THE ANNIKA DRIVEN BY GAINBRIDGE AT PELICAN

November 11, 2026

Annika Sorenstam

Emilia Duran

Jay Cleveland

Autumn Solesbee

Pelican Golf Club

Press Conference

JEREMY FREIDMAN: Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. This is a special press conference this afternoon. It's going to be kind of a two-parter with a lot of Wake Forest in it this afternoon.

EMILIA DURAN: Go, Deacs.

JEREMY FREIDMAN: Yeah, Head Coach Kim Lewellen over here is going to be the biggest cheerleader of this press conference.

This is the Annika Inspiration Award press conference. This is year two of the Annika Inspiration Award. Up front we have Annika Sorenstam, World Golf Hall of Famer, tournament namesake and tournament host. In the middle, Emilia Duran, the 2026 recipient of The ANNIKA Inspiration Award. And then to the right Jay Cleveland, Cleveland Brothers, presenting sponsor of the Annika Inspiration Award.

So, Annika, let's start with you and just the origin of the award. This a part of a lot of initiatives with the ANNIKA Foundation. Talk about how this award came about and the big initiatives that you're looking to do with this award.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, thank you everybody for being here. Yeah, this is a big deal for us. Having Emilia here and Jay here means a little bit more.

Yeah, as you know, the last 18 years we been spending a lot of time and energy how to grow the game of golf and inspire young women. You know, try to advance them through the game of golf.

This Inspirational Award idea came up a few years ago with one of our board members. It was like, well, how can we continue our affiliation with some of our alumni, but also how do we celebrate the young women that are doing something extraordinary outside the ropes?

You know, so we kind of defined it as finding an individual that has a passion, has the character to make an impact on others in the community.

So this award came about last year and we had a wonderful recipient at that time, the first ever, Rachel Heck, and now we are sitting here with Emilia Duran. She embodies everything that I think the Inspiration Award by the Cleveland Brothers, what it stands for.

When you get to know Emilia you will instantly know she's fun and energetic, passionate, very giving. All the things we look into a person to be part of this award.

So we're super excited that we are on our second year, and it's kind of fulfilling kind of the thoughts we had. And of course with Jay Cleveland and his family and support it's been amazing to take it to the level we have.

We share a lot things when it comes to inspiring women and empowering them, so I think it's been a really win-win for everyone.

JEREMY FREIDMAN: Jay, same question on the origin of this award. How important is it to you and the family to be presenting sponsor of this award and be affiliated with the ANNIKA Foundation and Annika?

JAY CLEVELAND: Well, it's very important. Getting to know Annika and her family over the last few years has been wonderful, and wanted to know what we could do to help further her mission in supporting women's golf.

And when they came up with this concept and award, it fit into everything that we want to do, and it's very unique from the standpoint of touching young ladies when they're very young all the way through their career up through college and into life.

I think that's super important. She had the vision to say, hey, this isn't just about golf. It's about life after that. So I think that's one of the unique things with this.

Obviously the lady sitting next to me here is an exceptional award winner. Emilia has done wonderful things in her career to start things off, and I applaud her for chasing her passion.

So that's a wonderful thing. So, yeah.

JEREMY FREIDMAN: And then Annika, if you would do the honors. We've announced Emilia as the award winner, but if you could properly introduce for this audience Emilia as the 2026 winner.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Okay. Well, it's an honor on behalf of The ANNIKA Foundation and the Cleveland Brothers to give this award to our second-ever recipient of the Annika Inspiration Award presented by Cleveland Brothers, Emilia Duran. Here you go.

EMILIA DURAN: Thank you so much.

JEREMY FREIDMAN: Emilia, let's start with when you first got the call that you were getting this award. You're an Annika alum. Annika is one of your mentors. Just talk about that initial conversation when you were told that you were receiving the award.

EMILIA DURAN: Yeah, well, before the award it was the application process. I got a couple letters of recommendation, one of them being Coach Kim.

And so even before getting the call it was just an honor to be considered as a nominee, to be considered that I was someone that Annika felt made an impact on the golf world.

Making a decision not to turn pro was a decision I made for me, and I didn't realize until after the fact, after writing an article for Golf Channel, that so many women could relate to it, whether it was not necessarily not wanting to turn pro, but just feeling burned out, anxious on the golf course sometimes.

