LPGA announces Tour schedule for 2011 season
The schedule for the 2011 Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour has been released. This year the LPGA Tour will feature 25 tournaments in 12 countries. That means that an extra tournament has been added to the calendar, which should make for quite
an exciting year in the women’s game.
The season starts in Thailand when the Honda LPGA Thailand begins on 17 February. That will be followed by the HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore. Both events were won by Japan’s Ai Miyazato in 2010. The Titleholders tournament in Orlando will be the last
event of the 2011 season.
Another exciting fact revealed about the coming season is that one of the tournaments will require the players to forgo the purse money. That’s right. At the inaugural RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup in March, 132 players will play for free. This 54-hole
stroke-play event will take place at the Wildfire Gold Club in the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort and Spa in Arizona. The purse money will actually go to the LPGA Foundation which runs the LPGA-USGA Girls golf program. This event is basically held
to offer more financial support to the foundation. Even though there is no prize money for the players, the participants will earn points for player of the year, Rolex World Rankings and Rookie of the year. The winner and top finishers will also move up in
the money list depending on the prize they would have attained.
All the players on the LPGA are eager to start the new season. Yani Tseng is really looking forward to 2011, after putting in some brilliant performances last year. Tseng won the Ricoh Women’s British Open and the Kraft Nabisco Championship last season,
which is the first major of the season.
"Because of the economy, I think commissioner (Michael) Whan and his team did a great job to secure as many events as they did in 2010," Tseng said. "The addition of events in Taiwan and China proves we are truly a global tour. And
I think it's a tight schedule, which is good. Last year there were too many long, long breaks."
The major championships of the season will take place in March, June and July. The Nabisco Championship will take place on 31 March, whereas the U.S. Open will take place at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. Paula Creamer will defend her title at the Open,
while Christie Kerr will defend her title at the LPGA Championship in New York on 23 June, 2011.
The 40-week long season starts in February.
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