2009 LPGA Tour

The 2009 LPGA Tour was a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world that took place from February through November 2009. The tournaments were sanctioned by the United States-based Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).

2009 saw a reduction in both the number of tournaments and the total prize money on the Tour. Official prize money was $47.6 million, the lowest total in since 2005. There were 28 official tournaments, the lowest number since at least 2004.

Rookie Jiyai Shin topped the money list, earning $1,807,334. In addition Shin took Rookie of the Year honors. Shin and Lorena Ochoa each won three tournaments during the season. Ochoa also won the Player of the Year trophy for the fourth consecutive year and the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average, also for the fourth consecutive year.

Anna Nordqvist was runner-up in the Rookie of the Year race, topping off a season that began with her having only conditional status on the LPGA Tour. She won the fifth tournament in which she played in 2009, the McDonald's LPGA Championship, a major, and also won the season-ending LPGA Tour Championship, ending the season 15th on the official money list.

The four major championships were won by: Brittany Lincicome (Kraft Nabisco Championship), Anna Nordqvist (LPGA Championship), Eun-Hee Ji (U.S. Women's Open), and Catriona Matthew (Women's British Open). All major winners were first-time major winners. Matthew won her the British Open 10 weeks after giving birth to her second child.

The LPGA experienced a turn-over in leadership in 2009, when commissioner Carolyn Bivens resigned under pressure from players in July. At the time of Bivens' resignation, the tour had only 14 events committed for the 2010 schedule, having failed to sign key long-term tournaments, notably the LPGA Corning Classic.[1] On October 28, the LPGA board of directors announced that marketing executive Michael Whan had been hired as the permanent replacement for Bivens and would assume his duties in January 2010.[2]

Tournament schedule and results

The number in parentheses after winners' names show the player's total number wins in official money individual events on the LPGA Tour, including that event.

DatesTournamentLocationWinner1st prize ($)
Jan 24–25HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup* Brazil Catriona Matthew (n/a)100,000
Feb 12–14SBS Open at Turtle Bay Hawaii Angela Stanford (4)180,000
Feb 26 – Mar 1Honda LPGA Thailand Thailand Lorena Ochoa (25)217,500
Mar 5–8HSBC Women's Champions Singapore Jiyai Shin (4)300,000
Mar 20–22MasterCard Classic Mexico Pat Hurst (6)195,000
Mar 26–29J Golf Phoenix LPGA International Arizona Karrie Webb (36)225,000
Apr 2–5Kraft Nabisco Championship California Brittany Lincicome (3)300,000
Apr 23–26Corona Championship Mexico Lorena Ochoa (26)195,000
May 7–10Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill Virginia Cristie Kerr (12)330,000
May 14–17Sybase Classic New Jersey Ji Young Oh (2)300,000
May 21–24LPGA Corning Classic New York Yani Tseng (2)225,000
Jun 4–7LPGA State Farm Classic Illinois In-Kyung Kim (2)255,000
Jun 11–14McDonald's LPGA Championship Maryland Anna Nordqvist (1)300,000
Jun 25–28Wegmans LPGA New York Jiyai Shin (5)300,000
Jul 2–5Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Ohio Eunjung Yi (1)210,000
Jul 9–12U.S. Women's Open Pennsylvania Eun-Hee Ji (2)585,000
Jul 23–26Evian Masters France Ai Miyazato (1)487,500
Jul 30 – Aug 2Ricoh Women's British Open England Catriona Matthew (3)335,000
Aug 21–23Solheim Cup Illinois United Statesn/a
Aug 28–30Safeway Classic Oregon M. J. Hur (1)255,000
Sep 3–6CN Canadian Women's Open Alberta, Canada Suzann Pettersen (6)412,500
Sep 11–13P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship Arkansas Jiyai Shin (6)270,000
Sep 17–20Samsung World Championship California Na Yeon Choi (1)250,000
Sep 24–27CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge California Sophie Gustafson (5)165,000
Oct 1–4Navistar LPGA Classic Alabama Lorena Ochoa (27)195,000
Oct 30 – Nov 1Hana Bank-KOLON Championship South Korea Na Yeon Choi (2)255,000
Nov 6–8Mizuno Classic Japan Bo Bae Song (1)[N 1]210,000
Nov 6–10Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge* NevadaLPGA Team500,000
Nov 12–15Lorena Ochoa Invitational Mexico Michelle Wie (1)220,000
Nov 19–23[N 2]LPGA Tour Championship Texas Anna Nordqvist (2)225,000

An asterisk next to a tournament name means that the event is unofficial.
Tournaments in bold are majors.

  1. Song was not an LPGA member in 2009.
  2. Due to inclement weather, the event was shortened to 54 holes, and the final round was delayed a day from its scheduled date of November 22.

Leaders

Money List leaders

RankPlayerCountryEarnings ($)Events
1Jiyai Shin South Korea1,807,33425
2Cristie Kerr United States1,519,72225
3Ai Miyazato Japan1,517,14922
4Lorena Ochoa Mexico1,489,39522
5Suzann Pettersen Norway1,369,71723
6Na Yeon Choi South Korea1,341,07826
7Yani Tseng Taiwan1,293,75527
8In-Kyung Kim South Korea1,238,39625
9Paula Creamer United States1,151,86424
10Angela Stanford United States1,081,91621

Full 2009 Official Money List - navigate to "2009"

Scoring Average leaders

RankPlayerCountryAverage
1Lorena Ochoa Mexico70.16
2Jiyai Shin South Korea70.26
3Cristie Kerr United States70.28
4Ai Miyazato Japan70.33
5Yani Tseng Taiwan70.44

Full 2009 Scoring Average List - navigate to "2009", 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. 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.
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See also

References
  1. Adelson, Eric (July 24, 2009). "LPGA working to re-establish footing". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 25, 2009.
  2. "LPGA Names Michael Whan as its Commissioner". LPGA.com. October 28, 2009. Archived from the original on 6 January 2010. Retrieved December 25, 2009.
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