Annika Sorenstam Named Augusta National Member, Per Report

Annika Sorenstam has reportedly become the first LPGA professional to be named a member at Augusta National Golf Club. 

According to Golfweek, multiple anonymous sources have confirmed that the 10-time major champion was accepted to the prestigious club which only began welcoming women as members in 2012. 

Sorenstam, 53, has won 90 tournaments around the world as a professional and eight LPGA Player of the Year awards throughout her career. She hails from Sweden and now resides in Orlando, Fla., with her husband Mike McGee and two children.  McGee, who also serves as Sorenstam’s manager, declined to comment on her new membership to Golfweek. 

Annika Sorenstam is reportedly a new member at Augusta National Golf Club.

IMAGO / ZUMA Wire

Augusta National, which typically keeps its members’ names under wraps, also declined to comment. When the club opened its doors to female members in 2012, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and financier Darla Moore were the first to be welcomed. Four other women have reportedly been admitted since then, including former USGA president Diana M. Murphy, Pebble Beach Co. co-chair Heidi Ueberroth, former IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and the Santander Group executive chairman Ana Patricia Botin. 

Fred Ridley, the club chairman, announced the creation of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2018, prior to the Masters. Sorenstam joined Lorena Ochoa, Nancy Lopez and Se Ri Pak as the honorary first tee starters of the inaugural event in 2019, which Jennifer Kupcho won. 

Sorenstam retired from the LPGA in 2008, but returned to the senior golf in 2020. In 2021, she won the U.S. Senior Women’s Open by eight shots. She received a special invitation to this year’s U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach, which she said would be her last competitive start for the foreseeable future.