The LPGA Tour hosts the fourth of its five major championships this week at the Wegman’s LPGA Championship.
The LPGA Championship has had various sponsors lend their name to the event through its history, but this will be the final year for the second oldest tournament on the LPGA Tour.
Next year the PGA of America joins forces with the LPGA Tour, $1.25 million will be added to the purse and the new tournament will be named the Women’s PGA Championship.
It will still be a major championship and female PGA Professionals will earn spots in the field to compete with the touring professionals just like the PGA Championship.
This year’s Wegman’s LPGA Championship will offer a total purse of $2.25 million and will be held at the Monroe Golf Club in Pittsford, New York, near Rochester.
The LPGA Championship has been held since 1955 and former winners include the biggest names in women’s golf. Marlene Hagge, Louise Suggs, Mickey Wright, Kathy Whitworth, Nancy Lopez, Patty Sheehan, Laura Davies, Juli Inkster, Se Ri Pak, Annika Sorenstam, Suzann Pettersen and Yani Tseng have all hoisted the big trophy.
Inbee Park won the second of her three consecutive major championships at the 2013 Wegman’s LPGA Championship. She is third on the LPGA Tour money list this season, has one win and is coming off a runner-up finish at the Meijer LPGA Classic last week.
Stacy Lewis has held the No 1 spot in the Rolex Ranking for 11 weeks and will try for her second major championship victory of the season. She will have to battle Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson, Suzann Pettersen and the rest of the top women players in the world.
One of the players who won’t be in the field this week is the reigning U.S. Women’s Open Champion Michelle Wie. She was forced to withdraw from the Meijer LPGA Classic last week with an injury to her hand that made it difficult to hold the golf club.
Wie is having one of the best seasons of her career. She is in second place on the LPGA Tour’s money list and No. 5 in the Rolex Rankings.
The Wegman’s LPGA Championship is the first of four consecutive events over the next four weeks on the LPGA Tour. The Canadian Pacific Women’s Open and the Portland Classic precede the final major championship of the year, the Evian Championship in France.
The LPGA Tour always offers exciting golf action and with just two major championships remaining this season for the ladies the competition will be fierce.