Annika Sorenstam, The GOAT. Is a Business Boss
Annika has been focused on her business career since she retired from Professional Golf.
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Hey Golfers -
Annika Sorenstam dominated in her win two weeks ago at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, winning by eight shots over Liselotte Neumann.
Her U.S. Senior Women’s Open was the second professional event she had competed in since she retired in 2008. The other event? The Gainbridge LPGA Tour event, just this year. Where she managed to make the cut.
Truly remarkable.
Annika was born and raised in Sweeden, where she participated in soccer, tennis, and golf. She excelled at golf and ended up earning a scholarship at the University of Arizona. Annika dominated women’s college golf, winning seven times in only two years. Annika cut her college career short by two years and turned professional.
The rest is history; Annika Sorenstam is arguably the greatest of all-time in women’s golf. Compiling 95 Professional wins, including 10 majors.
LPGA Tour - 72 wins
Ladies European Tour - 17 wins
LPGA of Japan Tour - 2
ALPGA Tour - 4
Other Professional Wins - 5
We can even take it further; Annika is one of the most dominant professional golfers, period. Her 10 major wins rank her 7th all-time in both women’s and men’s golf.
Jack Nicklaus - 18
Tiger Woods - 15
Patty Berg - 15
Mickey Wright - 13
Walter Hagen - 11
Louise Suggs - 11
Annika Sorenstam - 10
In 2003 Annika played in a PGA Tour event, The Colonial. She fired 71-74 (+5) and missed the cut; but managed to beat 11 PGA Tour pros that week, including Geoff Ogilvy. Geoff ended up winning 8 times on the PGA Tour, including the U.S. Open in 2006; he’s no slouch.
Annika eventually retired from professional golf in 2008, although she won 3 times on the LPGA Tour that year. You could argue she still had gas in the tank. But Annika had other plans; she wanted to be an entrepreneur.
Business Career
Annika is involved in various businesses as President and CEO of ANNIKA.
Golf course design
Financial management
Golf instruction
Apparel
Vineyards and wine
Charitable foundation
Author
Golf Course Design
Annika began designing golf courses in the early 2000s, with her first official design coming at Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen, China. Mission Hills has a whopping twelve 18-hole golf courses for a total of 216 holes. Mission Hills has hosted major tournament events, including the WGC-HSBC tournament. Annika was the only female involved with the design of Mission Hills. Other designers included in Mission Hills include:
Pete Dye
Jack Nicklaus
Greg Norman
Ernie Els
Ian Poulter
Annika’s second design project was Euphoria Golf Estate & Hydro in South Africa, which opened in 2008.
Other golf course designs Annika was involved in:
Mines Golf City - Malaysia
Patriots Point Links - South Carolina
Red Mountain Resort - British Columbia
Golden Bay Resort - South Korea
The Royal Club - Minnesota
Apparel
In 2003, Annika announced the ANNIKA collection in partnership with Cutter & Buck. The apparel line aims to be high-end women’s golf clothes. The brand has done over $50 Million in revenue since 2003!
ANNIKA Foundation
Annika’s foundation is extremely active; its main focuses are:
Sponsoring and hosting women’s golf events
Fitness
Wellness
Education
Annika hosts AJGA events, junior European events, collegiate events, and amateur events within the golf tournaments.
Bonus: Annika was so dialed in with nutrition in the early 2000s she put in eight-hour days in the kitchen working on her culinary skills at Lake Nona Country Club.
Winning the U.S. Senior Open a couple of weeks ago has reminded us how dominant Annika was on the golf course; her business career will end up just as impressive.
Have yourself a Monday, talk to you next week!
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