The Sarah Coventry
The Sarah Coventry was a women's professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from 1976 to 1981.[1] The inaugural event was played in Florida at the Lely Country Club in Naples in February 1976,[2] then moved to northern California and the Round Hill Country Club in Alamo in September for two years, 1977 and 1978.[3][4] It relocated to western New York in 1979 and was renamed the Rochester International in 1982; it later became the Wegman's LPGA, played through 2009, until replaced by the Wegman's LPGA Championship.
Tournament names
- 1976: Sarah Coventry Naples Classic (Florida)
- 1977–1978: The Sarah Coventry (California)
- 1979–1981: The Sarah Coventry (New York, included in Wegman's LPGA records)
Winners
| Year | Dates | Champion | Country | Score | To par | Purse ($) | Winner's share ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Jun 25–28 | Nancy Lopez (2) |  United States | 285 | –7 | 125,000 | 18,750 |
| 1980 | Jun 26–29 | Nancy Lopez | United States | 283 | –9 | 125,000 | 18,750 |
| 1979 | Jun 14–17 | Jane Blalock (2) | United States | 280 | –12 | 100,000 | 15,000 |
| 1978 | Sep 14–17 | Donna Caponi | United States | 282 | –10 | 100,000 | 15,000 |
| 1977 | Sep 22–25 | Jane Blalock | United States | 282 | –10 | 100,000 | 15,000 |
| 1976 | Feb 6–8 | Jan Stephenson | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Australia | 218 | +2 | 60,000 | 8,500 |
Wegmans LPGA
After 1978, the tournament relocated from California to New York and was played at the Locust Hill Country Club near Rochester from 1979 to 1981. In 1979, the tournament recognized the 1976–78 tournaments as its predecessors,[5] and not the Bankers Trust Classic which had been played at Locust Hill in 1977 and 1978. Today however the Wegmans LPGA recognizes the Bankers Trust Classics and not the first three Sarah Coventry events as part of the tournament's history.[6] The change gave Nancy Lopez three wins in the event, as she won the Bankers Trust Classic at Locust Hill in 1978.[7]
See also
- Naples Lely Classic, another LPGA Tour event played at Lely Country Club from 1973 to 1975.
References
- LPGA Tournament Chronology 1970-1979
- "Stephenson wins Naples Classic". Nashua (NH) Telegraph. UPI. February 9, 1976. p. 25.
- "Jane wins Coventry". Nashua (NH) Telegraph. UPI. September 26, 1977. p. 27.
- "Young ends golf slump". Reading (PA) Eagle. Associated Press. September 18, 1978. p. 23.
- "Relaxed Blalock wins big". Boca Raton News. Associated Press. June 18, 1979. p. 1B.
- Tournament history Archived 2011-05-03 at the Wayback Machine
- "Lopez-Melton victor in Sarah Coventry golf". Bangor Daily News. Associated Press. June 29, 1981. p. 18.