LPGA Returning to South Jersey

LPGA Returning to South Jersey

January 12th, 2010

After a three year hiatus, the Ladies Professional Golf Association will once again be staging a golf tournament in southern New Jersey.  The gals have been missed.

The LPGA began its 21-year run in the area in 1986 with the Atlantic City LPGA Classic, held at the Marriot Seaview CC.  Two laters later the venue was changed to Greate Bay CC in Somers Point, where it stayed through 1997.  The tournament was moved back to the Seaview in 1998 and it played there through 2006.  The event was called the ShopRite Classic beginning in 1992, when Wakefern Foods took over as the main sponsor.

The tournament was pulled after the 2006 event because of then LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens.  The coveted date - in early to mid June - is the just prior to the LPGA championship, meaning most of the name players attend the event.  ShopRite was pushed aside for a new upstart tournament, Annika Sorenstam's Ginn Tribute, played in South Carolina.  ShopRite was offered an unacceptable September date and the tournament folded.

The Ginn Tribute lasted just two years and Bivens controversial tenure as commissioner likewise was shot down in flames.  The tour's big name players, fed up with Bivens, forced her resignation in July, 2009.  Michael Whan, a 45-year old businessman, has just taken over as the new commish.

Tail between legs, the LPGA came back to the South Jersey golf world in November and offered the 2010 date.  It was gladly accepted.  This year the Classic will be June 14-20, then the next four years are penciled in for the first week of June.  The LPGA championship is the following week each year.

The LPGA needs the South Jersey tournament.  The tour schedule has dropped from the norm of 30 tournaments a year to just 23 this year, of which 10 are being played outside the USA.  The tight economy has made sponsors tough to find.  The tour is on shaky footing.

The ShopRite Classic's biggest contribution to the area has been the giving to charities.  In 2006, $1.8 million went to local charities.  Over the course of 21 years, about $13 million has gone to local hospitals and other youth, health, and community non-profits.  Local businesses also see a gain in revenue the week all the lady pros and spectators are in South Jersey.

Welcome back, girls.  Hope your stay is permanent.

- Mountain Man and City Girl

http://www.MountainManandCitygirl.com