The LPGA Tour
The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour refers to a series of golf tournaments for female professional golfers that is run by the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) with headquarters in Daytona Beach, Florida. The LPGA Tour events are held annually from February to December on golf courses all over the world.
About the LPGA
The LPGA is an American association for female professional golf players, similar to the male counterpart the PGA. It was founded in 1950 by 13 female golfers including some of the greatest legends of female golf such as Patty Berg, Babe Zaharias and Louise Suggs, to mention only a few. The LPGA is a successor of the Women’s Professional Golf Association (WPGA) that was founded in 1944 and ceased organising tours in 1948 (formally ceased to exist in 1949).
Similarly as the PGA, the LPGA has a qualifying school which allows female golfers to gain an entry to the LPGA Tour, depending on their performance in the final qualifying tournament.
The LPGA also owns and runs the Symetra Tour, a developmental tour. The Legends Tour (formerly known as the Women’s Senior Golf Tour) that was founded in 2001 is affiliated by the LPGA but isn’t owned by the American organisation for female professional golfers.
A Brief History of the LPGA Tour
Early history of the LPGA Tour was marked by complete dominance of the American golfers. The first golfer from outside of the United States to gain an entry to the LPGA Tour became Sandra Post from Canada only in 1968. However, the following decades and especially the first decade of the 21th century saw the rise of many outstanding female golfers from all over the world, most notably South Korea. On the 2009 tour, South Korean golfers accounted for more than one third of all international players. Of 122 non-American members of the LPGA Tour in 2009, only 8 were from the United Kingdom: 4 from England, 3 from Scotland and 1 from Wales.
The LPGA Tour Events
The majority of the LPGA events are hosted by golf courses in the United States. In year 2010, two tournaments were held in Mexico, while one event was hosted by: England, Canada, France, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan and Thailand.
Five LPGA Tour events that are hosted by golf courses outside the United States are co-sanctioned with other organisations for female professional golfers. The Ladies European Tour (LET) co-sanctions the Women’s British Open and The Evian Championship. The Women’s Australian Open, on the other hand, is co-sanctioned with the LET and the ALPG Tour. The LPGA Hana Bank Championship is co-sanctioned with the LPGA of Korea Tour, while the Mizuno Classic is co-sanctioned with the LPGA of Japan Tour.
The LPGA recognises five major championships which include:
- US Women’s Open
- Wegmans LPGA Championship
- Kraft Nabisco Championship
- Women’s British Open
- The Evian Championship