Is this the week the LPGA will finally announce its 2013 tournament schedule? Yes it is, but apparently they will tease us by doing it in stages.
The LPGA, and Commissioner Michael Whan announced today that the LPGA will be making its first ever official appearance in the Bahamas in 2013 with the playing of the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic.
This tournament will take place May 23-26. It will be a full field event that will include four tournament rounds and 72 holes of stroke play. The purse will be $1.3 million, with coverage provided by Golf Channel.
The tournament will be played at the Tom Weiskopf designed Ocean Club Golf Course at The Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas and will be supported by Pure Silk and The Islands of The Bahamas. Recently recognized as the #8 Resort Course in North America and the Caribbean by Golf Digest Magazine, the course has played host to several nationally-televised events, including the Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational.
Pure Silk also sponsors several players on the LPGA Tour including 2012 Rolex Player of the Year Stacy Lewis, Brittany Lincicome, Natalie Gulbis, Katherine Hull, Jeong Jang, and Brittany Lang.
Since Michael Whan took over the Commissioner's job, the LPGA has seen the number of tournaments grow from 23 in 2010 to 27 in 2012.
This announcement is the first in a series of new 2013 tournaments to be announced in the coming week.
I would recommend to readers of this blog to check back here daily this week, as I will be adding new information to this post as it becomes available.
Update #1 - 1/8/13 ... The LPGA announced today that Acer has been added as a Sponsor to the Shoprite Classic in Galloway, N.J. It will now be called The ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer.
Update #2 - 1/9/13 .... Marathon Petroleum Corporation joins the LPGA family as title sponser of the Toledo, Ohio tournament. It will now be called The Marathon Classic presented by Owens Corning & O-I. It will now be televised around the world via Golf Channel and the LPGA’s international television partners. It was not televised last year. Stay tuned to this blog, as the LPGA has promised big news in the next few days. .
Update #3 - 1/10/13..... This is a big one. The LPGA today announced its return to a region rich in golf history with the announcement of the North Texas LPGA Shootout, to be held April 25 to 28, 2013 at Las Colinas Country Club in Irving, Texas. The $1.3 million North Texas LPGA Shootout will host a full-field of 144 players playing 72 holes of stroke play over four days of competition
Update #4 - 1/15/13......The LPGA 2013 schedule has finally been released!
Here are the Highlights:
1- Three new tournaments added. Tournaments in China, Texas, and The Bahamas have been added to the schedule. As of now, The Navistar Classic and The Sybase Match Play Championship have been eliminated.
2- The number of tournaments has increased to 28 (does not include the Solheim Cup), 27 of them will be televised.
3- The CME Group Titleholders Championship contract has been extended through 2016.
4- The 2013 prize money will be increased to $49 million.
5- Golf Channel will televise more than 300 hours of tournament coverage, the most in the tour's history.
6- 2013 will be the first year where 5 majors will be played. The Evian Championship has become the 5th major.
Here is the link to the complete story:
http://www.lpga.com/golf/news/2013/1/2013-schedule-announcement.aspx
Update #5 - Commissioner Michael Whan has just stated on the Golf Channel, that he hopes to add another tournament to the 2013 schedule in the next 30 days.
Follow @tonyjesselliTweet
12 comments:
I am a bit surprised about the loss of the Navistar LPGA Classic. Can't blame its loss on the success of the Asian players. It has been the most American dominated event on the tour. The event has had a fewer number of Asians players than the typical LPGA event because the upcoming Asian swing gave them an opportunity to play JLPGA and KLPGA events, visit family, and meet sponsor obligations. Below are the top three results for Navistar LPGA Classic results for the last five years.
2012 – Stacy Lewis, Lexi Thompson, Angela Stanford
2011 – Lexi Thompson, Tiffany Joh, Angela Stanford
2010 - Katherine Hull, Brittany Lincicome, Christie Kerr
2009 - Lorena Ochoa, Brittany Lang, Michelle Wie
2008 – Lorena Ochoa, Christie Kerr, Candie Kung
I am hoping the additional tournament to be added will be the San Antonio event that Lorena Ochoa has been trying to put together.
I appreciate the effort put in to make mostly Harmless and Fairways and Forehands must reads for fans of ladies golf. Keep up the great work.
sports medic
There are many possibilities for a tournament or two to be added later.
Sybase is still in discussion.
They are still looking for a sponsor for Navistar.
San Antonio news has been quiet, but that would be great.
Thanks for the kind words, they are really appreciated.
Great job here, Tony. I wish the LPGA presented everything as conveniently as you do. They want us to download a PDF file of the schedule? Seriously? It's like LPGA.com goes out of its way to keep readers confused, and discouraged from returning. Just list the darn schedule smack down the line, one by one, in a front page article. Notice a list hasn't been pasted here or on other prominent sites so far. I guarantee that's because LPGA.com didn't make it easily available.
Anyway, the schedule is roughly what I expected but regardless of the total number of events Whan can't afford to lose domestic tournaments in favor of ones elsewhere. We badly need to salvage at least one between Sybase and Navistar.
I agree. I think I counted 16 domestic and 12 International.
I counted Canada as domestic.
Thanks for all your favorable comments. It is greatly appreciated.
Whoa Tony-it takes up to 2 hours to get from Canada to the US & vice-versa-not exactly "Domestic"! :)
With nodisrespect to Kraft, they should have kept Dinah's name in the title-like "Kraft presents the Dinah Shore" or something similar.
Thanks for the update. Lots of good news in there but still a few empty spots. I hope, like Dooger, that they can salvage Sybase or Navistar. Regarding update #5, I think that involves the West Coast and he seemed very confident it would happen. Mike Whan also said he likes playing 2 or 3 tourneys than having a week off. I'm not sure I'm buying that. What do you think Tony?
Regards,
-Jet Jockey
I think the commissioner would make a great politician. He is saying the right things to justify his struggles in these hard economic times.
That said, I don't think anybody could be doing a better job. People may look at the schedule and see 3 new events and 2 lost.
What they don't see is the hard work he had to put in to retain 8 or 9 other championships who's contractsexpired last year.
Thank you for your input. Very good point which I had not considered! I do agree totally with you that he his doing a great job. I watched his interview on the Golf Channel and he is very impressive. The LPGA is lucky to have him.
Cheers,
Jet Jockey
Carolyn Bivens dug a big hole for the LPGA and nearly buried the organization. I warned about Bivens in both 2006 and 2007 but it wasn't till 2008 that anyone other than myself(Ask the blog owner, The Constructivist, about my being a lonely voice in the wilderness.) seriously questioned the direction the LPGA was headed because of its commissioner.
Whan is doing a good job, but the days the LPGA played a mostly domestic 40 event schedule is probably a thing of the past. I hope the women get back to SE Florida so I can live blog a tournament in person again.
I think the commissioner would make a great politician. He is saying the right things to justify his struggles in these hard economic times. Sell Rolex
Golf clubs are looking for something! It’s called a younger membership and it’s proving hard to come by. With so many opportunities for younger players to participate in so many other sports the general consensus is that golf has lost a bit of an edge. Maybe this is why so many golf clubs are looking at alternatives to attract back what some might regard as an essential lifeline to the longevity of the clubs survival and they are looking at introducing the Golf Skate Caddy as part of their strategy and rental fleet, to create a point of difference and get back some of this lost revenue. If your club does not have these, then maybe they should check them out to see what all the excitement is about.
Like us at www.facebook.com/golfskatecaddy
Post a Comment