Pro Golf Now
Fansided

ANA Junior Inspiration – Growing the Game in a New Way

By Elizabeth Bethel

Apr 5, 2015; Rancho Mirage, CA, USA; Stacy Lewis tees off on the 18th during the final round of the ANA Inspiration at Mission Hills CC - Dinah Shore Tournament Course. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 5, 2015; Rancho Mirage, CA, USA; Stacy Lewis tees off on the 18th during the final round of the ANA Inspiration at Mission Hills CC - Dinah Shore Tournament Course. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

The ANA Junior Inspiration will determine who fills the last spot in the ANA Inspiration field.

For many reasons the ANA Inspiration is the LPGA’s most iconic major championship. Dinah Shore, an enduring presence at Rancho Mirage, remains the spiritual mother of the championship despite several name changes over the years. Poppy’s Pond eternally beckons.  The week-long Palm Springs party surrounding The Dinah is legendary.

There’s another less well known and somewhat newer tradition associated with The ANA Inspiration that’s getting a facelift.

For the last four years the historic major championship has offered the last place in the tournament starting field to the winner of an 18-hole competition featuring top junior golfers from Southern California. However as part of its efforts to grow the future of women’s golf throughout the country and take the game to new heights, title sponsor ANA and the Southern California Golf Association have opened up the junior field to now include elite players from across North America. It’s a tournament within a tournament!

More from Pro Golf Now

This year a full field of thirty-six elite junior golfers will be competing ion the newly named ANA Junior Inspiration for that spot in the Tour’s first major of 2016, taking place from March 31 – April 3.

Special invites have been extended to eight golfing hopefuls from across North America. The young women have been selected to join a wider field of twenty-eight junior players from Southern California at the ANA Junior Inspiration on Monday, March 28 at Mission Hills Country Club. The lucky winner of the ANA Junior Inspiration will tee off in the first round of the 2016 ANA Inspiration alongside the greatest players in the world.

The selected participants, each representing an ANA North American gateway city, include:

  • Mariel Galdiano, Punahou School, Honolulu, Hawaii
  • Sabrina Iqbal, Pioneer High School, San Jose, Calif.
  • Sophie Liu, Viera High School, Vancouver, BC
  • Kenedee Peters, Ephrata High School, Seattle (Ephrata, Wash.)
  • Madasyn Pettersen, Auburn High School, Chicago (Rockford, Ill.)
  • Aneka Seumanutafa, Saint John Catholic Prep High School, Washington D.C. (Frederick, Md.)
  • Elizabeth Wang, San Marino High School, Los Angeles, Calif.
  • Xinying Wang, Amador Valley High School, San Francisco, Calif.

To secure that final place in the full ANA Inspiration field the newly invited juniors will face the best players Southern California has to offer over the 18-hole shootout. Notable Southern California junior stars include: Andrea Lee, Manhattan Beach (No. 19 on the World Amateur Golf Rankings), Muni He, Rancho Santa Fe (No. 29 on the World Amateur Golf Rankings) and Alyaa Abdulghany, Newport Beach (2015 California High School Girls’ Champion).

Defending champion Brittany Lincicome anticipated the impact of the ANA Junior Inspiration on women’s golf:

"“This is absolutely huge for junior golf and . . . will encourage even more young girls to get into the game. There is quite simply nothing like this, no other major in men’s or women’s golf that offers such an opportunity.”"

More from Golf News

These young women now have the opportunity to succeed 2015 ANA Champions Junior Challenge champion, 16-year-old Haley Moore of Escondido, Calif. Moore not only played in the LPGA major championship, but also impressively made the cut and finished T67 last year.

The new ANA Junior Inspiration is just one in a series of game-changing initiatives that ANA is introducing to the ANA Inspiration to advance the future of women’s golf. The official 2016 tournament launch also announced the first-ever ANA Inspiring Women in Sports Conference set to take place on Tuesday,  March 29, overlooking the 18th Green and Poppies Pond of the famed Dinah Shore Tournament course.

Next: LPGA 2016 Major Champions - My Predictions

Female sporting icons Missy Franklin, Annika Sorenstam, Lindsey Vonn, Abby Wambach and Kristi Yamaguchi will headline the inaugural conference, which will include a series of panels and discussions about the state of women’s sports, female athletes as role models, using sports as a platform to inspire women of all ages, and what it takes to be a champion.

Home/Golf News