Featured Groups The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican | LPGA

The fourth playing of The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican is set to begin on Thursday in Belleair, Fla., at Pelican Golf Club, and the field is loaded with the LPGA Tour’s best ahead of next week’s CME Group Tour Championship. Eight of the top 10 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings will tee it up, including current world No. 1 and KPMG Women’s PGA Championship winner Ruoning Yin, and so will 17 of the 32 total 2023 LPGA Tour rookies. Other notable names include two-time ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican champion Nelly Korda, Amundi Evian Championship winner Celine Boutier and two-time major champion Lilia Vu. Here’s a look at just a few of the featured groups this week at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.

Thursday, 7:43 a.m. – Nelly Korda/Jin Young Ko/Linn Grant

A pair of former Rolex Rankings No. 1s will go at 7:43 a.m. alongside 2023 Dana Open winner Linn Grant in group seven on Thursday at Pelican Golf Club. Nelly Korda is making her third start in The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican and has won the last two editions of the event, defeating Sei Young Kim, Lydia Ko and Lexi Thompson in a playoff in 2021 and once again beating Thompson in 2022 by just a single shot. The eight-time LPGA Tour winner is still looking for her first 2023 victory, recording four top-five finishes and four additional top 10s this season, most recently tying for sixth at the Maybank Championship. Two of those top-10 results came at major championships as Korda finished solo second at The Chevron Championship in April and tied for ninth at The Amundi Evian Championship in July. Statistically, the Rolex Rankings No. 6 is fifth in scoring average on the LPGA Tour this season (70.13), and according to KPMG Performance Insights, Korda is seventh in both strokes gained driving (+0.79) and strokes gained total (+1.71). She is also eighth in strokes gained tee to green (+1.31).

Jin Young Ko has captured two victories this season, successfully defending her title at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in March and winning again at the Cognizant Founders Cup in May after defeating Minjee Lee in a playoff at Upper Montclair Country Club…

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Daniel Miller

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