HALF MOON BAY, Calif. -- Juli Inkster, a three-time winner of the Samsung World Championship, received a sponsor's invitation to play in the 2008 edition of the elite, 20-player event, tournament officials announced.

A Santa Cruz resident and San Jose State University graduate, Inkster not only brings a Bay Area presence to the Oct. 1-5 event at the Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay Golf Links, but she literally brings a Hall-of-Fame resume. A 31-time champion on the LPGA, with seven major championship trophies on her mantle, Inkster was inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame in 1999 and the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000.

"Juli is one of the best to ever play the game and is a true asset to any event she plays in," Championship Director Torrey Gane said. "Her outgoing personality, the way she interacts with fans and the overall presence she brings to our Championship are all elements that we've grown to covet over the years. We know that Juli is a tremendous addition to our field."

At the same time, Inkster provides an experienced contrast to what was shaping up to be one of the youngest fields in Championship history. The 48-year-old Inkster just sent her oldest daughter, Hayley, to college this fall, which would make 18-year-old Hayley Inkster roughly the same age as three of the six qualifiers into this year's event: 19-year-old Yani Tseng, 20-year-old Inbee Park and 20-year-old Ji-Yai Shin.

Tseng, who won the LPGA Championship, Park (U.S. Women's Open) and Shin (Ricoh Women's British Open) joined fellow 2008 major champion Lorena Ochoa (Kraft Nabisco Championship) and Ladies European Tour Order of Merit leader Helen Alfredsson in the field.

Ochoa previously qualified as the two-time defending champion of the Samsung World Championship, as the Rolex Player of the Year, the LPGA's leading money winner from 2007 and as the Vare Trophy winner, emblematic of lowest season scoring average.

Further spots will go to this year's leading LPGA money winners who have not already qualified.

Unlike Tseng, Park and Shin, who are making their Championship debuts, Inkster is no stranger to the Samsung World Championship. This will be her 17th Championship appearance, the most of any player in event history.

Inkster's record in the Championship is enviable, and not just because she played in the first two events as an amateur – the first to do so. She captured titles in 1997, 1998 and 2000, becoming one of only three players to win the prestigious event at least three times (five-time champion Annika Sorenstam and three-time winner Beth Daniel are the others).

Inkster has nine top-six finishes in her 16 Championships. That includes her three victories and the two T-6 finishes she's earned in her last two appearances (2004, 2006). Inkster's $641,044.50 in event earnings are second on the all-time Championship money list behind Sorenstam and nobody has played more rounds in the event than Inkster's 63.

Of her 31 career LPGA titles, Inkster has won the Samsung World Championship more than any other.

There is one other event Inkster has won three times, and it signaled her presence as a player who would make an impact on the LPGA. That would be the U.S. Women's Amateur, which the then-Juli Simpson won three consecutive times from 1980-82. A four-time All-American at San Jose State, Inkster also won the 1981 California Amateur.

When Inkster turned pro in August of 1983, she wasted little time making her presence felt. She won her first title in only her fifth start and became the first LPGA rookie to win two major championships in one season: the Nabisco Dinah Shore and the du Maurier Classic. A slam-dunk for LPGA Rookie of the Year in 1984, Inkster won 13 times in the 1980s, including her second Nabisco Dinah Shore (1989).

After the birth of her daughters in the early 1990s, Inkster displayed a return to form with victories at the 1997 and 1998 Samsung World Championships, earning her status as one of only five women to win consecutive Championships. The 1997 victory came in a playoff with Kelly Robbins and Helen Alfredsson and sent Inkster over the $3 million mark in career earnings.

This rejuvenated her career, setting the table for a remarkable 1999 season. That year, Inkster won five times, including the heretofore elusive U.S. Women's Open and the LPGA Championship. The two major victories in a three-week span made Inkster only the fourth woman to win the career Grand Slam.

Inkster would add her third Samsung World Championship title in 2000, the same year she would also win her sixth major – the McDonald's LPGA Championship. Two years later, Inkster would bag her seventh major, firing a final-round 66 to overtake Sorenstam and claim her second U.S. Women's Open.

Her last victory to date came two years ago, at the Safeway International Presented by Coca-Cola. At that time, it made Inkster only the third player to clear the $10 million mark in career earnings.

Known for being held on some of the world's finest courses, the Samsung World Championship has been played on five continents in 27 years. Half Moon Bay Golf Links becomes the 15th course to host the elite event, which began in 1980 at The Country Club in suburban Cleveland, Ohio.

An Arthur Hills design that opened in 1997, the Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay Golf Links is a links course set on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. There are ocean views on every hole, but the course's signature holes are the final three: a 384-yard (from the tips) par 4, a 184-yard par 3 and the finishing 533-yard par 5 18th. All three play along the ocean bluffs and all three combine stellar shot making demands with stunning views.

Past winners of the Championship include some of the finest players in the world: Daniel (1980, '81 and '94), JoAnne Carner (1982, '83), Nancy Lopez (1984), Amy Alcott (1985), Pat Bradley (1986), Ayako Okamoto (1987), Rosie Jones (1988), Betsy King (1989), Cathy Gerring (1990), Meg Mallon (1991), Dottie Pepper (1993), Se Ri Pak (1999), Inkster (1997, '98 and 2000), Dorothy Delasin (2001), Sorenstam (1995, '96, 2002, '04, '05), Sophie Gustafson (2003) and Ochoa (2006, '07).

About Samsung:
Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (SEA), based in Ridgefield Park, NJ, is a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. The company markets a broad range of award-winning consumer electronics, information systems, and home appliance products, as well as oversees all of Samsung's North American operations including Samsung Telecommunications America, LP, Samsung Semiconductor Inc., Samsung Electronics Canada, Inc. and Samsung Electronics Mexico, Inc. As a result of its commitment to innovation and unique design, the company was ranked #6 in the Electronics Industry segment in Fortune Magazine's "Most Admired Companies 2008," and named as one of Fast Company's "Fast 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2008." Among popular BusinessWeek rankings, the company ranked #26 in the publication's "Most Innovative Companies of 2008" and #21 in the "100 Best Global Brands" for 2007. Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd. is also a top patent holder, ranking second overall in the U.S. in 2007. Please visit www.samsung.com for more information.

About Half Moon Bay Golf Links:
Set against dramatic cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Half Moon Bay Golf Links features 36 holes of championship golf. For over 30 years, avid golfers have been returning to this incomparable setting, enjoying the variety of play offered by our two award winning courses, The Ocean and The Old. In 1997, Golf Digest ranked the Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay Golf Links has been ranked as one of the top new courses for that year, and since 2005 has been ranked as one of the top 50 by Golf for Women. It earned a No. 38 ranking among top Resorts for Golf Digest and a Silver Award Winner for Golf Magazine's top resorts issue.

Half Moon Bay has been home to Costanoan Indians, Spanish explorers, and Canadian rumrunners from the days of Prohibition. Modern-day Half Moon Bay is known for fields of pumpkins and artichokes, but it keeps the spirit alive with the legendary Mavericks and the idyllic natural beauty that makes today's explorers want to stay.

Damian Secore
Brener Zwikel & Associates
6901 Canby Ave., Suite 105
Reseda, CA 91335
New Office Number: 818-462-5614
Fax: 818-344-1714/818-668-3149
damians@bzapr.com

Contact:
Toby Zwikel/Brian Robin/Damian Secore
Brener Zwikel & Associates, Inc., (818) 462-5599, 462-5610, 462-5614