Welcome to this week’s Golf Insider, everyone!
The LPGA Tour has wrapped up its fall Asia swing and is headed back stateside for the final two tournaments of the official season. Before the season finale CME Group Tour Championship, players make a stop at Pelican Golf Club for The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge from Nov. 12-15.
Linn Grant is in the field this week to defend her The ANNIKA title. In her 2025 victory, Grant shot a final-round 65 (-5) to finish three shots ahead of Jennifer Kupcho and become the first Swede to win the tournament hosted by Swedish golf legend, Annika Sörenstam. Grant showed that Swedish golf is still very much alive.
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This year, Grant looks to do the same. She’s coming fresh off her WTGL debut with New York Golf Club on Nov. 8, and although her New York side lost, she rolled in some crucial putts and executed hammer strategy when her team needed the confidence.
“I’ve been looking a lot at my putting lately. I feel like that’s kind of where I have an opportunity to actually get a lot better,” Grant said ahead of her title defense at The ANNIKA on Nov. 11.
“So if anything, I’m excited for the week, but I’m also excited to have an offseason and actually grind it out and come back next year and be better.”
Nelly Korda is also back in action this week. With a win at The ANNIKA, she could gain the 27th and final point she needs to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame. Korda earned her 26th point when she clinched the 2026 Rolex Player of the Year Award last week.
Playing this week and next week at the Tour Championship in her home state are both solid chances to pick up a win and that final point. But since Korda didn’t travel overseas for the Asia swing, she’s unsure of how well her game is tuned right now. Despite that uncertainty, she’s still hinging on her familiarity of bermuda grass and the hometown vibes.
“Obviously when you’re playing at home and you don’t really have too much pressure on you and you’re just going out to play, it’s much easier than competing,” Korda said ahead of The ANNIKA on Nov. 11.
“So we’ll see how this week goes, how my game holds up, and then if I need to make any adjustments going into next week I will be doing that.”
While the Rolex Player of the Year winner has already been decided, the Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year trophy is still up for grabs. Right now, Erika Hara leads Youmin Hwang by 131 points in the rookie race. This week at The ANNIKA, Hara needs a 30th place finish or better to mathematically clinch the award after the conclusion of the tournament. LPGA Communications notes that if the point differential between the two rookies is less than 150 points after The ANNIKA, the winner will be decided after the Tour Championship.
So yes, we may have another possible award to be confirmed after The ANNIKA, but the battle for the Vare Trophy will need to wait until the Tour Championship. The only two players left in the race, Jeeno Thitikul and Miyu Yamashita, will not be teeing it up at The ANNIKA. They’ll both make their last starts of the season at the Tour Championship, so the scoring average trophy will come down to the season finale.
However, it’s a long shot. Thitikul needs to be at least 29 or 30 strokes better than Yamashita in the Tour Championship to overtake her top spot and win the Vare. Because of Yamashita’s stunning October and early November that included a title defense win at the Maybank Championship and a third place finish at the LOTTE Championship, she’s a clear front-runner to take home the scoring average trophy.
And then, of course, there’s the Race to the CME Globe, where the fight to make the top-60 is still very much intense. The players that finish in the top 60 and ties in The ANNIKA will make up the field for the Tour Championship.
At the TOTO Japan Classic, Ayaka Furue finished tied for 12th place, jumping ten spots up to inside the bubble at No. 56. However, Robyn Choi made a less desirable move; she tied for 46th which put her off of the bubble edge to No. 61. Both Furue and Choi are in the field this week at The ANNIKA, as well as Angel Yin, who sits at No. 58. It’s a tight race to determine the field for the finale.
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Phew! Lots of stipulations and scenarios heading into the penultimate tournament of the official LPGA Tour season. Need a breather? Let’s check in with the players who have different aims at The ANNIKA: the sponsor invites.
The ANNIKA sponsored three invitations for standout players to compete in the field at this year’s edition of the tournament. Some are making their LPGA Tour debuts and some will be joining the LPGA Tour in 2027. Scarlett Schremmer, Macy Pate and Annabelle Pancake-Webb are this year’s sponsor invites.
Scarlett Schremmer is making her LPGA Tour debut this week at The ANNIKA. A sophomore at the University of Miami, Schremmer was named the September ACC Golfer of the Month after her rocket start to the fall season this year. She won two individual tournament titles across the first three starts of the season. Schremmer captured her title at the Golfweek Red Sky Classic by shooting the lowest 54-hole score in the history of Miami women’s golf. Along with her success at Miami, Schremmer says her coach and teammates have been helping her get ready for this week.
“It’s been awesome. Since getting to Miami last spring I’ve just had so much fun,” Schremmer said ahead of The ANNIKA on Nov. 11.
