Top 40 to be featured in Phoenix
The strength of the field for the 2007 edition of the Safeway International, presented by Coca-Cola looks very impressive. According to Tom Maletis, President of Tournament Golf Foundation, the event owners and organizers, "We are pleased that at this point we have all of the top 40 players from the 2006 LPGA Money List committed to playing in Phoenix."
The list includes defending champion Juli Inkster, Annika Sorenstam, Paula Creamer, 2006 Rolex Player of the Year Lorena Ochoa, Natalie Gulbis, Morgan Pressel, Ai Miyazato, Cristie Kerr and former Phoenix tournament winners Se Ri Pak, Karrie Webb, Laura Davies, Christa Johnson, Danielle Ammaccapane and Rachel Hetherington.
In addition, the tournament will feature some impressive newcomers on tour, including Paige Mackenzie, a rookie from the University of Washington, who led after the first round of the SBS Open at Turtle Bay in Hawaii a few weeks ago, and Angela Park, former #1 junior player in the U.S. Park played in the Safeway International last year as an amateur after winning the Safeway International Amateur Open.
This year the Safeway Amateur Open was won by Sydnee Michaels, a freshman at UCLA, who won a similar event and played in Safeway’s other LPGA event, the Safeway Classic Presented by Pepsi, held last August in Portland, OR.
"The strength of the field for the Safeway International is a tribute to our long association with the LPGA in Phoenix, and the ongoing support that Safeway is showing for the tour," said Maletis. "We are extremely excited that we are going to have such a strong field for the great golf fans in Arizona. All 96 currently active players from the top 100 on the 2006 LPGA money list will be in the East Valley for the Safeway International."
The 2007 edition of the Safeway International Presented by Coca-Cola will be held at Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club March 19-25. The 2006 tournament drew record crowds of over 111,000 in spite of cold and wet weather for the final round. The tournament features a purse of $1.5 million and all four rounds, March 22-25, will be shown on the Golf Channel.
Proceeds from the event benefit local Arizona charities through the Safeway Foundation. Since 1983, the tournament has raised over $11 million for local charities, with the majority of proceeds directed to cancer care programs through Banner Health Foundation. Charitable donations from the 2006 Safeway International were $900,000.
You can purchase two daily tickets for the price of one ($20) at the customer service desk of any Arizona Safeway store. Weekly passes are $50.
For more information on the Safeway International and a complete tournament field list, visit www.safewaygolf.com
Contact:
Tom Maletis 503-702-5000
Reid Hutchins 503-291-0109
Rob Neal 503-626-2711
