Michelle Wie Headlines Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic Tournament Field By Brian Weis

Michelle Wie Headlines Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic Tournament Field

Pano, Lemieux and Henderson Announced as Sponsor Exemptions

By Brian Weis

Five-time LPGA winner Michelle Wie will headline the field at the second edition of the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic. Wie, 29, of Honolulu, Hawaii, will be joined by world No. 2 Ariya Jutanugarn and her sister, Moriya, top-earning American Cristie Kerr, former world No. 1 Lydia Ko and Canadian star Brooke Henderson.

As previously announced, thirteen-year-old Alexa Pano will lead a trio of sponsor exemptions who will tee it up at Thornberry Creek at Oneida. Pano, an accomplished junior golfer, will be joined by former Texas Tech University player Gabby (Barker) Lemieux and Selanee Henderson, who makes her second appearance in the tournament.

"We are thrilled to welcome Alexa, Gabby and Selanee to the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic," said Josh Doxtator, COO for the Oneida Golf Enterprise Corporation. ""We are extremely proud of our selections as they represent excellence in their own right. Their persistence, tenacity and determination is admired and we look forward to rooting them on."

Pano, of Lake Worth, Florida, has qualified for five USGA Championships including the U.S. Women's Amateur at ages 11 (2016) and 12 (2017). In 2017, she became only the third 12-year-old to make the cut into match play in 117 years. Pano is a two-time winner at Augusta National's Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals. She is also the youngest-ever competitor on the LPGA of Japan, playing the Yonex Ladies Open at age 11.

Lemieux, of Caldwell, Idaho, will make her professional debut at the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic. She earned three victories while playing collegiately at Texas Tech University. Formerly Gabby Barker, she and her husband, Jared, were married on June 2.

Henderson, of Apple Valley, California, will make her second appearance at the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic. She has played golf professionally since 2012 following a successful stint at University of California-Irvine where she was a four-time first-team All-Big West Conference selection.

Lemieux and Henderson each have Native American ancestry.

"Final preparations are underway as we eagerly await the arrival of the world's best golfers at next week's Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic," said Jon-Paul Genet, Tournament Director. "Last year's inaugural event made a great impact on the Green Bay community and we look forward to welcoming back the LPGA's approachable and fan-friendly athletes for another successful year."

A variety of advance ticket sale options are still available through the tournament website including Single Day Grounds Tickets, Weekly Grounds Tickets, Single Day Clubhouse Tickets, Weekly Clubhouse Tickets and Tickets for The Deck at 17 presented by Festival Foods where ticketholders are rewarded with discounted beers and brats when an LPGA player makes a birdie on the par 3, 17th hole. There will be an increase in ticket prices at the gate. Children 17 and under are admitted to the tournament free of charge when accompanied by a ticketed adult.

For more information about the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic and to volunteer or buy tickets, please visit www.thornberrycreeklpgaclassic.com.

Revised: 06/26/2018 - Article Viewed 22,988 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.