Northwestern’s Nguyen gets LPGA exemption into The Annika
The legendary Patty Berg, who played out of St. Andrew’s in West Chicago, was among the original members of the Ladies PGA Tour when it was formed in 1950. There have been very few LPGA players from the Chicago area since then.
Winnetka’s Elizabeth Szokol has been the only one in recent years but this week — with the circuit playing its next-to-the-last event of the 2025 season on Szokol’s home course — there could be a second player with a Chicago connection arriving soon.
Lauryn Nguyen, who helped Northwestern to the NCAA championship in 2024, has been given a sponsor exemption into The Annika driven by Gainbridge at the Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla. The tournament will played Nov. 13-16 with the pro-am starting on Nov. 12.
Annika Sorenstam, the tournament host, didn’t just invite Nguyen. She invited the Northwestern teams of the last two years to cheer on Nguyen.
A couple other promising young players received special exemptions — Anne-Sterre den Dunnen, who will represent the Wake Forest team that won The Annika Intercollegiate in September, and Kai Trump, an 18-year-old high school senior who has verbally committed to play college golf at the University of Miami. She is the granddaughter of President Donald Trump.
This will be a special week for the premier women’s circuit in golf. The Pelican will celebrate its centennial and the LPGA is wrapping up its 75th anniversary season. It concludes with the CME Group Tour Championship a week later in Naples, Fla.
Nguyen, who grew up in the Seattle area, will make her LPGA debut but before she hits her first official tee shot, she’ll play with WNBA star Caitlin Clark in the pro-am. Clark played in the pro-am last year and drew a big following.
“This is amazing that I’ll be able to start my professional career in a pro-am with Caitlin in a tournament named in honor of Annika,” Nguyen said. “I’m so excited.”
Sorenstam and Clark have been big boosters for women’s sports and Nguyen has done the same. She was a two-time All-American at Northwestern and had the lowest stroke average in program history — 72.4 over four years. She received her invite to The Annika in part because of her play on the course but also for her philanthropic initiatives. She hosts the Nguyen Junior Amateur in Seattle and manages the Duc Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aims to give scholarships to youngsters in need.
Nguyen’s last college event was the NCAA Championship victory, when coach Emily Fletcher’s Wildcats beat Stanford in the title match.
“That was magical, a real cool thing,” she said. “A lot of people were rooting for us as the underdog story, and we took advantage of the opportunity to make history.”
Since then she played in the Arnold Palmer Cup and three tournaments in a developmental tour organized by Sorenstam, the LPGA’s leading career money leader with over $22 million in her 15-year Hall of Fame career.
Nguyen hopes to work her way onto the LPGA circuit. She survived the first stage of LPGA qualifying but not the second. That means she’ll probably play primarily on the Epson Tour in 2026.
She’ll get a good taste of the LPGA at The Pelican, however. It’s one of the up-and-coming events. Nelly Korda has won the tournament in three of the last four years and the field will be strong because of its position on the schedule as well as its $11 million purse. The biggest winner’s prize in women’s golf — $4 million — will be on the line in that tournament.
“As our last event before the Tour Championship you’re either trying to make your way to that event or trying to keep your job, your LPGA Tour card for the following year,” said Szokol, who has a win on the circuit and has made it to the CME event in the past. “Everyone wants to be there and playing well, so it brings in the best field.”