2007 LPGA Tour

2007 LPGA Tour season
DurationJanuary 19, 2007 (2007-01-19) – December 23, 2007 (2007-12-23)
Number of official events35
Most wins8 Mexico Lorena Ochoa
Money leaderMexico Lorena Ochoa
Rolex Player of the YearMexico Lorena Ochoa
Rookie of the YearBrazil Angela Park
2006
2008

The 2007 LPGA Tour was a series of golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world that took place from February through December 2007. The tournaments were sanctioned by the United States–based Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). In 2007, prize money on the LPGA Tour was $54.285 million, the highest to date.

Lorena Ochoa topped the money list with a record $4,364,994, easily surpassing Annika Sörenstam's previous record of $2,863,904 in 2002.[1] Sörenstam was out most of the 2007 with neck and back injuries. Ochoa led the tour in victories in 2007 with eight wins; Suzann Pettersen of Norway had five.

The four major championships were won by: Morgan Pressel (Kraft Nabisco Championship), Suzann Pettersen (LPGA Championship), Cristie Kerr (U.S. Women's Open), and Lorena Ochoa (Women's British Open). All four majors were won by first-time major winners. The British Open also marked a breakthrough for women's golf; for the first time the event took place at historic St Andrews in Scotland, the fabled "home of golf," that had previously been off-limits to women.

In a slight reversal of a trend from recent years, Americans saw a relative resurgence in dominance in 2007, winning 12 events. For the first time since 2000, two Americans won majors. However, only one American, Paula Creamer, won more than one event, while Mexico's Lorena Ochoa won eight times and Norway's Suzann Pettersen five. Koreans won only four events, seven fewer than the 11 won in 2006.

For details of what happened in the main tournaments of the year see 2007 in golf.

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.[2]

Date Tournament Location ADT Playoff
category
Winner Purse ($) Winner's
share ($)
Jan 21 Women's World Cup of Golf South Africa unofficial  Paraguay
(Julieta Granada / Celeste Troche)
Feb 17 SBS Open at Turtle Bay Hawaii standard United States Paula Creamer (3) 1,100,000 165,000
Feb 24 Fields Open in Hawaii Hawaii standard United States Stacy Prammanasudh (2) 1,200,000 180,000
Mar 11 MasterCard Classic Mexico standard United States Meaghan Francella (1) 1,200,000 180,000
Mar 25 Safeway International Arizona standard Mexico Lorena Ochoa (10) 1,500,000 225,000
Apr 1 Kraft Nabisco Championship California winner United States Morgan Pressel (1) 2,000,000 300,000
Apr 15 Ginn Open Florida winner United States Brittany Lincicome (2) 2,600,000 390,000
Apr 29 Corona Championship Mexico standard Italy Silvia Cavalleri (1) 1,300,000 195,000
May 6 SemGroup Championship Oklahoma standard South Korea Mi Hyun Kim (8) 1,400,000 210,000
May 13 Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill Virginia winner Norway Suzann Pettersen (1) 2,200,000 330,000
May 20 Sybase Classic New Jersey standard Mexico Lorena Ochoa (11) 1,400,000 210,000
May 27 LPGA Corning Classic New York standard South Korea Young Kim (1) 1,300,000 195,000
Jun 3 Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika South Carolina winner United States Nicole Castrale (1) 2,600,000 390,000
Jun 10 McDonald's LPGA Championship Maryland winner Norway Suzann Pettersen (2) 2,000,000 300,000
Jun 24 Wegmans LPGA New York standard Mexico Lorena Ochoa (12) 1,800,000 270,000
End of first half of the season
Jul 1 U.S. Women's Open North Carolina winner United States Cristie Kerr (10) 3,100,000 560,000
Jul 15 Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Ohio standard South Korea Se Ri Pak (24) 1,300,000 195,000
Jul 22 HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship New York winner South Korea Seon Hwa Lee (2) 2,000,000 500,000
Jul 29 Evian Masters France winner United States Natalie Gulbis (1) 3,000,000 450,000
Aug 5 Ricoh Women's British Open Scotland winner Mexico Lorena Ochoa (13) 2,000,000 320,512
Aug 19 CN Canadian Women's Open Alberta winner Mexico Lorena Ochoa (14) 2,250,000 337,500
Aug 26 Safeway Classic Oregon standard Mexico Lorena Ochoa (15) 1,700,000 255,000
Sep 2 LPGA State Farm Classic Illinois standard United States Sherri Steinhauer (8) 1,300,000 195,000
Sep 9 LPGA NW Arkansas Championship* Arkansas standard United States Stacy Lewis (n/a) 625,000 90,000
Sep 16 Solheim Cup Sweden n/a  United States n/a
Sep 30 Navistar LPGA Classic Alabama standard Sweden Maria Hjorth (3) 1,300,000 195,000
Oct 7 Longs Drugs Challenge California standard Norway Suzann Pettersen (3) 1,100,000 165,000
Oct 14 Samsung World Championship California standard Mexico Lorena Ochoa (16) 1,000,000 250,000
Oct 21 Hana Bank-KOLON Championship South Korea standard Norway Suzann Pettersen (4) 1,500,000 191,250
Oct 28 Honda LPGA Thailand Thailand standard Norway Suzann Pettersen (5) 1,300,000 195,000
Nov 4 Mizuno Classic Japan standard Japan Momoko Ueda (1) 1,400,000 210,000
Nov 11 The Mitchell Company LPGA Tournament of Champions Alabama standard United States Paula Creamer (4) 1,000,000 150,000
Nov 18 ADT Championship Florida n/a Mexico Lorena Ochoa (17) 1,550,000 1,000,000
Dec 9 Lexus Cup Australia unofficial Team Asia n/a
Dec 23** Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge Nevada unofficial LPGA Tour n/a

Tournaments in bold are majors.
*The LPGA NW Arkansas Championship was not completed due to inclement weather. Only 18 holes were played so it was not an official tournament, nor did the money count as official money.
**The Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge was held on November 13. It was broadcast on television on December 22 and 23. The official LPGA Tour schedule listed the tournament dates based on the television broadcast.

Leaders

Money List leaders

Rank Player Country Earnings ($) Events
1 Lorena Ochoa  Mexico 4,364,994 25
2 Suzann Pettersen  Norway 1,802,400 24
3 Paula Creamer  United States 1,384,798 24
4 Mi Hyun Kim  South Korea 1,273,848 27
5 Seon Hwa Lee  South Korea 1,100,198 28
6 Cristie Kerr  United States 1,098,921 22
7 Jang Jeong  South Korea 1,038,598 27
8 Angela Park  Brazil 983,922 28
9 Morgan Pressel  United States 972,452 25
10 Jee Young Lee  South Korea 966,256 24

Source:[3]

Scoring Average leaders

Rank Player Country Average
1 Lorena Ochoa  Mexico 69.69
2 Paula Creamer  United States 70.50
3 Suzann Pettersen  Norway 70.86
4 Annika Sörenstam  Sweden 71.27
5 Stacy Prammanasudh  United States 71.28

Source:[4]

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 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 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

  1. ^ Mell, Randall (November 19, 2007). "Ochoa trumps 'em all: Ochoa seals the outcome with an approach to 3 feet". South Florida Sun Sentinel. pp. 5D, 14D – via newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "LPGA Tournament Chronology 2000-2008" (PDF). LPGA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2011.
  3. ^ "Money/Finishes: Official Money – 2007". LPGA.
  4. ^ "Scoring: Scoring Average – 2007". LPGA.