Golf In A Plague Year April 29: Schedules

Golf In A Plague Year April 29: Schedules

New schedules were recently released for the LPGA and Champions Tours. It’s good news for Michigan golf. Both tours will restart in the Mitten State.

Revised LPGA Schedule For 2020

The LPGA currently plans on restarting the 2020 season in mid-July with the Dow Great Lakes Invitational in Midland, Michigan. That will be followed by the Marathon LPGA Classic near Toledo, Ohio. The Meijer LPGA in Grand Rapids has been rescheduled for October 1 – 4.

The remainder of the 2020 LPGA Season follows:

July 15-18	Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitationa lMidland C.C., Midland, Michigan	$2.3M
July 23-26	Marathon LPGA Classic presented by Dana Highland Meadows G.C., Sylvania, Ohio	$2M
July 31 – Aug. 2	ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer Seaview, A Dolce Hotel, Galloway, New Jersey	$2M
Aug. 6-9	The Evian Championship Evian Resort G.C., Evian-les-Bains, France	$4.1M
Aug. 13-16	Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open The Renaissance Club, North Berwick, Scotland	$1.5M
Aug. 20-23	AIG Women’s British Open Royal Troon G.C., Troon, Scotland	$4.5M
Aug. 28-30	Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G Pinnacle C.C., Rogers, Arkansas	$2M
Sept. 3-6	CP Women’s Open Shaughnessy G. and C.C., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada	$2.35M
Sept. 10-13	ANA Inspiration Mission Hills C.C., Rancho Mirage, California	$3.1M
Sept. 17-20	Cambia Portland Classic Columbia Edgewater C.C., Portland, Oregon	$1.75M
Sept. 24-27	Kia Classic Aviara G.C., Carlsbad, California	$2M
Oct. 1-4	Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give Blythefield C.C., Grand Rapids, Michigan	$2.3M
Oct. 8-11	KPMG Women’s PGA Championship Aronimink G.C., Newtown Square, Pennsylvania	$4.3M
Oct. 15-18	Buick LPGA Shanghai Qizhong Garden G.C., Shanghai, People’s Republic of China	$2.1M
Oct. 22-25	BMW Ladies Championship LPGA International Busan, Busan, Republic of Korea	$2M
Oct. 29 – Nov. 1	Taiwan Swinging Skirts LPGA Miramar G. and C.C., New Taipei City, Chinese Taipei	$2.2M
Nov. 6-8	TOTO Japan ClassicTaiheyo Club (Minori Course), Ibaraki, Japan	$1.5M
Nov. 12-15	OFF
Nov. 19-22	Pelican Women’s Championship presented by DEX ImagingPelican G.C., Belleair, Florida	$2M
Nov. 26-29	OFF (Thanksgiving)
Dec. 3-6	Volunteers of America Classic Old American G.C., The Colony, Texas	$1.75M
Dec. 10-13	U.S. Women’s Open Champions G.C., Houston, Texas	$5.5M
Dec. 17-20	CME Group Tour ChampionshipTiburon G.C., Naples, Florida	$5M

“One thing that has become clear is that there will be no ‘opening bell’ regarding a return to safe play in this new normal of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan. “To be honest, being ‘first’ has never been the goal when it comes to returning to play in this new normal. We have built a schedule that we think is as safe as possible given what we know about travel bans, testing availability, and delivering events that our sponsors and our athletes will be excited to attend.

“While July seems like a long way away, we are certainly aware that restarting our season in Michigan, Ohio and New Jersey will require a continued improvement in the situation in each of those states.”

The PGA of America also announced Wednesday that the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pa., originally scheduled for June 25-28, will move to Oct. 8-11. For more information, please visit pga.com.

Due to the limited dates available for official full-field events on the LPGA calendar, the UL International Crown will not take place in 2020. Additionally, the Volvik Founders Cup, the LOTTE Championship, the HUGEL-AIR PREMIA LA Open and the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship, which had previously been postponed, will return to the schedule for the 2021 season.

The LPGA also announced increases to the purses of numerous 2020 tournaments, bringing the total available purse remaining for the year to more than $56 million, with players competing for an average of nearly $2.7 million per event.