“But with Coach Janice, she pushes me every day. The girls, the last couple weeks we’ve been playing qualifying and they’re not even in the season any more, so it’s been a group effort by everyone to help me get ready for this week. I don’t take that lightly. It just shows how much [Coach] Janice cares about my successes individually as much as her own program.”
Schremmer has her mom, Patricia, on the bag as her caddie this week. Patricia is a former LPGA Tour professional. Do the golf genes run deep? It looks like it.
Another collegiate athlete is getting ready for her first LPGA Tour event at The ANNIKA, and that’s Macy Pate. She’s a senior at Wake Forest, who captured the team title at the 2026 ANNIKA Intercollegiate in September. Since then, Pate shared medalist honors with Farah O’Keefe at the Stephens Cup for her second consecutive Stephens Cup title and second career win. She also finished out the fall season with a runner-up finish at the Landfall Tradition.
“Yeah, I’ve had a nice fall individually as well as our golf team,” Pate said ahead of The ANNIKA on Nov. 11.
“We have a really deep, strong team and they’re fun to be around. It’s nice to have such a good team around you that kind of frees you up to just go and do your thing. I think that’s a really nice, unique thing that Wake Forest has.”
Annabelle Pancake-Webb is gearing up for her first season on the LPGA Tour with a start at The ANNIKA. Pancake-Webb finished fourth in the Epson Tour’s Race for the Card standings and earned LPGA Tour membership for the 2027 season. She nabbed her first Epson Tour win at the Greater Toledo Classic this July.
“Yeah, I think this week I kind of joke is a test drive, but it definitely is,” Pancake-Webb said ahead of The ANNIKA on Nov. 11.
“I played in a couple tournaments in the past, but knowing next year I’ll be a part of the Tour, I’m just excited to take in this week and soak it all in and pick some other players’ brains and ask them for advice.”
These three up-and-coming players getting to make an LPGA Tour start just shows how beneficial the sponsor invitation opportunity is. Whether players are looking to make an impression in their first LPGA Tour starts or preparing for their first season on tour, they’re sure to take advantage.
“I think it’s a big learning experience to play my first LPGA event. Like I said, learn from other players and kind of get used to life out here; just see where my game stacks up and look for what’s to come hopefully in the future,” Pate said.
Next week, we’ll take a look at how The ANNIKA finished up and get you ready for the showdown that is the CME Group Tour Championship.
See you then, golf fans.
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This week in women’s golf
LPGA News
Featured groups: 2026 The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican
Field breakdown: 2026 The ANNIKA
World No. 1 Nelly Korda chasing history at The ANNIKA, headlines world-class field
LPGA Tour veteran Ryann O’Toole wins 2026 AON Risk Reward Challenge
Every step forward: Natasha Oon
Shuri Sakuma picks up her first LPGA Tour title with an 8-under 64 to take TOTO Japan Classic
Aki Iwai finishes solo second at TOTO Japan Classic
Rookie Erika Hara claims career-best third at 2026 TOTO Japan Classic
WTGL News
LAGC defeat New York Golf Club in first ever WTGL match
What you need to know about the boots Linn Grant wore at WTGL
Motor City tops LAGC 8–3, cruises to first WTGL victory
LET News
Heath leads LET Rookie of the Year with one event remaining
Ana Peláez Trevino secures second LET title at 2026 Aramco China Championship
LET Player of the Month nominees for October 2026 announced
Epson Tour News
2026 Epson Tour graduate Annabelle Pancake-Webb gets an early start on her LPGA career at The ANNIKA
Home soil, best week: Epson Tour graduate Erika Hara finishes third at TOTO Japan Classic
Maria Fassi and Juniper Jang share co-medalist honors at LPGA Q-Series Qualifying
NCAA/Amateur News
College golf signing day: Top players, classes for Class of 2027
Asterisk Talley earns first AJGA Player of the Year title
Amelie Zalsman signs with Wake Forest women’s golf
Five at The IX: Michelle Wie West, Los Angeles Golf Club win inaugural WTGL match
On Nov. 8, the first ever WTGL match took place at SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Los Angeles Golf Club defeated New York Golf Club 3-1, with Michelle Wie West, Alison Lee and Gaby López leading the way. Wie West nearly holed out for an ace on the par-3 7th hole, “SOS,” designed by Annika Sörenstam. On this same hole, Linn Grant for New York sunk a long birdie putt from off the green and then threw a hammer to put pressure on LAGC’s birdie putt. Lee was composed and made that putt, keeping LAGC up in the match. New York could never gain ground despite using hammers, and LAGC walked away the winners. Here are some quotes from LAGC’s post-match press conference.
