Sep 20, 2016: Lydia Ko won the 2016 Rolex ANNIKA Major Award thanks to a win at the ANA Inspiration, a runner-up showing at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and a tie for third at the U.S. Women’s Open. She tied for 43rd at the Evian Championship in France.
“It means a lot,” Ko said. “Especially because coming into this year my goal was to be more consistent in majors, and this exactly is the award for that, and obviously you need a win to have that, and just to have it named after Annika and how successful she’s been in majors and just in general and what she’s done for the game, I think there might not be some of us if it wasn’t for a player like her.”
The Rolex ANNIKA Major Award recognises the player who, during a current LPGA Tour season, has the most outstanding record in all five major championships. Points are awarded at all five major championships to competitors who finish among the top-10 and ties. To take home the award, a player must also win at least one of the five majors.
The first four of this year’s female Major Champions: Lydia Ko (ANA Inspiration), Brooke Henderson (KPMG Women’s PGA Championship), Brittany Lang (US Women’s Open) and Ariya Jutanugarn (Ricoh Women’s British Open) attended the Rolex Annika Major Award ceremony in the Grange du Lac at the Hotel Royale on Saturday evening where they were recognised for their performances and consistency in the Majors. This is third year of Annika’s award, which has been won by Michelle Wie and Inbee Park in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Former world number one Annika, a 10-time Major champion and Halls of Fame Member, was joined by former tennis world number one and seven-time Grand Slam winner Justine Henin, who talked about the demands of playing in a Major. Going into the final round of the Evian Championship, world number one Lydia Ko was leading over world number two Ariya Jutanugarn, who needed a top five finish or better to leapfrog Ko.
At the same ceremony, Henderson, 18, from Canada, was named as the 2016 Evian Championship ambassador and was selected because she projects the tournament’s values.
Ladies European Tour Release
