Defending champion to be joined by LPGA’s finest, including Creamer, Gulbis, Inkster, Kerr, Ochoa and Webb
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (May 25, 2006) – Defending champion Annika Sorenstam heads a stellar field scheduled to compete in the $1.5 million ShopRite LPGA Classic, June 2-4 at the Bay Course of the Seaview Resort and Spa in Galloway Township, NJ. The field includes each of the top 20 players on the LPGA’s official earnings list for 2006.
"This may well be the strongest field in the history of our tournament," said ShopRite Classic Executive Director Ruthie Harrison. "We are thrilled that our fans will get to experience the very best that the LPGA and the world of women’s golf has to offer."
Sorenstam will be joined by such LPGA luminaries as fellow Hall of Famers Karrie Webb and Juli Inkster, future Hall of Famer Se Ri Pak, 2004 Classic champion Cristie Kerr, red-hot Lorena Ochoa, teenage phenom Paula Creamer and rising young star Natalie Gulbis.
Sorenstam collected $210,000 for her 2005 ShopRite Classic win. She improved her score in each round, shooting 67-65-64 for a total of 17-under-par 196, tying the tournament record, which she had established in 1998. Her birdie-eagle finish ended her final round dual with playing competitor Inkster and put an exclamation point on perhaps the most memorable final round in ShopRite Classic history.
Her astonishing total of 67 career wins on the LPGA Tour (including one so far this year) has come in just 12 years, 43 of which have come in the five seasons preceding this one. Mickey Wright with 82 wins and Kathy Whitworth with 88 are the only players ahead of her, but the way Sorenstam has played in recent years, what were once thought to be untouchable numbers are now suddenly on the horizon.
In winning the 2005 ShopRite Classic title, Sorenstam became the second player to have won the tournament three times (’98, 02, ’05). Fellow Hall of Famer Betsy King has also taken home the crown on three occasions (’87, ’95, ’01). Juli Inkster is the other multiple winner of the event (’86 and ’88).
Among Sorenstam’s chief challengers figure to be the seemingly ageless Inkster, whose record of success at the ShopRite Classic is beyond remarkable. Inkster’s runner-up finish in 2005 extended her extraordinary ShopRite Classic success story. She now has an unprecedented 13 top ten ShopRite Classic finishes, and, coincidentally, has been the runner-up in each of the three years when Sorenstam has won.
Inkster has finished in the top four in nine of the ten years that the tournament has been held at Seaview, and is a cumulative 81 under par in those ten years and 30 rounds at the Bay Course! Inkster also holds the distinction of being one of only two players to have played in all previous 20 ShopRite LPGA Classic tournaments. The other player is Sherri Steinhauer, who is also in this year’s field.
Sorenstam and Inkster will likely be challenged by a galaxy of stars, including 19-year-old Paula Creamer, who amazed everyone by nearly winning the 2004 ShopRite Classic as a 17-year-old amateur. Playing on a sponsor’s exemption, Creamer narrowly missed a birdie putt on the last hole of the tournament, which would have tied her for the lead. Last year, as an 18-year-old Tour rookie, she won two tournaments, finish second to Sorenstam on the LPGA money list and led the U. S. team to victory in the Solheim Cup. Creamer, Natalie Gulbis, 18-year-old Morgan Pressel and Christina Kim are just a few of the talented and charismatic young American stars who are sparking an unprecedented buzz around the LPGA Tour.
Mexico native Ochoa and Australian Webb are the two hottest players on the LPGA Tour in 2006. Each has won twice, with Webb capturing the season’s first major – the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Ochoa’s play has been even more remarkable, winning twice and finishing second or tied for second in her last six Tour events. Kerr won five events in the past two seasons, including her 2004 ShopRite Classic title, and has already won another tournament earlier this season.
The field also includes three highly touted rookies – Pressel, Japan’s Ai Miyazata and Julieta Granada, from Paraguay. Among the former ShopRite Classic champions in the field besides Sorenstam, Kerr, Inkster and Pak are Michelle McGann, Janice Moodie and Angela Stanford.
The 2006 ShopRite Classic is scheduled for June 2nd – 4th at the Seaview Resort and Spa Bay Course in Galloway Township, NJ. The purse is $1.5 million, of which the winner will receive $225,000. All three rounds of the tournament will be televised on ESPN2. Telecast times are 3-5 p.m. on June 2nd, 1-3 p.m. on June 3rd and 2-4 p.m. on June 4th.
For tickets, sponsorship or volunteer information, call (609) 383-8330, or visit www.shopritelpga.org.
Contact:
Rodger Gottlieb
RLG Associates
609-484-0750
rodgergottlieb@yahoo.com
