2010 LPGA Tour

The 2010 LPGA Tour was a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world that began in Thailand on February 13, 2010 and ended in Florida on December 5, 2010. The tournaments were sanctioned by the United States-based Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).

The tour included 24 tournaments, including events in Malaysia, southern California, and two in New Jersey that were new to the schedule in 2010. Of the 24 tournaments on the schedule, 14 were hosted in the United States. The 2010 season was the tour's smallest schedule in nearly 40 years.

Na Yeon Choi, a third-year player from Korea, topped the official money list with earnings of $1,871,166. She had two wins and 15 top-10 finishes in 23 starts and won the Vare Trophy, given to the player with the lowest scoring average. Yani Tseng from Taiwan captured Player of the Year honors; she won three tournaments in 2010 including two of the four major championships. Spaniard Azahara Muñoz won the Rookie of the Year Award.

The four majors were won by: Yani Tseng (Kraft Nabisco Championship), Cristie Kerr (LPGA Championship), Paula Creamer (U.S. Women's Open), and Yani Tseng (Women's British Open). Tseng's win in the Women's British Open at age 21 made her the youngest player in LPGA history to win three major championships.

Changes in the 2010 season

The 2010 season was the 60th anniversary of the LPGA Tour. As with most years, changes were made to the schedule from the previous year, which included:

Schedule and results

The season included 24 official money events, compared with 34 just two years earlier, as the LPGA struggled to cope with the economic downturn. There were three unofficial money events, with 17 off-weeks between the first and last events in 2010.[2]

DatesTournamentLocationWinnerFirst prize ($)
Feb 18–21Honda PTT LPGA Thailand Thailand Ai Miyazato (2)195,000
Feb 25–28HSBC Women's Champions Singapore Ai Miyazato (3)195,000
Mar 25–28Kia Classic Presented by J Golf California Hee Kyung Seo (1)1255,000
Apr 1–4Kraft Nabisco Championship California Yani Tseng (3)300,000
Apr 15–16The Mojo 6 2 Jamaica Anna Nordqvist (n/a)2350,000
Apr 29 – May 2Tres Marias Championship Mexico Ai Miyazato (4)195,000
May 13–16Bell Micro LPGA Classic Alabama Se Ri Pak (25)195,000
May 20–23Sybase Match Play Championship New Jersey Sun-Young Yoo (1)375,000
May 29–30HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup 2 Brazil Meaghan Francella (n/a) 2105,000
Jun 10–14LPGA State Farm Classic Illinois Cristie Kerr (13)255,000
Jun 18–20ShopRite LPGA Classic New Jersey Ai Miyazato (5)225,000
Jun 24–27LPGA Championship New York Cristie Kerr (14)337,500
Jul 1–4Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Ohio Na Yeon Choi (3)150,000
Jul 8–11U.S. Women's Open Pennsylvania Paula Creamer (9)585,000
Jul 22–25Evian Masters France Jiyai Shin (7)487,500
Jul 29 – Aug 1Women's British Open England Yani Tseng (4)408,714
Aug 20–22Safeway Classic Oregon Ai Miyazato (6)225,000
Aug 26–29CN Canadian Women's Open Manitoba, Canada Michelle Wie (2)337,500
Sep 10–12P&G NW Arkansas Championship Arkansas Yani Tseng (5)300,000
Oct 7–10Navistar LPGA Classic Alabama Katherine Hull (2)195,000
Oct 14–17CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge California Beatriz Recari (1)165,000
Oct 22–24Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia Malaysia Jimin Kang (2)270,000
Oct 29–31LPGA Hana Bank Championship South Korea Na Yeon Choi (4)270,000
Nov 5–7Mizuno Classic Japan Jiyai Shin (8)180,000
Nov 9Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge2 NevadaPGA Tour team
Nov 11–14Lorena Ochoa Invitational Mexico In-Kyung Kim (3)220,000
Dec 2–5LPGA Tour Championship Florida Maria Hjorth (4)225,000

Tournaments in bold are majors.
1 Hee Kyung Seo was not a member of the LPGA at the time of her win in the Kia Classic.
2 Exhibition tournament, unofficial earnings.

Leaders

Money List leaders

RankPlayerCountryEarnings ($)Events
1Na Yeon Choi South Korea1,871,16623
2Jiyai Shin South Korea1,783,12719
3Cristie Kerr United States1,601,55221
4Yani Tseng Taiwan1,573,52919
5Suzann Pettersen Norway1,557,17519
6Ai Miyazato Japan1,457,38421
7In-Kyung Kim South Korea1,210,06821
8Song-Hee Kim South Korea1,208,69822
9Michelle Wie United States888,01719
10Paula Creamer United States883,87014

Full 2010 Official Money List- navigate to "2010"

Scoring Average leaders

RankPlayerCountryAverage
1Na Yeon Choi South Korea69.87
2Cristie Kerr United States69.95
3Suzann Pettersen Norway70.09
4Song-Hee Kim South Korea70.21
5Jiyai Shin South Korea70.25

Full 2010 Scoring Average List - navigate to "2010", then "Scoring Average"

Awards and honors

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 Vare Trophy, named for Glenna Collett-Vare, is given to the player with the lowest scoring average for the season.
  • The Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie 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 award is named after Louise Suggs, one of the founders of the LPGA.

See also

References
  1. http://www.lpga.com/content_1.aspx?pid=22557
  2. http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=4666350
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