By Laura Fellwock (@AJGAFellwock ), AJGA Communications
The 10th anniversary of The PING Invitational includes a field full of wins, experience and history.
Junior Ryder Cup ties
Every two years, the Junior Ryder Cup leads into The PING Invitational. The United States team earned its fifth-straight win with a 15.5 to 8.5 victory over their European counterpart in late September. Eight of the 12 United States team participants from this year will travel from Minnesota to Oklahoma to seek an Invitational victory. Noah Goodwin, No. 1 in the Polo Golf Rankings, was a member of the United States team and is seeking his second Invitational win after finishing second in last year’s event. Davis Shore, Norman Xiong, Hailee Cooper, Gina Kim, Lucy Li, Emilia Migliaccio and Kaitlyn Papp also bore the red, white and blue for the American side.
Invitational experience
In one of the strongest fields of the year, 13 of the 72 participants at The PING Invitational have experience hoisting an Invitational trophy. This year, winners of the ANNIKA Invitational, Thunderbird International Junior, Rolex Girls Junior Championship, KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational, Rolex Tournament of Champions, Yani Tseng Invitational presented by the Swinging Skirts and The Junior PLAYERS Championship presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf will all fight for the golden cowboy hat. Philip Barbaree, Goodwin, Cooper, Yealimi Noh and Yujeong Son also hold an Invitational title to their name.
On this 10th anniversary
Eleven years ago, The PING Invitational began with Andrew Yun of Chandler, Arizona, and Esther Choe of Scottsdale, Arizona, taking home the hat. Since then, PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour greats Jordan Spieth, Emiliano Grillo, Vicky Hurst, Alison Lee and Nelly Korda have all recorded victories at Karsten Creek Golf Club. Who will take home the trophy on the 10th anniversary of the event?