2008 LPGA Tour
The 2008 LPGA Tour was a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world that took place from February through December 2008. The tournaments were sanctioned by the United States-based Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). In 2008, prize money on the LPGA Tour was $60.3 million, the highest to date in the history of the tour.
Lorena Ochoa topped the money list, earning $2,763,193. Ochoa also led the league in most wins with six, including four consecutive tournaments in March and April and one major tournament.
The four major championships were won by: Lorena Ochoa (Kraft Nabisco Championship), Yani Tseng (LPGA Championship), Inbee Park (U.S. Women's Open), and Ji-Yai Shin (Women's British Open). All major winners except Ochoa were not only first-time major winners, but first-time winners on the LPGA Tour. Tseng, at 19 years old, and Park and Shin, both at 20 years old, became the youngest-ever winners of the respective majors.
On May 12, a day after winning her third tournament of the season, Annika Sörenstam announced her intent to "step away" from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season. She continued to draw large crowds through the remainder of the season, though she did not win another tournament on the LPGA Tour before the end of the year.
Jiyai Shin, a 20-year-old non-LPGA member, set records on the LPGA Tour by winning three of the nine tournaments in which she played, including the Women's British Open and the season-ending ADT Championship with its $1 million first place prize. She became the first non-LPGA member ever to win three events.
The LPGA organization also attracted attention in 2008 when commissioner Carolyn Bivens announced a new policy in August that would have required all players who had been on the tour for two years to show proficiency in English or face suspension.[1][2] The Tour rescinded the policy two weeks later after increasing criticism from the media and from LPGA Tour sponsors.[3][4]
Tournament schedule and results
ADT Playoff Categories:
- winner: Official LPGA Tour events with a purse of at least $2,000,000. Winners of these events automatically qualify for the ADT Championship.
- standard: Winners do not automatically qualify for the ADT Championship; the ADT points system is used.
- unofficial: These events are not official LPGA Tour events and participation is not part of the ADT Playoff system.
The number in parentheses after winners' names show the player's total number of official money, individual event wins on the LPGA Tour, including that event.
| Dates | Tournament | Location | ADT Playoff category | Winner | Purse ($) | Winner's share ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 18–20 | Women's World Cup of Golf |  South Africa | unofficial |  Philippines (Jennifer Rosales / Dorothy Delasin) | 1,400,000 | 210,000 |
| Feb 14–16 | SBS Open at Turtle Bay |  Hawaii | standard |  Annika Sörenstam (70) | 1,100,000 | 165,000 |
| Feb 21–23 | Fields Open in Hawaii | Hawaii | standard | Paula Creamer (5) | 1,300,000 | 195,000 |
| Feb 28 – Mar 2 | HSBC Women's Champions |  Singapore | winner |  Lorena Ochoa (18) | 2,000,000 | 300,000 |
| Mar 14–16 | MasterCard Classic | Mexico | standard | Louise Friberg (1) | 1,300,000 | 195,000 |
| Mar 27–30 | Safeway International | Arizona | standard | Lorena Ochoa (19) | 1,500,000 | 225,000 |
| Apr 3–6 | Kraft Nabisco Championship | California | winner | Lorena Ochoa (20) | 2,000,000 | 300,000 |
| Apr 10–13 | Corona Championship | Mexico | standard | Lorena Ochoa (21) | 1,300,000 | 195,000 |
| Apr 17–20 | Ginn Open | Florida | winner | Lorena Ochoa (22) | 2,600,000 | 390,000 |
| Apr 24–27 | Stanford International Pro-Am | Florida | winner | Annika Sörenstam (71) | 2,000,000 | 300,000 |
| May 1–4 | SemGroup Championship | Oklahoma | standard | Paula Creamer (6) | 1,800,000 | 270,000 |
| May 8–11 | Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill | Virginia | winner | Annika Sörenstam (72) | 2,200,000 | 330,000 |
| May 15–18 | Sybase Classic | New Jersey | winner | Lorena Ochoa (23) | 2,000,000 | 300,000 |
| May 22–25 | LPGA Corning Classic | New York | standard | Leta Lindley (1) | 1,500,000 | 225,000 |
| May 29 – Jun 1 | Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika | South Carolina | winner |  Seon Hwa Lee (3) | 2,600,000 | 390,000 |
| Jun 5–8 | McDonald's LPGA Championship | Maryland | winner |  Yani Tseng (1) | 2,000,000 | 300,000 |
| End of first half of the season | ||||||
| Jun 19–22 | Wegmans LPGA | New York | winner | Eun-Hee Ji (1) | 2,000,000 | 300,000 |
| Jun 26–29 | U.S. Women's Open | Minnesota | winner | Inbee Park (1) | 3,250,000 | 585,000 |
| Jul 4–6 | P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship | Arkansas | standard | Seon Hwa Lee (4) | 1,700,000 | 255,000 |
| Jul 10–13 | Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic | Ohio | standard | Paula Creamer (7) | 1,300,000 | 195,000 |
| Jul 17–20 | LPGA State Farm Classic | Illinois | standard | Ji Young Oh (1) | 1,700,000 | 255,000 |
