Everything you need to know from a busy Sunday at Pelican Golf Club.
BELLEAIR, Fla. — Lilia Vu rose to No. 1 in the world and took the lead in the Rolex LPGA Player of the Year race when she came from three strokes back to win by three at Pelican Golf Club on Sunday.
Vu, a two-time major winner this season, gave her winner’s press conference right next to Annika Sorenstam, tournament host for the newly renamed Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.
It always bummed Vu that she didn’t win The Annika Award for college player of year while at UCLA.
“I’m finally super excited to win something with your name on it,” said Vu, who actually won the Rolex Annika Major Award this year, too.
But while much attention is given to the top of the leaderboard, and rightly so, there’s always so much drama going on further down as players vie for a chance to play at CME and keep their cards.
Two of the biggest names who didn’t make the 60-player field in Naples, Florida, include defending champion Lydia Ko and Lexi Thompson, reminding us once again of how quickly things can turn.
Here are five storylines from a sun-splashed Sunday in Florida, where so much was on the line:
Stacy Lewis will captain once again in 2024 but don’t expect her to try to play at the same time.
BELLEAIR, Florida — Stacy Lewis left the door open to be a playing captain in 2023. She had a plan in place in case she automatically qualified. In the end, captainship duties took a toll on her personal game. Once she actually got to Spain and went through a Solheim Cup in that role, well, let’s just say it won’t happen in 2024.
“After experiencing Spain,” said Lewis. “I really don’t think you can captain and play.”
Lewis then proceeded to detail for reporters at The Annika what a typical day looked like for her at Finca Cortesin, noting that she had one day the entire week that she actually sat down for lunch. The rest of the time her cart driver, Megan Francella, kept handing her half of a peanut butter sandwich.
It was important for Lewis to be on the first tee for all the players because she liked it when captains did that in the past.
“Because of that, those morning matches finish and then there is basically probably about 20 or 30 minutes before the next matches are starting,” she said. “Then you finish in the evening and you have got an hour to get pairings in and then have to do media and come back and the team has eaten dinner and they want to go to bed.
“You meet with the team and it’s 9 p.m. or 9:30 p.m., and it’s oh, I get to eat dinner now.”
Captain Stacy Lewis of Team USA and Danielle Kang of Team USA plan a shot from the first tee during Day One of The Solheim Cup at Finca Cortesin Golf Club on September 22, 2023 in Casares, Spain. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
On practice days, Lewis divided up the team so they could play when they wanted do. Some played early and some teed off around noon. It made for great flexibility for the players, but long days for Lewis.
“There is definitely no way to captain and play,” she reiterated.
Lewis came into The Annika off a four-week stretch at home, the longest she’s enjoyed in quite some time. She appreciated having two full weeks to hone her game, much needed after five consecutive missed cuts.
Lewis came into the week 83rd on the CME points list and likely won’t make it into next week’s CME Group Tour Championship. The former No. 1 will once again lead Team USA at the 2024 Solheim Cup Sept. 13-15 at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia.
BELLEAIR, Fla. — Two weeks before the Solheim Cup, U.S. captain Stacy Lewis told Lexi Thompson at the LPGA stop in Cincinnati that she wasn’t going to play her in alternate shot. Thompson could’ve gotten mad, Lewis said, but instead used it as motivation.
When Thompson arrived in Spain, Lewis saw a different player. Armed with a new swing thought from instructor Tony Ruggiero, whom she started working with the month prior, Thompson’s ball-striking returned to form. Players kept coming up to Lewis to tell her that Lexi was back. And the advanced strokes-gained numbers that Lewis received were “off the charts.”
With only a handful of holes left in a Thursday practice round, Lewis asked Thompson and Megan Khang if they could play alternate shot together on Friday, something that hadn’t previously been discussed.
Later that night, Lewis told the team that Thompson was going to hit the first tee shot.
“I can’t tell you the words that were said,” said Lewis, “but everybody was fired up and ready to go.”
Suddenly Thompson, a 28-year-old player who had missed more cuts than she’d made this season, was the leading player on Team USA, and she delivered, with a 3-1-0 record.
