April 2-5, 2015
ANA Inspiration
Mission Hills Country Club
Rancho Mirage, California
(Note: Rancho Mirage is in the Pacific Time Zone)
TOP STORYLINES
NEW TITLE, SAME TRADITION
All Nippon Airways (ANA) will give the ANA Inspiration a new look and new title this year, but will be continuing the long-standing tradition of hosting the best female golfers in the world at golf’s first major of the year. The 44th staging of the event will again be held at the famed Dinah Shore Course at Mission Hills Country Club and will continue the customs of the champion’s robe presentation and leap into Poppies Pond. The event is the second-oldest golf tournament continuously held at the same course.
Lexi Thompson returns to the site of her first major championship win this week and is coming off two top-12 finishes including a tie for 10th finish last week at the Kia Classic. Thompson became the second-youngest major champion a year ago when she shot a final-round 68 to beat Michelle Wie by three shots. She has made 23 starts since her last win here in the desert.KO TAKES ANOTHER SHOT AT HISTORY
This week Lydia Ko enters golf’s first major – the ANA Inspiration – with the chance to continue to further cement her name all over golf’s record books. Ko has now notched 28 consecutive under-par rounds. For comparison, the PGA Tour record was just 26.
The longest streak that the LPGA can currently find is 29 consecutive sub-par rounds, which Annika Sorenstam did in 2004 at the age of 34. Ko is just 17 years old.
With a victory this week, the world No. 1 can also become the youngest major champion in LPGA Tour history. She currently is the youngest winner in LPGA Tour history, youngest Rolex Rookie of the Year and youngest in golf history – man or woman - to reach world No. 1. Of the LPGA Tour’s 65-year existence, seven tournaments have been won by a winner under the age of 18. Ko owns six of those seven titles.
Perhaps just as impressive as Ko’s under-par streak is her consecutive top-10 finishes- currently 10 in a row for those counting at home. The LPGA Tour record for consecutive top-10s is Karrie Webb with 16, and Ko’s currently charging hard at that record as well. Ko currently leads the Race to the CME Globe, Money List and Rolex Player of the Year standings. The New Zealander said she knows there is a lot riding on the first major of the year and hopes to have fun in her quest at more historic achievement.
“I mean I’ve been watching Golf Channel, and they’ve been saying the spotlight is kind of on me, who’s going to win, but you know, it’s going to be definitely a tough week,” Ko said. “I know that all the girls are trying to bring their A games together, and that’s what I gotta do. So I’m just going to try and have fun. Hopefully I’ll hit some really good shots, make some good putts and give myself a good run for it.”
KERR COMES OFF 17TH LPGA CAREER WIN
All of 2014 Cristie Kerr pushed for the moment she got Sunday. She hadn’t won since the 2013 Kingsmill Championship, and she was dying for the chance to walk off the 18th green a winner to her awaiting son.
Turns out her win at the Kia Classic Sunday worked out just perfectly. She got her 17th career win for her caddie, Greg Johnston, whose father died a week ago. The win snapped a 22-month winless drought.
“You know, I think when I got in contention last year, I thought about winning a little too much, wanting him to be on the green, but you know, everything happens for a reason, and last year he couldn’t have run out to meet me. So maybe that was fate, too,” Kerr said. “But it was just huge.”
Kerr’s win was the first of 2015 by an American on the LPGA Tour and marked the seventh different winner in the first seven events on the schedule. Five of the seven wins to open the season had come from Korean players with the other win coming from world No. 1 Lydia Ko of New Zealand.
FUTURE STARS IN THE FIELD
The ANA Inspiration will continue its tradition by awarding spots in the first major championship of the year to several top junior players and provide the opportunity for the young stars to tee it up next to the world’s best
female golfers.
