BRASELTON, Ga. — Annika Sorenstam and the ANNIKA Foundation will continue their support of the American Junior Golf Association through the ANNIKA Invitational, an invitation-only event featuring the top junior female golfers from around the world, the AJGA announced today. The tournament, which was voted “Newcomer of the Year” in 2009, will be extended through 2014.
Each year, Annika is involved in the tournament in every way, including conducting clinics and educational activities for the participants. In 2010, the ANNIKA Invitational featured a clinic by Annika, a private Valentine’s Day dinner, informational sessions on fitness, nutrition and skin care at Celebration Health, along with tips for speaking to the media.
The event is hosted by the Annika Foundation which seeks to teach children the importance of living a healthy, active lifestyle through fitness and nutrition, and offers aspiring junior golfers opportunities to pursue their dreams.
From the event’s inaugural year in 2009 through 2011, proceeds are used to endow an Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Grant in the ANNIKA Foundation’s name. The ACE Grant program was created by the AJGA in 2003 to ensure opportunities were available to junior golfers with skill who lacked the financial resources required to compete in national junior golf. Since the program’s inception, the AJGA has awarded 421 ACE Grants to 251 juniors totaling nearly $1,617,890. With the gift, Annika will join endowment partners Rolex, Polo Ralph Lauren, HP, Hunter Mahan, Deutsche Bank, Gary Gilchrist Golf Academy, the Bruce Slovitt Memorial ACE Grant and Global Golf Post.
Each year the tournament field is selected using the Polo Golf Rankings along with select international invitees to be determined.
Read the full press release here...
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