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Charlotta Sorenstam and Michelle Wie to Participate in Safeway International
January 8, 2004 - Phoenix, AZ
Charlotta Sorenstam, the 2000 event winner and Michelle Wie, the 14-year old amateur sensation from Hawaii, have been selected as the two sponsors exemptions for the 2004 Safeway International.
Sorenstam, who lost her full-time playing card in 2003, won the 2000 edition of the event by defeating her sister Annika and Karrie Webb. Sorenstam and her sister are the only two sisters on the LPGA tour who have earned more than $1 million each. Charlotta joined the LPGA tour in 1996 and is a former all-American and NCAA champion, while playing for the University of Texas in 1993.
Wie, who will play in the Sony Open on the PGA tour later this month, made the cut in six LPGA events last year, and was in the final group on Sunday of the Nabisco Championship, an LPGA major. She became the youngest-ever winner of the US Women’s Amateur Public Links in June of 2003 at the age of 13. In September of last year, she finished tied for 28th at the Safeway Classic in Portland, Oregon.
Wie, who is 6’ tall, routinely drives the ball over 300 yards.
According to Tom Maletis, President of Tournament Golf Foundation and General Chairman of the Safeway International , “Charlotta is a former winner of this event and is a great ambassador for the LPGA tour. We are recognizing her for her continued support of this tournament. Michelle will showcase some of the great young talent that is out there in women’s golf, and bring a new excitement to the tournament.”
The Safeway International presented by Coca-Cola will be held from March 15th-21st. The event is being at Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club this year for the first time. The total purse for the tournament has been raised to $1.2 million and traditionally features over 90 of the top 100 LPGA players on tour.
For more information on the tournament and tickets, call
the tournament office at
602-495-GOLF.
Proceeds from the event will go the Safeway Foundation of Phoenix for distribution to local charities in the region, including Banner Health Foundation. To date the Safeway International has raised over $10 million for local charities.
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