“Many of our remaining events will feature higher purses in 2020 thanks in part to some of our sponsors, who could not reschedule their events, offering some of their prize funds to increase other purses,” said Whan. “In what has been a very challenging year for everyone, we are so thankful to our partners for their creativity, collaboration and dedication to helping our athletes get the most out of the playing opportunities they will have in this unprecedented season.”

Summary of LPGA Tour events affected in the latest schedule update:

• Marathon Classic presented by Dana will move to July 23-26
• Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G will move to Aug. 28-30
• UL International Crown, originally slated for the week of Aug. 24, will not be played in 2020 so a full-field, official event can be held that week
• Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give will move to Oct. 1-4
• KPMG Women’s PGA Championship will move to Oct. 8-11
• Pelican Women’s Championship presented by DEX Imaging will move to Nov. 19-22
• Volunteers of America Classic will move to Dec. 3-6
• CME Group Tour Championship will move to Dec. 17-20 and will be the final event of the 2020 LPGA Tour season

Champions Tour Restart

As with the LPGA, the Champions Tour will restart its season in Michigan. The Ally Challenge presented my McLaren is set for the week of July 27-August 2 at Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club in Grand Blanc, Michigan. 

Because New York is the eye of the Coronavirus Hurricane, the DICK’S Sporting Goods Open (August 10-16) in Endicott has been canceled. The Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship in Akron, Ohio, originally scheduled for the week of July 6-12, has been be rescheduled to take the place of the DICK’S Sporting Goods Open, August 10-16.

Previously, the Tour announced the rescheduling of the Regions Tradition and Principal Charity Classic, as well as the cancelations of the Rapiscan Systems Classic, Mitsubishi Electric Classic, Insperity Invitational, Mastercard Japan Championship and American Family Insurance Championship.

The PGA of America canceled the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, and the USGA followed soon thereafter with the cancelation of the U.S. Senior Open.

The Senior Open Championship presented by Rolex was postponed by the R&A and Staysure Tour on April 14. 

The new PGA TOUR Champions schedule looks like this

JUL 31 – AUG 2	The Ally Challenge Warwick Hills G&CC, Grand Blanc, MI • Purse: $2,000,000
AUG 14 – 16 [ORIGINALLY JUL 9-12]	Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship Firestone CC, Akron, OH • Purse: $2,800,000
AUG 14 – 16 [ CANCELED ]	DICK’S Sporting Goods Open En-Joie GC, Endicott, NY • Purse: $2,050,000
AUG 21 – 23	Boeing Classic The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge, Snoqualmie, WA • Purse: $2,100,000
AUG 28 – 30	Shaw Charity Classic Canyon Meadows G&CC, Calgary, AB, CAN • Purse: $2,350,000
SEP 4 – 6 [ORIGINALLY MAY 29-31]	Principal Charity Classic Wakonda Club, Des Moines, IA • Purse: $1,850,000
SEP 11 – 13	Sanford International Minnehaha Country Club, Sioux Falls, SD • Purse: $1,800,000
SEP 18 – 20	PURE Insurance Championship Pebble Beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula, CA • Purse: $2,200,000
SEP 24 – 27 [ORIGINALLY MAY 7-10]	Regions Tradition Greystone G&CC, Birmingham, AL • Purse: $2,400,000
OCT 2 – 4	Ascension Charity Classic Norwood Hills Country Club, St. Louis, MO • Purse: $2,000,000
OCT 9 – 11	SAS Championship Prestonwood CC, Cary, NC • Purse: $2,100,000
OCT 16 – 18	Dominion Energy Charity Classic The Country Club of Virginia, Richmond, VA • Purse: $2,000,000
OCT 30 – NOV 1	Boca Raton Championship The Old Course at Broken Sound, Boca Raton, FL • Purse: $2,000,000
NOV 5 – 8	Charles Schwab Cup Championship Phoenix Country Club, Phoenix, AZ • Purse: $2,500,000
NOV 17 – 20	2021 PGA TOUR Champions Qualifying Tournament-Final Stage TPC Tampa Bay, Lutz, FL • Purse: $200,000
DEC 17 – 20	PNC Father Son Challenge Ritz-Carlton GC, Orlando, FL • Purse: $1,085,000