| Jul 24–27 | Evian Masters |  France | winner | Helen Alfredsson (6) | 3,250,000 | 487,500 |
| Jul 31 – Aug 3 | Ricoh Women's British Open |  England | winner | Jiyai Shin (1*) | 2,100,000 | 314,464 |
| Aug 14–17 | CN Canadian Women's Open |  Ontario, Canada | winner |  Katherine Hull (1) | 2,250,000 | 337,500 |
| Aug 22–24 | Safeway Classic | Oregon | standard | Cristie Kerr (11) | 1,700,000 | 255,000 |
| Sep 11–14 | Bell Micro LPGA Classic | Alabama | standard | Angela Stanford (2) | 1,400,000 | 210,000 |
| Sep 25–28 | Navistar LPGA Classic | Alabama | standard | Lorena Ochoa (24) | 1,400,000 | 210,000 |
| Oct 2–5 | Samsung World Championship | California | standard | Paula Creamer (8) | 1,000,000 | 250,000 |
| Oct 9–12 | Longs Drugs Challenge | California | standard | In-Kyung Kim (1) | 1,200,000 | 180,000 |
| Oct 16–19 | Kapalua LPGA Classic | Hawaii | standard | Morgan Pressel (2) | 1,500,000 | 225,000 |
| Oct 24–26 | Grand China Air LPGA |  China | standard | Helen Alfredsson (7) | 1,800,000 | 270,000 |
| Oct 31 – Nov 2 | Hana Bank-KOLON Championship | South Korea | standard | Candie Kung (4) | 1,600,000 | 240,000 |
| Nov 7–9 | Mizuno Classic |  Japan | standard | Jiyai Shin (2*) | 1,400,000 | 210,000 |
| Nov 13–16 | Lorena Ochoa Invitational | Mexico | standard | Angela Stanford (3) | 1,000,000 | 200,000 |
| Nov 20–23 | ADT Championship | Florida | n/a | Jiyai Shin (3*) | 1,550,000 | 1,000,000 |
| Nov 28–30 | Lexus Cup | Singapore | unofficial | Team International | n/a | |
| Dec 13–14** | Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge | Nevada | unofficial | Champions Tour | n/a | |
Tournaments in bold are majors.
**The Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge was held on November 17. It was broadcast on television on December 13 and 14. The official LPGA Tour schedule lists the tournament dates based on the date of the television broadcast.
*Shin was not an LPGA member in 2008.
Leaders
Money List leaders
| Rank | Player | Country | Earnings ($) | Events |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lorena Ochoa | Mexico | 2,763,193 | 23 |
| 2 | Paula Creamer | United States | 1,823,992 | 26 |
| 3 | Yani Tseng | Taiwan | 1,752,086 | 27 |
| 4 | Annika Sörenstam | Sweden | 1,735,912 | 22 |
| 5 | Helen Alfredsson | Sweden | 1,431,408 | 26 |
| 6 | Seon Hwa Lee | South Korea | 1,187,294 | 30 |
| 7 | Suzann Pettersen |  Norway | 1,177,809 | 24 |
| 8 | Inbee Park | South Korea | 1,138,370 | 27 |
| 9 | Angela Stanford | United States | 1,134,753 | 28 |
| 10 | Cristie Kerr | United States | 1,108,839 | 26 |
Full 2008 Official Money List - navigate to "2008"
Scoring Average leaders
| Rank | Player | Country | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lorena Ochoa | Mexico | 69.70 |
| 2 | Annika Sörenstam | Sweden | 70.47 |
| 3 | Paula Creamer | United States | 70.56 |
| 4 | Yani Tseng | Taiwan | 70.77 |
| 5 | Cristie Kerr | United States | 70.88 |
Full 2008 Scoring Average List - navigate to "2008", then "Scoring Average"
Award winners
The three competitive awards given out by the LPGA each year are:
- The Rolex Player of the Year is awarded based on a formula in which points are awarded for top-10 finishes and are doubled at the LPGA's four major championships and at the season-ending ADT Championship. The points system is: 30 points for first; 12 points for second; nine points for third; seven points for fourth; six points for fifth; five points for sixth; four points for seventh; three points for eighth; two points for ninth and one point for 10th.
- 2008 Winner: Lorena Ochoa. Runner-up: Paula Creamer
- 2008 Winner:
- The Vare Trophy, named for Glenna Collett-Vare, is given to the player with the lowest scoring average for the season.
- 2008 Winner: Lorena Ochoa. Runner-up: Annika Sörenstam
- 2008 Winner:
- The Louis Suggs Rolex Rooke of the Year Award is awarded to the first-year player on the LPGA Tour who scores the highest in a points competition in which points are awarded at all full-field domestic events and doubled at the LPGA's four major championships. The points system is: 150 points for first; 80 points for second; 75 points for third; 70 points for fourth; and 65 points for fifth. After fifth place, points are awarded in increments of three, beginning at sixth place with 62 points. Rookies who make the cut in an event and finish below 41st each receive five points. The award is named after Louise Suggs, one of the founders of the LPGA.
- 2008 Winner: Yani Tseng. Runner-up: Na Yeon Choi
- 2008 Winner:
See also
References
- ↑ "LPGA to require all players speak English". golf.com. Archived from the original on 27 August 2008. Retrieved August 26, 2008.
- ↑ "Lieu: More American Requirements for LPGA Players". AsianWeek. Archived from the original on 3 September 2008. Retrieved August 29, 2008.
- ↑ " "The Marketing Doctor says: The LPGA Is Making A Big Mistake" Marketing Doctor Blog. August 28, 2008.
- ↑ Sirak, Ron (September 5, 2008). "LPGA Tour should have seen the fallout coming from English policy". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on 9 September 2008. Retrieved September 6, 2008.