Among the heroes of the COVID-19 era are those who’ve fed us while we quarantined, restocked shelves, rung up sales and made deliveries. ShopRite, with hundreds of grocery stores in East Coast states hit hard by the early days of the pandemic, steps up again for the community this week by playing host to the ShopRite Classic in the shadows of Atlantic City.
While normalcy is returning, slowly and cautiously, sport is playing its part. And while the ShopRite Classic will have no spectators, it’s feeding the appetite of golf fans by expanding from 54 to 72 holes with all four days of 120 players competing for the $1.3 million purse on Golf Channel from 1-4 pm ET starting Thursday.
Among those in the field are eight of the top-10 in the Rolex Rankings, including No. 2 Nelly Korda, No. 4 Brooke Henderson and defending ShopRite champion, No. 10 Lexi Thompson. Also on hand are the winners of both majors this year – Sophia Popov at the AIG Women’s Open and Mirim Lee at the ANA Inspiration – as well as last year’s AIG winner, Hinako Shibuno.
In every way, this is a feisty tournament. Beginning in 1986 as the Atlantic City Classic, the first winner on the famed Seaview Bay Course, a masterwork by Hugh Wilson and Donald Ross, was Juli Inkster – the personification of feisty. And its first four winners were Inkster twice, Betsy King and Nancy Lopez – all Hall of Famers.
ShopRite got on board in 1992, a run interrupted by a three-year hiccup from 2007-09 when the event’s dates were given to another sponsor. But when Mike Whan became LPGA Commissioner in 2010, he made it a priority to get ShopRite and the golf-passionate Atlantic City market back on the schedule. Working with Eiger Marketing Group, both the Seaview course and ShopRite are signed through 2023.
“What we knew for sure was that Atlantic City missed the LPGA,” said Tim Erensen, managing partner of Eiger Marketing Group, which runs the tournament. “What we were surprised to find out was how much the LPGA missed Atlantic City. ShopRite never wanted to leave. To bring them back was easy. You couldn’t ask for a better partner.”
The tournament has been a win-win-win for the LPGA, ShopRite and the community. Last year, ShopRite presented $1.4 million to regional charities, bringing the total generated over the years of ShopRite’s involvement to $34 million. The LPGA honored ShopRite with the Tour’s Gold Driver Award for best player integration with fans, corporate partners and community organizations.
“It was always our intention to extend the impact of the tournament to the community. And the LPGA players are so willing to be involved in visits to hospitals and schools,” Erensen said. “It’s gratifying to us to see the impact these visits have on the players. They love giving back.”
The LPGA players also love being back on the playing field. The ShopRite Classic is the 12th tournament of what now stands as an 18-event schedule, which is a remarkable number when the nearly six-month Covid interruption and global nature of a schedule that takes the Tour to a dozen countries are considered.
After the ShopRite Classic comes the third major of the year – the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at historic Aronimink Golf Club near Philadelphia, a short drive from Atlantic City. Following a week off is the second Drive On Championship, this one at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Georgia.
The Pelican Women’s Championship Presented by DEX Imaging will be Nov. 19-22 in Belleair, Fla., and December will close the year with the Volunteers of America at the Colony in Texas from Dec. 3-6; the final major at the U.S. Women’s Open on Champions Club in Houston from Dec. 10-13 and then the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fla., Dec. 17-20.
This has been a year that gives the phrase “2020 Vision” whole new meaning. Who could have seen this coming? But this week, players arrive at a familiar golf course with a very familiar sponsor. There is something about it that feels like going home.
This is a tournament whose loyalty to the LPGA spans four decades. It is an event written off and then written back in. This year, ShopRite worked with the Tour to find a date that worked for everyone.
Like its hard-working employees have been for shoppers during the pandemic, ShopRite has always been there for the LPGA and its players. And that’s produced a coalition that pours time, energy and money back into the community to make it a better place.
While normalcy is returning, slowly and cautiously, sport is playing its part. And while the ShopRite Classic will have no spectators, it’s feeding the appetite of golf fans by expanding from 54 to 72 holes with all four days of 120 players competing for the $1.3 million purse on Golf Channel from 1-4 pm ET starting Thursday.
Among those in the field are eight of the top-10 in the Rolex Rankings, including No. 2 Nelly Korda, No. 4 Brooke Henderson and defending ShopRite champion, No. 10 Lexi Thompson. Also on hand are the winners of both majors this year – Sophia Popov at the AIG Women’s Open and Mirim Lee at the ANA Inspiration – as well as last year’s AIG winner, Hinako Shibuno.
In every way, this is a feisty tournament. Beginning in 1986 as the Atlantic City Classic, the first winner on the famed Seaview Bay Course, a masterwork by Hugh Wilson and Donald Ross, was Juli Inkster – the personification of feisty. And its first four winners were Inkster twice, Betsy King and Nancy Lopez – all Hall of Famers.
ShopRite got on board in 1992, a run interrupted by a three-year hiccup from 2007-09 when the event’s dates were given to another sponsor. But when Mike Whan became LPGA Commissioner in 2010, he made it a priority to get ShopRite and the golf-passionate Atlantic City market back on the schedule. Working with Eiger Marketing Group, both the Seaview course and ShopRite are signed through 2023.
“What we knew for sure was that Atlantic City missed the LPGA,” said Tim Erensen, managing partner of Eiger Marketing Group, which runs the tournament. “What we were surprised to find out was how much the LPGA missed Atlantic City. ShopRite never wanted to leave. To bring them back was easy. You couldn’t ask for a better partner.”
The tournament has been a win-win-win for the LPGA, ShopRite and the community. Last year, ShopRite presented $1.4 million to regional charities, bringing the total generated over the years of ShopRite’s involvement to $34 million. The LPGA honored ShopRite with the Tour’s Gold Driver Award for best player integration with fans, corporate partners and community organizations.
“It was always our intention to extend the impact of the tournament to the community. And the LPGA players are so willing to be involved in visits to hospitals and schools,” Erensen said. “It’s gratifying to us to see the impact these visits have on the players. They love giving back.”
The LPGA players also love being back on the playing field. The ShopRite Classic is the 12th tournament of what now stands as an 18-event schedule, which is a remarkable number when the nearly six-month Covid interruption and global nature of a schedule that takes the Tour to a dozen countries are considered.
After the ShopRite Classic comes the third major of the year – the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at historic Aronimink Golf Club near Philadelphia, a short drive from Atlantic City. Following a week off is the second Drive On Championship, this one at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Georgia.
The Pelican Women’s Championship Presented by DEX Imaging will be Nov. 19-22 in Belleair, Fla., and December will close the year with the Volunteers of America at the Colony in Texas from Dec. 3-6; the final major at the U.S. Women’s Open on Champions Club in Houston from Dec. 10-13 and then the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fla., Dec. 17-20.
This has been a year that gives the phrase “2020 Vision” whole new meaning. Who could have seen this coming? But this week, players arrive at a familiar golf course with a very familiar sponsor. There is something about it that feels like going home.
This is a tournament whose loyalty to the LPGA spans four decades. It is an event written off and then written back in. This year, ShopRite worked with the Tour to find a date that worked for everyone.
Like its hard-working employees have been for shoppers during the pandemic, ShopRite has always been there for the LPGA and its players. And that’s produced a coalition that pours time, energy and money back into the community to make it a better place.
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