DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Dec. 7, 2000 – The 2001 schedule for the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour is the strongest yet in the association’s 50-year history, boasting total prize money of $42 million for 40 events. Of the 40 events, 37 are official money events and represent more than $39.5 million in total prize money.
The 37 official money events include four new events. The combination of the purse increases and quality of events is a major factor in the strength of the schedule. The key points regarding total prize money and purses range from an impressive number of tournaments increasing their purses to the highest average purse in the history of the Tour.
To date, 23 official money events have announced purse increases, representing a 13.4 percent increase from 2000. Several other LPGA tournaments are expected to announce purse increases in the coming months.
The largest purse increases, at $300,000, came at the Evian Masters, which raised its purse to $2.1 million, and the Chick-fil-A Charity Championship hosted by Nancy Lopez, which took its purse to $1.2 million.
The average purse is in excess of $1 million, achieving the Tour’s goal of having a $1 million average purse well ahead of its projected date of 2002.
The 2001 schedule also features 19 official money events with purses of at least $1 million, up from 12 in 2000 and only four as recently as 1996.
‘The LPGA would not be the success it is today without the support of its tournament sponsors, and we appreciate the efforts our tournament sponsors have made to raise the purses over the last several years,’ said Votaw. ‘With more than half of our official events having a purse of at least $1 million, we are well on our way toward reaching our previously announced goal of having all of our official money purses up to $1 million by 2003. As I have said earlier this year, our focus in the coming years will be on quality, not only in the competitive environment, but also in the area of economic opportunity for our players.’
The LPGA Tour is not only about purses and tournaments for its players; it is also about raising funds to help local and national charities across the country.
‘More importantly, we are appreciative of the fact our tournament sponsors have also raised more than $7.7 million for charities in their local communities in 2000,’ said Votaw, ‘bringing the 20-year total for monies raised for charity through the LPGA and its tournaments to more than $117.7 million.’
The four new events on the schedule demonstrate the LPGA’s focus on quality. Each will be played at a quality venue and/or in markets where the LPGA has compelling economic interests. The four new events on the schedule are the LPGA.com Classic, Jan. 12-14, at Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando, Fla.; the Bank of Montreal Canadian Women’s Open, Aug. 16-19, at the Magna Golf Club in Aurora, Ontario, Canada; the Williams Championship, Sept. 2-9, at the Tulsa (Okla.) Country Club; and the Sports Today Open, Oct. 19-21, in Seoul, Korea.
‘The LPGA is proud to welcome the Bank of Montreal, the Williams Company and the Sports Today newspaper into our family of tournament sponsors,’ said Votaw. AIG and ALLTEL also joined the LPGA family as presenting sponsors of the McDonald’s LPGA Championship and Jamie Farr Kroger Classic, respectively. The LPGA has one of the most impressive tournament sponsor lists in professional sports, and we anticipate this list growing by three or four more over the next few weeks.
‘The LPGA is also excited to partner with the Royal Canadian Golf Association on the Bank of Montreal Canadian Women’s Open,’ said Votaw. ‘Thanks to the RCGA, the LPGA will be able to continue its presence in Canada, a country that has been supportive of the LPGA for the past 28 years.’
The Weetabix Women’s British Open, which has been on the LPGA Tour’s schedule since 1994, was designated as the LPGA’s newest major on Sept. 27, 2000. Both the Weetabix Women’s British Open and the Nabisco Championship increased their purses by $250,000 for 2001 while the purse for the McDonald’s LPGA Championship Presented by AIG went up $100,000. As a result of these increases, all four of the LPGA Tour’s majors now have purses of at least $1.5 million.
The purses, dates, sites and network television for the LPGA’s four majors are: the Nabisco Championship, $1.5 million, March 22-25 at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., ESPN/ABC; the U.S. Women’s Open, $2.75 million, May 31-June 3 at Pine Needles Golf Club in Pinehurst, N.C., ESPN/NBC; the McDonald’s LPGA Championship Presented by AIG, $1.5 million, June 21-24 at the DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Del., The Golf Channel/CBS; and the Weetabix Women’s British Open, $1.5 million, Aug. 2-5 at Sunningdale Golf Club in Sunningdale, Berkshire, England, ESPN/ABC.
‘We have spent the last 11 months celebrating the LPGA’s 50th anniversary,’ said Votaw,’ and we are coming off a year that has seen the LPGA set a number of performance and monetary records, including three players who earned more than $1 million in one season. Announcing the strongest schedule in the Tour’s history is the perfect capstone to this year and springboard for the next 50 years.’
Contact: Leslie A. King, 904-274-6270