RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIF. – A top international field of professional and amateur golfers is set to join Annika Sorenstam, Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel for the upcoming Kraft Nabisco Championship, the first "major" of the year on the LPGA Tour. The Kraft Nabisco Championship, which celebrates its 35th year in 2006, will be held March 27-April 2 at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
The Kraft Nabisco Championship has released its list of professional and amateur exemptions for the tournament. The amateurs include Sydnee Michaels, a 17-year-old high school senior from Temecula, Calif. Michaels is currently ranked 8th in the nation by GolfWeek and 3rd in the nation by Junior Golf Scoreboard.
Paige Mackenzie of Yakima, Wash., is expected to join Michaels in the field. Mackenzie, a 23-year-old college senior at the University of Washington, finished tied for 13th in the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open at Cherry Hills. She won the 2005 Women’s Transnational Championship and was ranked #1 by GolfWeek in November 2005 for both amateurs and college women.
Eighteen-year-old Angela Park has also been invited to compete in the LPGA major. Park, a senior at Torrance High School in Torrance, Calif., qualified for the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open and was a semifinalist at the 2005 U.S. Women’s Amateur. She was ranked as the #2 junior by GolfWeek and was a member of the Junior Solheim Cup. A native of Brazil, Park moved to the United States when she was eight years old.
In-Bee Park has also accepted an invitation to play in the 2006 Kraft Nabisco Championship. The 18-year-old Las Vegas resident is an eight-time AJGA National Champion and has been consistently ranked #1 and #2 at various times over the last four years by GolfWeek. Last year, Park finished in 5th place at the LPGA’s Takefuji Classic tournament in Las Vegas and qualified for the LPGA’s Futures Tour.
Anna Grzebien, a junior at Duke University and a native of Narragansett, Rhode Island, is the 2005 NCAA Individual Champion. The Kraft Nabisco Championship is the first LPGA event for the 21-year-old collegiate star.
Rounding out the field of amateurs is Maru Martinez, a senior at Auburn University in Alabama. The 22-year-old native of Caracas, Venezuela, was ranked #3 last fall by GolfWeek and was runner-up to Morgan Pressel in the USGA Amateur Championship. She was also named to Golf World’s Mid-Season All-American Team and was selected as one of the top ten female players to watch by that publication. She finished the 2005 fall season with the SEC’s lowest stroke average of 71.58.
Playing her first Kraft Nabisco Championship as a golf professional is Michelle Wie. The Hawaiian teenager will be joining the field based on the revised player eligibility criteria announced earlier this year by the LPGA and Kraft Nabisco Championship.
In addition, Kraft Nabisco Championship has extended invitations to several of the world’s top professional players, including Yuri Fudoh and Ai Miyazato from the Japan Ladies Professional Golf Association. Fudoh and Miyazato were the top two money winners on the Japanese Tour in 2005.
Bo-Bae Song and Kyeong Bae were the top two money winners last year on the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour and both have accepted invitations to play at Mission Hills Country Club this year. They will be joined by Cecilia Ekelundh of Sweden and Veronica Zorzi of Italy. Ekelundh and Zorzi are the top two players from the Ladies European Tour.
The Kraft Nabisco Championship’s special exemptions to the playing members on the Solheim Cup team for 2005 were extended to Trish Johnson of England, Ludivine Kreutz and Gwladys Nocera of France, and Suzann Pettersen of Norway. All have committed to play in the event. Also invited was Iben Tinning of Denmark. Tinning is awaiting the birth of her child and will not play in the tournament.
The Kraft Nabisco Championship will celebrate its 35th anniversary March 27 – April 2 at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. This year’s tournament will feature the best players in women’s professional golf, led by defending champion Annika Sorenstam who will be playing for her fourth Kraft Nabisco title. Most of the tournament’s past champions are also expected to return for the 35th anniversary celebration. For more information, please call 760/324-4546 or visit the tournament Web site at www.KNCGOLF.com.
Contact:
Donna Hahn
Hahn Communications
(949) 458-3983
donna@hahnmarketing.com
Larry Baumann
Kraft Foods Global Inc.
914/425-3890
larry.baumann@kraft.com
