The LPGA Tour travels to Locust Hill Country Club in Pittsford, New York this week, where the ladies will be playing for a $2.5 million purse in the Wegmans LPGA Championship. The second of four majors on the schedule this year, the Wegmans LPGA Championship will feature one of the season’s best fields.
Rolex Rankings No. 1 Yani Tseng won the 2011 Wegmans LPGA Championship defeating Cindy LaCrosse and Morgan Pressel by 10 strokes, closing out her victory with a 66 in the final-round. She became the youngest female golfer in history to win four major titles at 22 years, 4 months and 18 days. She went on to win four additional tournaments at the RICOH Women’s British Open, Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G, LPGA Hanabank Championship and the Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship, taking her total victories for the season to seven. She finished with 14 top-10s, her second consecutive Rolex Player of the Year Award, and her first Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average with 69.66. So far in the 2012 season she has recorded three victories at Honda LPGA Thailand, RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup and the Kia Classic.
Past champs also include Rolex Ranking No. 7 Cristie Kerr and No. 31 Anna Nordqvist, who are ready to make their way back into the winner’s circle. Kerr’s last victory was at the 2010 Wegmans LPGA Championship with a record breaking 12-stroke win. She spent five weeks in the 2010 season in the Rolex Rankings No. 1 position, but ultimately finished No. 2. Nordqvist’s last victory was the LPGA Tour Championship in 2009, but she has recorded 11 top-10s including two runner-ups since then.
The Wegmans LPGA Championship is the second-longest running tournament is LPGA history, surpassed only by the U.S. Women’s Open. Many of the LPGA greats including Mickey Wright (1963), Kathy Whitworth (1967, 1971, 1975), Nancy Lopez (1978, 1985, 1989), Patty Sheehan (1983, 1984, 1993) and Annika Sorenstam (2003-2005) have hoisted the winner’s trophy.