2008 LPGA Tour

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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all players who had been on the tour for two years to show proficiency in English or face suspension.[1][2] The Tour rescinded the policy two weeks later after increasing criticism from the media and from LPGA Tour sponsors.[3][4]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 South Africa unofficial  Philippines (Jennifer Rosales / Dorothy Delasin) 1,400,000 210,000
Feb 14–16 SBS Open at Turtle Bay United States Hawaii standard Sweden Annika Sörenstam (70) 1,100,000 165,000
Feb 21–23 Fields Open in Hawaii United States Hawaii standard United States Paula Creamer (5) 1,300,000 195,000
Feb 28 – Mar 2 HSBC Women's Champions  Singapore winner Mexico Lorena Ochoa (18) 2,000,000 300,000
Mar 14–16 MasterCard Classic  Mexico standard Sweden Louise Friberg (1) 1,300,000 195,000
Mar 27–30 Safeway International United States Arizona standard Mexico Lorena Ochoa (19) 1,500,000 225,000
Apr 3–6 Kraft Nabisco Championship United States California winner Mexico Lorena Ochoa (20) 2,000,000 300,000
Apr 10–13 Corona Championship  Mexico standard Mexico Lorena Ochoa (21) 1,300,000 195,000
Apr 17–20 Ginn Open United States Florida winner Mexico Lorena Ochoa (22) 2,600,000 390,000
Apr 24–27 Stanford International Pro-Am United States Florida winner Sweden Annika Sörenstam (71) 2,000,000 300,000
May 1–4 SemGroup Championship United States Oklahoma standard United States Paula Creamer (6) 1,800,000 270,000
May 8–11 Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill United States Virginia winner Sweden Annika Sörenstam (72) 2,200,000 330,000
May 15–18 Sybase Classic United States New Jersey winner Mexico Lorena Ochoa (23) 2,000,000 300,000
May 22–25 LPGA Corning Classic United States New York standard United States Leta Lindley (1) 1,500,000 225,000
May 29 – Jun 1 Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika United States South Carolina winner South Korea Seon Hwa Lee (3) 2,600,000 390,000
Jun 5–8 McDonald's LPGA Championship United States Maryland winner Taiwan Yani Tseng (1) 2,000,000 300,000
End of first half of the season
Jun 19–22 Wegmans LPGA United States New York winner South Korea Eun-Hee Ji (1) 2,000,000 300,000
Jun 26–29 U.S. Women's Open United States Minnesota winner South Korea Inbee Park (1) 3,250,000 585,000
Jul 4–6 P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship United States Arkansas standard South Korea Seon Hwa Lee (4) 1,700,000 255,000
Jul 10–13 Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic United States Ohio standard United States Paula Creamer (7) 1,300,000 195,000
Jul 17–20 LPGA State Farm Classic United States Illinois standard South Korea Ji Young Oh (1) 1,700,000 255,000
Jul 24–27 Evian Masters  France winner Sweden Helen Alfredsson (6) 3,250,000 487,500
Jul 31 – Aug 3 Ricoh Women's British Open  England winner South Korea Jiyai Shin (1*) 2,100,000 314,464
Aug 14–17 CN Canadian Women's Open Canada Ontario, Canada winner Australia Katherine Hull (1) 2,250,000 337,500
Aug 22–24 Safeway Classic United States Oregon standard United States Cristie Kerr (11) 1,700,000 255,000
Sep 11–14 Bell Micro LPGA Classic United States Alabama standard United States Angela Stanford (2) 1,400,000 210,000
Sep 25–28 Navistar LPGA Classic United States Alabama standard Mexico Lorena Ochoa (24) 1,400,000 210,000
Oct 2–5 Samsung World Championship United States California standard United States Paula Creamer (8) 1,000,000 250,000
Oct 9–12 Longs Drugs Challenge United States California standard South Korea In-Kyung Kim (1) 1,200,000 180,000
Oct 16–19 Kapalua LPGA Classic United States Hawaii standard United States Morgan Pressel (2) 1,500,000 225,000
Oct 24–26 Grand China Air LPGA  China standard Sweden Helen Alfredsson (7) 1,800,000 270,000
Oct 31 – Nov 2 Hana Bank-KOLON Championship  South Korea standard United States Candie Kung (4) 1,600,000 240,000
Nov 7–9 Mizuno Classic  Japan standard South Korea Jiyai Shin (2*) 1,400,000 210,000
Nov 13–16 Lorena Ochoa Invitational  Mexico standard United States Angela Stanford (3) 1,000,000 200,000
Nov 20–23 ADT Championship United States Florida n/a South Korea 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 United States 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.
  • The Vare Trophy, named for Glenna Collett-Vare, is given to the player with the lowest scoring average for the season.
  • 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.

See also

References

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  3. " "The Marketing Doctor says: The LPGA Is Making A Big Mistake" Marketing Doctor Blog. August 28, 2008.
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