THE MODERATOR: We want to welcome Los Angeles Golf Club, the winning team of the inaugural first ever WTGL match victory over New York Golf Club. I’m going to start with Michelle. You’ve witnessed TGL matches but this is your first WTGL match. What was it like, the energy out there? Was it what you expected and how much fun was it.
MICHELLE WIE WEST: I was actually really nervous, just not playing competitive golf anymore and then being in that environment, but once I got out there and I had Alison to my left, Gaby to my right, I felt so calm and so excited to be out there. It was such a blast. I had so much fun. The fans were electric, and the music and the whole format, it was just so much fun today.
Q. Alison, on a Golf Digest podcast earlier this week, we talked hammer strategy. Yesterday in practice you were a little loose with the hammer. Today you seemed to have really great strategy with the hammer. Just talk about the evolution of your hammer strategy and how it worked tonight.
ALISON LEE: Yeah, I was told very strictly that I cannot throw it when I want, and I need to get approval first. Definitely yesterday during our practice session I threw a hammer that I 100 percent shouldn’t have, and I feel like it definitely hurt our team yesterday.
But yeah, I figured it out, and hopefully moving forward I can continue to, I guess, not want to do it whenever I want to.
Q. Gaby, how much fun did you have? You seemed to have a lot of fun through the entire game.
GABY LÓPEZ: Yeah, honestly having the environment with the music and all the energy that we never get to play this, this is my only team event that I get to be on. I don’t get to play Solheim, and International Crown is hard to get.
So to be able to have Alison and Michelle, it’s been amazing, the dancing, the cheers. I feel this is what it’s for is being able to put the nerves out there in a different way that we’re not used to. I feel like the more fun you have, the better we play. That’s definitely one of the things we set up before.
Marina has been amazing, so it’s a key element for us, our coordinator, so being able to say hey, group chat, and we’re just going to have fun.
Q. [On Wie West’s reaction to almost making a hole-in-one] Do you think the reaction was more like you thought it was going in or just glad you hit the pin? The reaction, you fell to your knees.
WIE WEST: Yeah, I thought that was definitely in. I think that was like the one hole that I really struggled with this weekend over practice, and Marina and I were talking about it, we were in between clubs, and we just were like, commit to the 6-iron, and I hit it good, and if you didn’t hear it over the mic, I said, ooh, that’s good. Very shocked that that didn’t go in. I thought there was no way that was not going in.
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Q. When it comes to storytelling for women’s golf in particular, where do you guys see the window of opportunity to bring more visibility and to build more connection with your fan base for this league and just women’s sports in general?
WIE WEST: Yeah, I think this format, witnessing LPGA players and LPGA stars in this format is so different. I think that we have such amazing players and personalities out on Tour, and it’s really cool that every single shot — you see so many statistics on the screen. I think that’s something that’s missing from our normal broadcast. I think for two hours, LPGA fans, existing fans, can witness our players in a whole different light, and I think we’ll attract new fans as well too.
I think with this TGL format, I think it introduces a game to a much younger crowd. I know my daughter loves watching TGL, and I know that she’s had fun today here too. But if we can keep introducing the game to the younger fan base, I think that’s amazing. I just want young girls to be able to watch this and be like, this is pretty cool.
LÓPEZ: I think honestly just having ESPN broadcast this amazing show for us and have some of the prime times that we have, in the afternoon on a Sunday after basketball I think is amazing. Being able to play with so many eyeballs all around the world, not only in the U.S., I know Mexico is all about—I’m telling everybody, you have to tune in, you have to tune in, and everyone is super excited.
I think that just brings so much more visibility, and this is one of the things that will just start going up, and you’ll see what women are capable of.
LEE: Adding to that, it’s obviously getting more TV time for us is amazing. The more we can put women’s golf on people’s screens, hopefully more people will consume it. It’s just something about this format. In a typical format where we play individual, 140 girls, four days, you truly are a bit isolated out there, and it is a marathon of an event.
Something like this where you get to play head-to-head, hole-to-hole against another person and can really see your competitor in the eye, it does bring a little bit more of a competitiveness out of you in this kind of format.
Q. You return on Tuesday, Michelle, with a couple new teammates. What advice do you have coming back on Tuesday to face Motor City Golf Club?
WIE WEST: I mean, the lineup of Motor City, by the way, it’s very strong, so we’re going to have to play really good. It was really great to see Kiara [Romero] out there. She’s fully leaned in. I think her being on the field today watching us, seeing — it’s a whole routine, and you have to get used to it, so I think that was really helpful.
I already was texting about practice tomorrow, so we’ll definitely get on that. But I’m excited. I think Aki [Iwai] is playing really well, so hopefully jet lag isn’t too bad, but I’m extremely excited to play with Aki as well.
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