Fans come out for ANA Inspiration
Day two of the ANA Inspiration, the first major LPGA golf championship of the year is underway at Mission Hills. This year attendance is up from years past and fans are loving it.
This is the second year Ana Inspiration has sponsored the tournament, but this is the first time it’s had a full year to market the event and it’s paid off.
“It’s a wonderful tournament,” said Ken Murphy, whose visiting from Maine.
It’s world class golf under hard to beat sunshine.
“It’s just so pretty and nice with the mountains and palm trees and all the ladies like coming here to play because it’s such a pretty place,” said Texas resident Gloria May.
The tournament is off to a competitive start on the links and more fans are watching than ever before.
“I think we are 5 to 10 percent up at this point than last year which is awesome,” said Tournament Director Gabe Codding.
“I’m sure the popularity has grown, they do a nice job of it,” said La Quinta resident Anne Taft.
Throughout the year ANA marketed the golf tournament on it’s international airline through inflight magazines and commercials, as well as social media.
“They are bringing in their general mangers and their customers, a whole new audience who largely many have never been to the desert before. So to bring them to Rancho Mirage it’s an easy sell this time of year,” said Codding.
People we talked to couldn’t agree more.
“I’ve been to several in Tulsa and several places like that, but this is really the queen of all tournaments. It’s great, it’s wonderful, the crowds are nice. It’s fun and this is a beautiful city,” said May.
“We’ve had a great time here, seen a lot of stars, and it’s just been a lot of fun,” said Taft.
“We try to come every year,” said Murphy.
“Every year almost the last ten years,” said Los Angeles resident Ho Yoo.
This year Yoo’s daughter joined him for the first time.
“I’m pretty new to golf so it’s great to share a moment with my dad. It took me 34 years to come with him, it’s been great and looking at mentors like Michelle Wie. You can see their power in person is very different than on TV,” said Vivian Yoo.
With the weather expected to continue to be this nice over the weekend, tournament organizers expect even more people to come out and watch.
