Annika’s successful week to create buzz ends with ‘full circle’ winner

Annika Sorenstam stood by the 18th green at Pelican Golf Club with a big smile on her face.

She was smiling all week, given the success of her tournament. Caitlin Clark’s pro-am return and Kai Trump’s debut on the LPGA caused a stir and attention to her tournament, The Annika, making it the most talked about LPGA event on the calendar.

“A lot of things just lined up nicely this week,” Sorenstam said Sunday. “Starting the day with the winner, the weather, the people, the initiatives, the commitment, everything. All the different activities that were planned with sponsor invitations, with Caitlin Clark.”

WEEK it started with the Clark-Trump hype and ended Sunday, with Sorenstam looking like a woman she’s watched grow up in golf putting the finishing touches on an easy, classy victory.

Sweden’s Linn Grant, who played in the Annika Cup as a junior and made history when she beat the men by nine shots in a mixed event hosted by Sorenstam, was in complete control of this week’s tournament. The 26-year-old Grant went 52 holes without a bogey before finally surrendering a putt on the final hole Sunday, long after she ran away from Jennifer Kupcho to win her second LPGA title and first since 2023.

“You made this course look easy,” Sorenstam told Grant on the 18th green. “It’s not easy.”

For a week all about growing the women’s game, Grant might have been the perfect winner for Sorenstam’s event: a young, charismatic player with world-class talent who has the potential to soar.

“Golf is such a wild game,” said Grant, who posted a winning score of 19 under on Sunday. “One day, you can win everything, and the next day, you don’t believe in yourself at all. I think today was just a win for me, and with Annika and her event, I think it was maybe a win for little me. So much fun to be sitting here with (Annika) and all the history that we have, and all the events that I’ve played in – I think I’ve played in all the events at every level really, in all the events. personally and sitting here with Annika.”

“It’s all about Linn and what she did this week, and it’s very exciting to sit here with her and be happy for her,” Sorenstam said. “I think everybody who’s watched Linn growing up knows there’s a lot of potential there and she’s already won. … It’s tough out here, so you have to appreciate every win.”

Grant is the first Swedish winner of the event, which began in 2020. She grew up idolizing Sorenstam and remembers going to the legend’s chip clinics as a young golfer. The win had a deeper meaning for Grant, who had struggled this season and battled golf doubt.

“I feel like golf and this lifestyle is always a roller coaster of figuring out how to get better,” Grant said. “Sometimes it’s just to take a step back and maybe look at yourself and be like, am I happy? Am I making the decisions that make me happy? Sometimes that’s what makes golf easier. You have to be kind of strong and confident in those decisions to be able to say, maybe I’m not playing this week because I’m not feeling it, because it doesn’t make me do things for yourself anymore.”

Grant’s win was the cherry on top of a winning week for the LPGA. However, it also came with difficult questions to answer for the tournament organizer and the tournament. Sorenstam was pleased with how her event resonated with a larger audience, which saw Grant put on a great display of golf. She said she would rest her head on Sunday after a week that can only be described as a success. From social media impressions to Grant’s dominating win, Annika won the week and the LPGA season.

But Sorenstam also knows that repeating this week, building on it and stepping up to players like Grant is the next step.

“How can we take advantage of this and grow in this?” Sorenstam said. “I think what we’ve seen is when someone like Caitlin Clark comes here, there’s an extra buzz. She brings more people to the event, more people watch.

“But I think the key for us is, how do we do this more often? How do we keep it from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, to Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday? Players can only do so much. The interest is there. Those are questions that are certainly on the table. We don’t necessarily have the answers, but we’d like to continue it.”

As the LPGA and new commissioner Craig Kessler look for ways to clear the roadblocks before them, Sunday’s champion offered a clue to finding the way forward: The surest way to a desired destination in golf, business or life is not by doing the easy things or the traditional things, but by stepping outside the box and being true to yourself and your purpose.

“Like I had to change a lot of things in my routines, things that I thought were just things that were good to do because other people were doing them instead of thinking about what I really believe in?” Grant talked about what got her into the LPGA winner’s circle. “What do I think makes me a better person and a better player?”

Grant’s honest answers got him where he wanted to go. The LPGA must now find its own solutions to the big questions it faces.

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