LPGA Announces 2015 Schedule

The LPGA announced its 2015 LPGA schedule at 3:00PM today, and continued its current trend of upward momentum. 

LPGA Chief Communications Officer Kraig Kann hosted the live stream which took place at the CME Tour Championship in Naples, Florida. Commissioner Michael Whan and Chief Commercial Officer John Podany jointly announced increased prize money, increased television coverage, and another increase in the  total number of tournaments.

Here are the highlights:

1- There will be 33 official tournaments in 2015, up from  32 in 2014. 

2- The 2015 LPGA season will kick off on Jan 28-31 with the Coates Golf Championship, in Ocala Florida. This is a brand new event. It will have a Saturday finish as the next day is the Super Bowl.

3- There will be 33 tournaments televised in 2015 (32 official tournaments and the Solheim Cup). The Mizuno Classic remains the only tournament with no TV coverage.

4- There will be 410+ hours of television coverage, up from 380 hours in 2014. Television ratings for the LPGA were up 15% this past season.

5- Prize money will be a record high $61.6 million. That is up over $4 million from 2014.

6- ANA Airlines will be the new sponsor for the first major championship of the year (Formerly the Kraft Nabisco Championship). All Nippon Airlines (ANA) has signed on through the year 2019.

LPGA Tour 2015 Season By the Numbers:
	2014 Schedule	2015 Schedule
Total Official Money Events	32	33
Total Purse	$57.55 Million	$61.6 Million
Average Purse	$1.79 Million	$1.81 Million
Official North American Events	21	22
Official Asian Events	9	9
Official European Events	2	2
Televised Events	32	33
Televised Hours	380+	410+
Unofficial Team Event	International Crown	Solheim Cup

Once again Commissioner Michael Whan must be commended for the continued growth in the sport that we all love. The Commissioner took over a "sinking ship" 5 years ago that had only 23 tournaments on its schedule.

Cross posted from  http://www.tonyslpgareport.com/

CME Titleholders Friday: Sandra Gal Extends Her Lead, LPGA Unveils 2014 Schedule

Sandra Gal fired her 2nd-straight round in the 60s at the CME Titleholders as many in her lead chase pack moved backwards in a big way.  The 37th-ranked post-2004 rookie ended the day with a 3-shot lead on Sun Young Yoo, who shot a bogey-free 68 to move 2 shots ahead of Gerina Piller (67), Pornanong Phatlum (68), and Cristie Kerr (69).  Others making nice moves up the leaderboard included Morgan Pressel (68, -5, T6), Azahara Munoz (68, -4, T9), and Amy Yang (68, -3, T15)--all the more impressive given how badly Brittany Lincicome (79), Ai Miyazato (78), Ilhee Lee and Jane Park (77), Paula Creamer and Brittany Lang (76), Carlota Ciganda and Eun-Hee Ji (75), and Lexi Thompson and Shanshan Feng (74) scored today.  With Inbee Park (72, -4), So Yeon Ryu (71, -3), Lydia Ko (71, -2), Mika Miyazato (73, -1), Suzann Pettersen (72, E), Stacy Lewis (73, E), Na Yeon Choi (74, +1), and In-Kyung Kim (74, +2) not putting on much of a show (and Pettersen not putting up much of a fight for the Vare Trophy), the top of the leaderboard lacks a little bit of star power and the tournament lacks a whole lot of drama.  Even the Rookie of the Year race isn't that exciting; with Caroline Masson at +9, all Moriya Jutanugarn (-2) has to do is stick relatively close to Ayako Uehara (-3) over the last 36 holes of the season to glide into 1st (and not even that close if Uehara can't chase down Gal and outpace everyone else on the weekend).

Still, I'll take a little anticlimax to 2013 with a smile on my face because of the great news on the 2014 schedule (ably summarized by Tony Jesselli).  More on the schedule next week, though.  For now, I'm hoping that moving day will tighten up the leaderboard just a little bit more and that my faves will try to end the season with a bang, not a whimper!

[Update 1 (11:27 pm):  Maybe the prospect of fighting for a spot on their International Crown team between now and the end of March 2014 will be a motivator!]

[Update 2 (11/23/13, 12:48 am):  Brent Kelley offers more context on the 2014 LPGA schedule.]

2013 LPGA Schedule

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.



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