The ANNIKA Foundation – golf Hall-of-Famer Annika Sorenstam’s charitable organization – announces the winner of the 2018 ANNIKA Invitational Europe, Anna Zanusso, has received a sponsor’s exemption to play in the opening LET event of the 2019 season, the La Reserva de Sotogrande Invitational.
Zanusso is currently ranked 114 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR). She has tallied three top-5 finishes in European junior events this season to complement a T-25 result in January’s ANNIKA Invitational USA presented by Rolex. The Italian will head to the U.S. in the fall to play collegiate golf at the University of Denver.
“Anna does such a wonderful job representing our ANNIKA Foundation, both on and off the course,” says Annika, who is onsite for the tournament, which is new on this year’s LET schedule. “She really impressed me by birdieing the last four holes to take last year’s ANNIKA Invitational Europe and has earned the right to see how her game measures up with Europe’s best professionals.”
In total, there are 25 ANNIKA Foundation tournament alumnae competing in Spain from May 16-19. Annika has joined them as tournament host, conducting a junior clinic as well as participating in the pro-am. Annika first became familiar with La Reserva and the Andalucia region when she visited as a junior and member of the Swedish National Team.
The ANNIKA Foundation is devoted to growing the game of golf around the world. It annually hosts six girls-only invitational tournaments on five continents: the ANNIKA Invitational USA presented by Rolex, the ANNIKA Invitational Europe and ANNIKA Cup (Sweden), ANNIKA Invitational Mission Hills (China), the ANNIKA Invitational Latin America (Uruguay) and the ANNIKA Invitational Australasia (New Zealand). At the college level, it hosts the ANNIKA Intercollegiate presented by 3M and annually bestows the ANNIKA Award to most outstanding female Division I golfer as voted on by peers, coaches and media.
Since the inaugural Foundation tournament – the 2009 ANNIKA Invitational USA – 45 ANNIKA event alumnae have earned LPGA cards. Twenty-eight alumnae competed in the 2019 ANA Inspiration.