Team ShopRite golfers prepare for new initiative, both on and off the course

By Annie Watson

 

GALLOWAY, N.J. – With the 2025 ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer kicking off Friday, all eyes across the Eastern Seaboard are not only on the product on the course, but how the supermarket title sponsor will continue to improve a tournament known to be the kick-off to the LPGA summer calendar.

 

ShopRite, the longest-running sponsor on the LPGA Tour, announced in late May their ongoing support for women’s golf by launching a new initiative known as “Team ShopRite” – a group of five golfers who will represent the famous red and yellow logo not only on the collars of their polos, but in everything that ShopRite stands for.

 

The inaugural Team ShopRite includes Solheim Cup member Cheyenne Knight, as well as four golfers who are starting out in their professional careers -- Gurleen Kaur, Brooke Matthews, LPGA Tour rookie Caley McGinty, and five-time Junior All-American Gianna Clemente, who received a sponsor exemption into this week’s tournament.

 

For many professional golfers, especially those starting out and focusing on maintaining their eligibility in the LPGA, every sponsor and every dollar matters. Even better when it is backed by a company so closely associated with an LPGA tournament for almost four decades like ShopRite, who has donated more than $40 million to various charitable organizations through the ShopRite LPGA Classic.

 

“I think being part of a brand that represents giving back to the community in that way just gives you really good perspective going into a tournament week,” McGinty said.

 

The golfers on Team ShopRite have been able to not only interact with those spearheading these initiatives, but also participate in events in the community. For example, The Special Olympics New Jersey Golf Clinic was conducted Wednesday afternoon, where McGinty and Matthews taught dozens of Special Olympics athletes how to drive and chip on the range at Seaview.

 

Clemente, who will be making her second consecutive appearance at the ShopRite LPGA Classic and the only amateur on Team ShopRite, also helped lead a golf clinic at the Women’s Executive Golf Day Wednesday.

 

“Some people might see it as a responsibility, but I’m more than happy to do things like that,” Clemente said. “Just being able to grow the game and hopefully get more women into the game as well is really important to me. I think it’s really cool what [ShopRite] is doing. Just happy to be a part of it.”

 

“The more golf you play, it’s really easy to get into that [thought], like my self-worth is a golf score,” said Matthews, who joined the LPGA back in 2022. “You’re always seeing a number next to your name. We want to do well, it’s important to us, but is it really everything? It’s not.

 

“There is so much life outside of golf.”

 

As simple as those eight words may sound, the golfers in the inaugural Team ShopRite not only were selected to continue representing the core values of the supermarket conglomerate on the course, but because they themselves already resonate with those values.

 

“ShopRite is such a great community of people, and being able to finally meet everybody in person this week has been super cool,” Gurleen Kaur, currently in her second year on the LPGA Tour, said. “Even knowing that a lot of ShopRite stores are family-owned is super cool. I think knowing how much they give back to charity aligns with all our personalities and characters too, so it’s such a great brand to be a part of.”

 

ShopRite’s initiative not only aims at the future of women’s golf but also ensuring the next generation of the LPGA have a mentor and peer alongside them – in this case, it’s Cheyenne Knight. And while the two-time LPGA Tour winner has by no means hinted at retirement, she has experienced the professional lifestyle enough to aid the rest of Team ShopRite to set them up for emotional success while the company backs them all up financially.

 

“I had no idea I was a veteran until Team ShopRite,” the 28-year-old Knight laughed.

 

“I think it’s just what it says about ShopRite as a whole, just continuing to grow the game of golf. Part of it…like Gianna’s an amateur. They’re really caring about the future of women’s golf on every level, which is amazing.”

 

In addition to announcing the inaugural Team ShopRite, executives at the grocery store extended their title sponsorship for the tournament at Seaview’s Bay Course in a new multi-year partnership. The 2025 ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer will take place Friday-Sunday, June 6-8.