About Annika | ANNIKA Foundation

PROFESSIONAL

EXPERIENCE

She has amassed over 90 worldwide victories, including 72 on the LPGA and 11 Major Championships. Annika holds a record number of Rolex Player of the Year awards (eight) and Vare Trophies for the lowest scoring average in a season (six). As the only female to break 60 in an official event, she has been nicknamed “Ms. 59.” Perhaps most notably, Annika received worldwide media attention when she became the first woman in 58 years to play in a PGA TOUR event at the 2003 Colonial Invitational.

Annika still tops the LPGA’s All-Time Money List. In 2021 she made her first start in an official LPGA tournament since 2008, making the cut in the 2021 Gainbridge LPGA. A few months later she captured the hearts of the golf world when she won the U.S. Senior Women’s Open by eight shots. It was her first United States Golf Association (USGA) event in 13 years and the victory gave her a fourth USGA title.

She represented Europe as a player in eight Solheim Cups, was a vice-captain three times and captained the European team in 2017. She was also the victorious captain for the European Junior Solheim Cup team that came from a record four points down to win on U.S. soil for the first time in 2021.

Annika is often regarded as the greatest female golfer of our generation. During her 15-year, Hall-of-Fame career, she rewrote the LPGA and Ladies European Tour record books, won countless awards, and changed the way women’s golf was played, viewed, and covered.

Annika represents world-class companies like 3M, AHEAD, Callaway, Cabot Saint Lucia, Hilton Grand Vacations, Lexus, LOHLA Sport, Mastercard, Rēvo, and Rolex.

ABOUT

ANNIKA

POST-LPGA CAREER

Annika stepped away from professional golf after the 2008 season to focus on her family and the ANNIKA brand of businesses, which at the time included the ANNIKA Academy golf school, the ANNIKA Collection of high-end women’s golf apparel and ANNIKA Course Design. In 2007, she created the ANNIKA Foundation, which provides golf opportunities at the junior, collegiate and professional levels while teaching young people the importance of living a healthy, active lifestyle through fitness and nutrition.

Her global success in golf and knowledge of business have enabled her to create a successful brand of businesses, which was featured in Duane Knapp’s book BrandStrategy, Inc. Annika’s brand has also been featured in Brandweek, the New York Times, Fortune Magazine, SportsBusiness Journal, Success Magazine, USA Today, and Wine Spectator to name a few non-golf publications.

AWARDS &

ACCOLADES

Annika has received many accolades throughout her life. She was the recipient of the Patty Berg Award in 2003 for her contributions to women’s golf. She was the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year from 2003-2005, and the Golf Writers Association of America Female Athlete of the Year in 1995, 1997 and from 2000-2005. She and Jack Nicklaus were named Global Ambassadors by the International Golf Federation to help with golf’s successful bid for inclusion in the 2016 Olympic Games. Annika won the USGA’s prestigious Bob Jones Award in 2011, which is presented annually to someone with distinct character on and off the course. In 2013, she was named the First Lady of Golf by the PGA of America.

In 2014 the LPGA, in partnership with Rolex, established the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award to recognize the player who, during a current LPGA Tour season, has the most outstanding record in all five major championships. In 2015, Annika was named the top female athlete of all-time in her home country of Sweden. In 2016 Annika received the KPMG Inspire Greatness Award from the KPMG Women’s Leadership Summit advisory council, with the support of the PGA of America and the LPGA. In 2016 Annika received the Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to the business of golf at the HSBC Golf Business Summit.

In 2020, Annika was elected the President of the International Golf Federation which oversees golf in the Olympic Games. In 2021, Annika became the first female golfer and only the third female in sport to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

EDUCATION

& FAMILY

Annika journeyed from her native Sweden to attend the University of Arizona in 1990. She majored in nutrition, but left school after her sophomore year to pursue a professional golf career. To say she succeeded would be an understatement. Annika and her husband, Mike McGee, split time between residences in Orlando and Incline Village, Nev. with their two children, Ava and Will.