By Jim Bebbington
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The tournament is in its second year at Todd Creek and brings in dozens of competitors from around the world. The ANNIKA Tour, named after LPGA great Annika Sorenstam, is a developmental league within women’s professional golf and players who perform well in it can graduate up to the LPGA and its development tour, the Epson Tour.
The tournament – the Brand Asset Partners Colorado Championship – runs Tuesday through Friday, with the winner receiving $10,000.
Tuesday some of the top finishers said that Todd Creek was poised to put up a good challenge all week.
“Some of the approach shots you have to be very precise with, there’s definitely some slopes out there where if you want to make birdies you have to get into those little crests that pins are at,” said Krista Junkkari, a former University of North Carolina player now on the ANNIKA Tour. “I think the core setup makes a lot of it difficult for us.”
For much of the field, playing at elevation – an eternal challenge for visiting pros from the BMW Championship in 2024 to this year’s ANNIKA event – always adds a new wrinkle. “The adjustment for distance is what everyone’s kind of trying to focus on,” Junkkari said.
Junkkari finished Tuesday in a small crowd at 3-under par, three behind leader Thanana Kotschasanmanee at 6-under.
Lauren Dickey, who grew up in Loveland and played college golf at the University of New Mexico, finished at 2-under and is using the tournament to gear up for the LPGA Q-School tournament series this fall. Dickey started quickly Tuesday, getting to 3-under before winds came up and made the back-nine a slog. She finished at 2-under.
“It got a lot more difficult to get down the final stretch,” she said.
Dickey has two full-seasons playing on women’s mini-tour events and the ANNIKA Tour, and is hoping to do well in the LPGA Q-School this fall.
“I didn’t have a great start to this season so a lot of this has been just trying to find my game again, find my love for the game again, and prepping for Q-School,” she said. “The last half of the season has been a lot more taken as prep and do your best, obviously… the goal’s still to win but besides that making sure that I get the best prep that I can this week.”
The tournament is free to attend and play begins each morning through Friday’s championship. For an updated leadersboard, go here.
Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.
Tournament opened Tuesday at Todd Creek Golf Course By Jim Bebbington The ANNIKA Womens All-Pro Tour’s Colorado Championship kicked off Tuesday with Todd Creek Golf Course in Thornton putting up a strong defense and putting the players on notice that their best will be required to win. View this post on Instagram A
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