Celine Boutier- Currently the No. 1 player on the Women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings; is a member of the 2014 NCAA Champion Duke University women’s golf team; 2014 WGCA National Player of the Year and 2014 ACC Player of the Year
Nelly Korda- The 2015 Harder Hall Invitational champion; is the younger sister of LPGA player Jessica Korda; made the cut at the 2013 U.S. Women’s Open at Sebonack Golf Club as a 14-year-old and won the 2014 Kathy Whitworth Invitational
Andrea Lee- The reigning Rolex Junior Player of the Year; a verbal commit to Stanford University; currently the No. 1 female on the Polo Golf Rankings with two AJGA victories
Mika Liu- A former No. 1 player on the Golfweek/amateurgolf.com World Amateur Rankings; amateur resume includes victories at the 2014 Women’s Western Amateur, the 2014 Southern Women’s Amateur and the 2014 World Amateur Junior Championship, where she was a member of the victorious Team USA
Bethany Wu- The medalist at the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Stroke Play; she is a two-time winner of the ANNIKA Invitational (2013-14) who has played on both the 2013 PING Junior Solheim Cup Team and 2014 Junior Ryder Cup Team; a verbal commit to UCLA
Haley Moore of Escondido, Calif. earned a spot in the field after shooting 5-under 67 at the ANA Inspiration Champions Junior Challenge on Monday at the Palmer Course at Mission Hills Country Club.
A SHOT AT A MAJOR VICTORY
Last week’s Kia Classic offered the final opportunity for a few players to earn their spot into this week’s field at the ANA Inspiration. A total of 15 players, who were not otherwise qualified, played their way into the year’s first major by securing spots in the top 80 on the 2015 LPGA Official Money List at the conclusion of the Kia Classic.
Those players are as follows:
| Player | Position on the 2015 Money List |
| Ariya Jutanugarn | 10 |
| Alison Lee | 22 |
| Alison Walshe | 40 |
| Minjee Lee | 42 |
| Sakura Yokomine | 62 |
| Jaye Marie Green | 64 |
| Xiyu Lin | 65 |
| Katie Burnett | 66 |
| Maria Hernandez | 67 |
| Paz Echeverria | 68 |
| Yueer Cindy Feng | 70 |
| Jennifer Song | 71 |
| Alena Sharp | 74 |
| Wei Ling Hsu | 78 |
| Kelly Shon | 79 |
| Players who were not in the top 80 prior to the Kia Classic | |
NUMBERS TO KNOW
28- Lydia Ko extended her consecutive sub-par round streak in the final round of the Kia Classic to 28 rounds. Annika Sorenstam’s streak of 29 consecutive sub-par rounds is the longest streak the LPGA can currently find on record
44 – Years the LPGA has been hosted at Mission Hills Country Club
10 - Lydia Ko now has 10 consecutive top-10 finishes; LPGA record for most-consecutive top-10’s is 16 by Karrie Webb
7 - In Hyo Joo Kim’s last eight LPGA starts, she now has seven top 10s including two wins in her last six starts
14- Top-10 finishes by rookies so far this season, including two victories (Sei Young Kim & Hyo Joo Kim); 11 LPGA Tour rookies will be in the field this week
7 - There have been seven different winners this year; Cristie Kerr became the first non-Korean born player to win in 2015 last week at the Kia Classic
QUICK FACTS
Field: 115 (109 professionals, 6 amateurs)
Par: 72
Yardage: 6,769
Purse: $2,500,000
Winner: $375,000
TV Times
Golf Channel
March 31 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
(Live Press Conf. Show)
April 1 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
(Live Press Conf. Show)
9:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
(Pro-Am Show)
April 2 12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
April 3 12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
April 4 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
April 5 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
All times listed are Eastern
Rolex Rankings
Top 10: 10/10
Top 20: 19/20
2015 LPGA Official Money List
Top 10: 9/10
Top 20: 19/20
Sponsor Invitations
Celine Boutier (a)
Nelly Korda (a)
Andrea Lee (a)
Mika Liu (a)
Bethany Wu (a)
Champions Junior Challenge Winner
Haley Moore (a), 67 (-5)
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