Rose Zhang of Irvine, Gabrela Ruffels of USC and Australia, and Angelina Ye of Stanford and China are among five amateurs invited to play in the ANA Inspiration, the LPGA Tour’s first major of the year.
Kaitlyn Papp of Texas and Olivia Mehaffey of Arizona State and Ireland are the other two amateur invitees who will play in the tournament at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage on April 2-5.
Zhang (pictured) played in the ANA in 2018 after earning an exemption by winning the ANA Junior Inspiration.
“I am so happy to receive an invitation to play in the 2020 ANA Inspiration,” said Zhang, a junior at Pacific Academy in Irvine who has committed to Stanford. “I didn’t hesitate for a second as I really wanted to test my game with the professionals.
“My experience in the 2018 ANA Inspiration was absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to have a second chance after everything I learned when I played in 2018.”
Zhang, ranked No. 1 in the Rolex American Junior Golf Association Rankings and No. 11 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, made the cut and tied for 60th in the 2018 ANA Inspiration.
Last year, Zhang was the AJGA Girls’ Player of the Year after winning the Toyota Junior World Cup, the Swinging Skirts AGJA Invitational and the Rolex AJGA Tournament of Champions, giving her six titles in the last two years.
Ye, a member of the Chinese National Team, won the 2019 US Girls’ Junior Championship, the 2018 Annika AJGA Invitational and the 2017 National Sports Games of China among numerous other amateur titles.
A freshman at Stanford, she claimed her first college victory in the Stanford Invitational last October and also finished second in the Molly Invitational. She is No. 1 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Women’s College Golf Rankings.
Ruffels, a junior at USC, captured the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship and the North and South Amateur Championship during a brilliant season last year. She also claimed the Windy City Collegiate title with the Trojans and scored the winning point as USC took the East Lake Cup.
Mehaffey is a three-time All-American at Arizona State who captured the Irish Women’s Open Championship and the Welsh Ladies Open Stroke Play Championship in 2016. At ASU, she won three times as a junior including the Pacific 12 Conference Championship, and has four titles in her college career.
Papp, a junior at Texas who is No. 4 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings and No. 14 in the World Amateur Rankings, has finished eighth or better in all four of her events this season as the Longhorns have claimed three titles. She won twice as a freshman after claiming the 2015 Texas Women’s Stroke Play Championship.
The final amateur invitation to the ANA Inspiration will go to the winner of the 2020 ANA Junior Inspiration, an AJGA sanctioned 54-hole invitational played the week before the first LPGA Tour major.