And to be able to hear it from someone who has had a lot of success, but then any time someone can be open about what they experience, I've seen how powerful that is. Now as a broadcaster I get to hear from players all the time about what they go through. I feel that's the privilege we get in media. We get to see these players' journeys and we have this emotional relationship with the players that they don't even know and we're rooting for them so hard based on the trials they experienced.

And so the more you can share that I realized the more you can make an impact on others. So just going through the application process to be nominated was an honor. When I was working the U.S. Women's Amateur, which Macy Pate played in and played really well. I think one match she went like 35 holes or something. I got a text from an unknown number but said it was Annika, and just to give me a call -- give her a call when I had a moment.

So I called her back right away when I saw it. She told me that I had received the award and I was just blown away. There is so many people in golf that do so much for the game, whether it's helping young people, being a part of golf tournaments and raising awareness for women's golf or the community, there are so many people that do so many great things.

So to be recognized was just such a great honor.

JEREMY FREIDMAN: Jay, as a follow-up to that, Rachel Heck was the winner last year; Emilia this year. They have taken two different paths to where they are now. Neither of them is professional golf in a way in terms of playing inside the ropes. So as you guys are selecting the process, right, and going through and finding these stories, not that you're looking to find somebody not in golf year in year out, but how important is it to find these winners and these nominees who decide to take a different paths and decide to try to take a journey on their own that they haven't been doing their high school and college careers?

JAY CLEVELAND: So I'll answer it a couple different ways. And I'll say Annika's program is great in supporting them through golf. It can show them their passion and maybe that passion ends for golf, and that's fine. They jump off and they want to go chase their career that they're inspired to go do. That's their passion now. Golf will be there for them because they'll probably play some other time in the future. I'm guessing. I won't answer for Emilia here.

But I think from a business owner's perspective you want people to be passionate about what they do and not just clock in and just show up for eight hours. You want them to be passionate. If you're passionate about what you do it doesn't become work. You know, it's the love of being employed or maybe working for yourself.

So I think it's super important that you find your passion.

JEREMY FREIDMAN: Yep. Annika, same type of question. I think that's a natural follow-up, because your clinics that you do across the country is Share My Passion, right? Rachel Heck's passion is not necessarily on the golf course. Emilia's passion is, yes, on the golf course, but with a microphone. How important is it as you're going through the process as well finding these stories and finding these nominees and applicants that are -- same type of question -- finding their own path, finding their own way as a part of this award?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, I mean, I think obviously that's the reason behind the award, is to continue to inspire. Both Emilia and Rachel are amazing golfers. They were probably destined to be professionals. They had great careers as an amateur and did great in college.

And then to have the courage to step away, and I think that takes a lot. I mean, I've been in a -- not in a similar situation, but I can see how hard it would be to admit to yourself and family and coach and everybody around you where they put all the time and energy and all the years and all of a sudden you probably feel like you're letting them down.

But to have the courage to step up and say, this is not for me anymore, but I'm going to continue to do amazing things, and that's what both of these young women have done. And that's when this award is all about. That's what the foundation is about, is giving them opportunities. Our tagline -- or not tagline, but mission is to empower and advance young women through the game of golf. They're using golf to move forward in different aspects to move forward with their careers.

That's what this award is all about, and the more that we start talking about this award the more stories we were finding out. Just what you mentioned, you're hear it from other people and then they share how they feel. When we had this process, the letters we're getting, it's like, wow, this is really incredible.

It makes me so proud this game of golf is creating these amazing individuals with so much to offer. It's not just like on the golf course and hitting shots and being out there trying to score. They're really making an impact on others, and that's what is so cool to share.

That's what makes us proud within the foundation. We got Rob and Mike, and so we see these stories. That's what we're all about is creating amazing women that will be successful and do well in C-suites or now journalism and the storytelling that Emilia is doing and Rachel with her military background.

I mean, these are people that you would like to hire, right, Jay? People that are really successful, team players and women out there and empowering them. I think it's so, so important. So it goes beyond golf. It goes beyond hitting the shots. I think at the end of the day that's what we're very proud of, like people like Emilia. She makes us all proud.

Spend time with her, and if you walk away here not smiling, you might want to look at yourself and say, hey, maybe I might want to do something about my life because that's -- it is the truth. It is the truth.

