Twenty Players, One Shared Opportunity: The ANNIKA 20 presented by Southern Company
As the 2026 season came to a close at the Heritage Classic in Wichita, the conversation on the ANNIKA Women's All Pro Tour shifted from who finished where to what happens next for twenty of its members. Through the Callaway Race 2 Qualifying points standings, twenty players earned their way into the ANNIKA 20 presented by Southern Company, a program built to remove one of the most stubborn obstacles standing between a talented player and the LPGA Tour: the cost of getting there.
The partnership behind ANNIKA 20 brings together Southern Company, the ANNIKA Foundation, and the WAPT itself, and its purpose is simple. Every player who finishes in the top 20 of the season-long points race receives a comprehensive scholarship that reimburses her entry fee for each stage of LPGA Qualifying she competes in, assistance that, based on 2025 fee levels, can add up to $6,500 per player. For many on tour, that number represents the difference between chasing a dream and being priced out of the chance to try.
The philosophy driving the program traces directly back to Annika Sörenstam, the LPGA Hall of Famer and founder of the tour that bears her name. Sörenstam has spent years advocating for women in golf, and her belief has always been the same: no player should be kept from realizing her potential because of what she can or cannot afford. ANNIKA 20 turns that belief into something concrete, pairing Southern Company's support with a full season of competitive results to fund the next step for twenty different women all at once.
To collect the scholarship, a player has to do her part too. She must remain a WAPT member, finish inside the top 20 of the Callaway Race 2 Qualifying standings once the Heritage Classic wraps up the season, and actually register for and play the stage of LPGA Qualifying she is pursuing. Once she does, the reimbursement is deposited directly to her after that stage is complete.
What makes ANNIKA 20 stand apart is what it is not built around. It is not a story about who won the most tournaments or who climbed highest on a leaderboard. It is about twenty players who put in a full season of work and, because of it, now have real financial backing behind their pursuit of the LPGA Tour. For a group of women who have spent the year competing against each other, ANNIKA 20 gives them something they now share: a runway toward the next stage of their careers, funded by an organization that believes their potential is worth investing in.
Travis Humphrey
ANNIKA WAPT Media & Communications
