with the kids. We're also taking lots of pictures of the gorgeous scenery which I will be sure to share!

To read more about our trip and upcoming plans, check out the first edition of our new e-newsletter. Send an email to info@annikaclub59.com to sign up if you haven't done so already!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I am sure I am not alone when I say it’s hard to believe it’s 2012. Wow! I rang in the new year in Lake Tahoe with my family; it was the perfect way to end 2011 and start what will be a wonderful year. As we reflected on 2011, we realized how lucky we are. We have two beautiful, healthy and happy children who we love more each and every day. They continue to amaze us and we are so proud of them. Although we certainly faced many fears with Will’s early arrival, he continues to live up to his name and shows the “will” to prove every doctor wrong with his good health and happy personality. He and Ava are best buddies and it just melts our heart to see them interact!

On a business level, we are very proud of all we accomplished during the past year during difficult economic times and we look forward to more exciting ventures in 2012. Specifically, I am looking forward to going back to China this summer for the second annual ANNIKA Invitational at Mission Hills and am thrilled for the inaugural ANNIKA Invitational Europe, which will be held in Sweden. One of the highlights of my week is being a part of The Morning Drive and I am excited to continue this during the new year. I hope all of you will be watching when I join-in every Thursday morning. This Thursday will also be the first edition of our newly revised ANNIKA E-Newsletter. You can get on our list by submitting your request to info@AnnikaClub59.com .

These are a few of the wonderful things that are coming up this year and I look forward to sharing them with all of you. I wish you all a very happy and healthy new year! By the way, what are your resolutions this year?