You're all smiling now. It's true. Because you can hear it and feel it. That's what we want. We want women that are just very happy, excited, and passionate.

You always talk about what I've done. Well, you're on the same path. I mean, you're making a difference and just maybe a few holes behind me in this journey, right? You do an incredible job, so...

JEREMY FREIDMAN: Emilia, one kind of final question from me and then we'll open it up to the audience. Just a simple what does it mean to you to receive an award named after Annika, to your right?

EMILIA DURAN: Yeah, it means everything. I mean, when I was a freshman in college I wanted to play in Annika's event. We weren't in it for the first couple years and then when we played well in the national championship I think one of the first things I asked Coach Kim was, we're going to play in Annika's event now, right? And we're playing in the East Lake Cup. Those were the two things top of mind.

And right there was winning The ANNIKA Award, being the best player in college golf, being recognized by Annika. When your name is attached to Annika it means everything, and it just shows the impact someone like Annika has made on the game and everything that she's doing with having tournaments with her name attached to the LPGA.

People want to be a part of those events because they know they're going to be great because it's hosted by the greatest player ever to have played in the women's game. And so I didn't know it was going to come to the Annika Inspiration Award, just like I didn't know it was going to come back to Wake Forest and win a national championship after taking a year off.

Life isn't linear, and I'm so honored to receive this award. It's just been so wonderful to hear so many girls -- Rob was sharing at tournaments when they would play the video and share my story to people that hadn't heard it, and so many girls would email Rob and say that impacted them. It means everything to me.

So it's such an honor.

JEREMY FREIDMAN: Open it up for any questions from the media in the room.

Q. Annika, who inspired you or where did you draw inspiration from as you were coming up in this game?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Good question. Early on I would say probably my parents just because they introduced me to the sport. And my sister of course. But just kind of built the foundation around them and how they look at life. And then just moving on in my career, you know, I look around a lot; I learn from others; pick up things that I think I admire in other people and maybe the opposite also, things I don't agree with.

That's how I build my character and my personality and things I want to achieve in life. Other than my parents it's hard to pinpoint people other than my coach, Henri, has inspirational in a lot of ways. Obviously my husband here, Mike, the last I got say this right, almost 20 years, 21 years.

So just along the journey pick up little advice from people and try to improve as a person.

Q. Emilia mentioned the application process. Annika, can you describe to us what that process looks like, how you come about the different candidates you're looking at, how many people you consider before Emilia was selected?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, I don't get to see all of them early on. But then I speak with the team. Rob is sitting behind you and the other teammates, or team members we have, but also some of the board members. We have a committee that goes through them.

But they're really touching. We can only have one every year, but it's inspirational. It's hard sometimes to pick somebody because how do you value different inspirational stories? So the idea is to continue this forever, right, Jay? We will have many candidates along the way.

Bottom line is the stories that people share and the recommendations, it just makes you proud to be part of it. And that people care, right? The first time we came up with this idea it's like, do you think anybody would really care? Once you get recipients like Emilia, then you're like, people do, and hopefully this will carry on for a long time beyond my years.

But really to celebrate women that do great things.

Q. Emelia, you received a grant in receiving this award. Can you kind of describe how you selected the different groups and why they were important to you?

EMILIA DURAN: Yeah, well, first I had no idea that this grant would be a part of the award and was blown away. $25,000 to give to organizations that I care about. I've never had that opportunity, and it was -- it really showed me how empowering it is to have the opportunity to give to organizations you care about.

I hope to one day be in a position to do that as much as I can. I think more conversation and emphasis around giving is so important. So the very first thing that I wanted to do was find a way to give back to the ANNIKA Foundation because they do so much for girls in golf.

So was talking to Rob and there is an AJGA Junior All-Star Invitational that Rob was just so impressed with the players there on all the stuff the tournament had going on and how engaging they were; asking just really thoughtful questions and things that you don't always hear when young people can have a screen in their hand. They're not as you thoughtful.

So just being really impressed by the girls in that field, so will cover their entry fees as part of that. And as we all know, golf is really expensive, and the more you can provide opportunities to help overcome some of those burdens is really important.

I'm a part of the Young Professionals Board of the First Tee Greater Charlotte area, so giving there was really important to me. Giving to the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour, a tour that I started playing on and got the opportunity to experience playing tournaments with just girls; that was important for me.