Lexi Thompson of Team USA plays her shot on the second hole during Day Three of The Solheim Cup at Finca Cortesin Golf Club on September 24, 2023 in Casares, Spain. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
While Thompson is reluctant to share what she and Ruggiero work on exactly, the 11-time winner did credit his arrival on the scene with turning her season around.
“He texts me every day,” said Thompson, “asking how I’m doing, keeping in touch. That’s all I need. I just need somebody there to support me and really just there checking in on me. Even if I’m playing good every day, it’s still somebody asking.”
This week, Thompson tees it up in the newly renamed Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, where she’s been runner-up to Nelly Korda the past two seasons. It’s her first start since that inspired run at making the cut on the PGA Tour.
Thompson said Pelican Golf Club, an exclusive club in Belleair, Florida, is in the best shape she’s ever seen it. She appreciates that she can play aggressively here and hit driver more than most tour shops. Her familiarity with Bermudagrass helps massively.
Ruggiero has worked with a number of male touring pros over the years. Former students include Lucas Glover and Robby Shelton. Thompson appreciates his straightforward approach.
“Tony will tell you how it is and that’s great for me,” she said. “That’s how I respond. We laugh together and it’s not super uptight.”
Lewis pored over statistics throughout the 2023 season and notes that Thompson’s putting has been strong all season but her ball-striking, particularly her driver is what’s held her back. That’s the opposite of Thompson’s traditional game.
Now, with her long game turned around, Thompson is once again playing with confidence, lifted not only by the Solheim Cup, but that second-round 69 last month at the Shriners Children’s Open.
Thompson averaged 301 yards off the tee over two rounds in Las Vegas and tied for 13th in driving accuracy against the men, hitting 20 of 28 fairways.
“You could see it coming,” said Lewis.
“I hope she can learn from that moment and stay aggressive with driver, even on some of those shorter golf courses.”
Over the last two years at Pelican, Thompson has one-putted 46 percent of the greens at this event and led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting. She gained 1.76 strokes per round on the greens in 2021 and 2022 combined.
This week, however, she’s playing for something more than a title.
Thompson currently ranks 88th on the CME points list. The top 60 and ties at the end of this week qualify for the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, where Thompson is a past champion.
Bianca Pagdanganan currently ranks 60th on the points list at 528.780. Thompson is 223.88 points behind her. A third-place finish is worth 230 points and a second is worth 320.
Thompson’s trying not to think about it.
“If I focus on that,” she said, “it will just get me off track this week.”
There’s going to be a lot on the line at the Annika Intercollegiate.
Come the beginning of the 2023-24 college golf season, there’s going to be a lot on the line at the Annika Intercollegiate.
Held at Royal Golf Club in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, the Annika Intercollegiate has quickly grown to be one of the premier women’s college golf events in the country. And this year, the stakes are even higher.
An LPGA tournament exemption to be awarded to a player from this year’s winning team. The exemption will allow one player to compete in the inaugural The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican taking place Nov. 6-12 at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida.
The Annika, an official LPGA event, will offer a $3.25 million purse, one of the largest outside of the majors. Proceeds from the tournament will benefit the Annika Foundation.
The 2023 Annika Intercollegiate presented by 3M takes place Sept. 10-13. This year’s tournament will see 12 top NCAA Division I women’s golf programs compete in a 54-hole, stroke-play event, including defending champions Wake Forest.
“This is one of the tournaments I look forward to most each year,” Annika Sorenstam said in a release. “It allows the Annika Foundation to advance its mission by providing an opportunity for talented golfers to compete and make connections. We are thrilled to raise the stakes this year by extending the winning team an LPGA tournament exemption, further cementing our event as a launch pad for the nation’s top programs and players.”
Other teams in the field include Duke, Florida State, Minnesota, Mississippi State, San Jose State, Oregon, Texas, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Virginia. The final team will be announced after the 2023 NCAA Championships.
Virginia sophomore Amanda Sambach won the individual title in the fall.
