Day 3: The perfect end to a great tournament.

ANNIKA Invitational at Mission Hills

DAY 3

Friday, August 26

Mission Hills, CHINA - The third and final day of the ANNIKA Invitational at Mission Hills was both fantastic and historic.

Each event during the final day of the ANNIKA Invitational was executed flawlessly by our first-class tournament partner, Mission Hills Golf Club in China.

Friday began with a meeting with the Mission Hills senior management team to discuss how to improve the tournament in future years and to brainstorm about two other possible events. That session was followed by a sound bite film session with Annika and the Mission Hills video team, as well as the tournament press conference, which was attended by more than 100 media and related parties.

Two hours of interviews followed with ESPN, Golf Digest from both Japan and Hong Kong, local television stations, regional golf associations and other golf print media.

Annika took a break to eat lunch near the 18^th green of the Olazabal course before heading out to the 18^th green of the Annika Course to greet the girls as they completed their final round.

Despite all the busy activities of the morning and early afternoon, Annika greeted and thanked the final seven groups of Asia's future stars as each completed play. She also witnessed Charlotte Thomas’ two-foot putt that clinched her victory.

The impressive awards ceremony stage was executed in the 15 minutes following play. Over 200 players, parents, dignitaries, media and golf fans stayed to watch. It was very special.

Then, as a fitting end to a historic week, Annika crowned the first-ever all-girls tournament champion of Asia, Charlotte Thomas of Singapore. 11-year-old Ru Qing Guan from China was runner-up.

Only Hurricane Irene put a damper (no pun intended) on this event from across the world – when we arrived in Hong Kong, we were informed Annika’s flight home through New York was cancelled. Of course she understood but she didn’t mind – this would give her an extra 15 hours to savor memories of this great event!

-Don Ochsenreiter, President, ANNIKA Foundation

For a complete event summary of the ANNIKA Invitational at Mission Hills, please click here to head to our website.