And then there is a young lady in Charlotte that I play a lot of golf with that a lot of you learned her story when she won Drive, Chip, and Putt at nine, Autumn Solesbee. She's just been impressive to me from the getgo. You're such a light and you have just the most amazing personality.

You impress me every single day. It doesn't matter how -- yeah, no matter what you do in golf you're incredible at it, but you're going to be a star.

And the fact that at 12 years old you wanted to give back to the foster home that you were a part of in your early years is just incredible. No one like thinks of that.

And so I definitely wanted to find a way to be able to give to Autumn's foundation. Born to Soar is her tagline. In fact, she designed this little eagle here, and the event was the other day, the 9th, and they raised $30,000. Double from the year before I think.

So, yeah, so anyway, that was something that was really important to me and I'm so glad that you're here. We're twinning in our little jackets. So anyway, yeah, obviously you can see how much it means to me to be able to give to organizations and people that mean a lot.

JEREMY FREIDMAN: As a segue, that's what we call in the media business, a segue. Autumn, if you could come up and we're going to do a special photo op and check presentation. To Autumn's Eagles for $5,000.

(Photo op/check presentation.)

JEREMY FREIDMAN: Autumn, I'm going to put you on the spot. How excited are you to be here and to be receiving this and to be kind of doing what you're doing and to receive this from Emilia who she just said -- like you two basically inspire each other. How much does this mean to you to be receiving this?

AUTUMN SOLESBEE: It means so much to me because like me and Emilia are like best friends and stuff. It means so much to me, and it's inspiring and I just got to keep doing what I got to do to help give back and give and grow my foundation.

JEREMY FREIDMAN: Tell us a little bit about Autumn's Eagles.

AUTUMN SOLESBEE: I was adopted when I was seven from my dad and my mom, and so that -- and then three years ago I wanted to give back. We were playing in a charity golf tournament. It gave me the idea to play -- to give back to the Children's Home Society in North Carolina. To give back when I was adopted from there.

And it just very like -- it helped me give back and it just made me happy because I knew I could do it, so... (Applause.)

EMILIA DURAN: I feel like Autumn needs to talk a little bit about the day and how many birdies you made on your own ball, because you played one hole with like 15 groups.

AUTUMN SOLESBEE: Yeah, so I played -- I helped each group make birdies, and so I made like 15 birdies to help each group with my ball, but I also made eight birdies on my own ball and I played 19 groups.

So 19 holes helping other people get birdies and win. (Smiling.)

JEREMY FREIDMAN: Any more questions for the two rock stars up here on the panel, Autumn or Emilia? Emilia congratulations.

Q. Hey, Emilia, so cool to see what you're doing for women's golf and obviously everything with Autumn as well too. One other awesome landmark that you were a part of recently was the WTGL launch. I would love to hear about your participation in that, what the opening matches were like for you, and what you see as being a growing point to the women's game, too?

EMILIA DURAN: Yes, thank you for that question. I was blown away by the first two nights. I'm really excited for some of the different time slots. Like for Sunday to have 3:00 to 5:00, to have a lot of families come out and support; it was almost sold out, if not completely sold out that first night. It was really engaging and I was really impressed the dialog of the players, how excited they were and how much fun they had.

Gaby Lopez was dancing the whole time. Alison Lee was throwing the hammer maybe when she shouldn't.

So it was really fun to be a part of this emerging league and doing something to grow the game in a way that is going to complement the LPGA Tour. For example, last night I've covered Jeeno Thitikul and Ronni Yin forever -- not forever, but I've watched them play and didn't really know how funny and engaging they were. They're best friends.

For us to be able to tell that story, that's going to complement the LPGA when they go and play in the Dow and they're Jin & Ronic again and go tear it up.

So I'm really excited for what WTGL will bring to women's golf. We had some Hall of Famers the other night, Beth Daniel, Karrie Webb, and so it was really cool. Morgan Pressel was there as well. Serena Williams there was on the first night and some TGL players.

So it's been really exciting and I'm looking forward to seeing how this interactive alternative golf league will help bring more eyes to the LPGA.

Q. Love that perspective. Thanks, and congratulations.

EMILIA DURAN: Thank you.

JEREMY FREIDMAN: If no more questions in the room, Emilia, stay put because we're going to do part two of this press conference, which will be very Wake Forest heavy.