Annika will attend the 2010 Golf Business Forum, May 12-14 at The Gloria Hotels & Resort, Belek, Turkey, to receive the award in person.
Annika Sorenstam, one of the greatest professional golfers of all time and now an emerging entrepreneur, has been named the recipient of the Golf Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Annika will attend the 2010 Golf Business Forum, May 12-14 at The Gloria Hotels & Resort, Belek, Turkey, to receive the award in person.
During her 15 year professional career, Annika became the most dominant women’s golfer in history and transcended her sport to become a prominent mainstream athlete and celebrity. She has rewritten the LPGA and Ladies European Tour record books, won countless awards and events and brought unprecedented attention to women’s golf. With 89 world-wide victories including 72 LPGA wins and 10 Major Championships, her career has changed the way women’s golf is played, watched and covered. When she stopped playing after the 2008 season, she had earned over $22 Million on the LPGA Tour, which is $8 Million more than the next closest competitor.
Annika reenergized women’s golf and became one of the sports’ most popular players, male or female. She is the only female golfer to shoot a 59 in competition and holds various all-time scoring records including the lowest season scoring average: 68.69 in 2004. Some of Annika’s other prestigious awards and accomplishments include being the first European born player to win both the LPGA’s Rolex Player of the Year, which she has done a record eight times, and the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average, which she has done a record six times. She was also the first woman to be named World Player of the Year by Golf World. She was honored as the Athlete of the Year in Sweden in 1995, and was named Golf Writers Association of America Female Player of the Year in 1995, 1997, 2000-05. She has been honored by the March of Dimes with the Sports Woman of the Year Award, and in 2004, she won the World Sportswoman of the Year Award at the Laureus World Sports Awards.
Annika stepped away from professional golf in 2009 to pursue the ANNIKA brand of businesses. These include the ANNIKA Academy, ANNIKA Financial Group, numerous golf course design projects around the world, the ANNIKA Collection of apparel with Cutter & Buck, an ANNIKA wine label with Wente Vineyards, and a signature fragrance. Annika has authored two books, the second being “Golf Annika’s Way” in October 2004. In 2008, Annika joined Arnold Palmer as the only two Ambassadors of the United States Golf Association, and in 2009, along with Jack Nicklaus, she was named a Global Ambassador by the International Golf Federation which successfully got golf into the 2016 Olympic Games.
Annika feels very strongly about giving back, and in 2007, the ANNIKA Foundation was created to teach children the importance of living a healthy, active lifestyle through fitness and nutrition, and offers aspiring junior golfers opportunities to pursue their dreams. In 2008, along with Eli Manning, Annika was named the “Most Caring Athlete” by USA Weekend Magazine.
At the 2010 Golf Business Forum, Annika will be recognized for her commitment to the game of golf combined with her diverse entrepreneurial spirit and will receive the first ever KPMG Golf Entrepreneur of the Year award in front of an expected audience of more than 300 international industry professionals in Belek, Turkey.
