LPGA comes out of pandemic strong with 34-event schedule - Golf News - Sportstar

LPGA Tour Commissioner Mike Whan no longer measures success by making it to the end of year disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The largest purse is the $5.5 million for the U.S. Women's Open at Olympic Club the first week in June, while the largest payoff is the CME Group Tour Championship, which typically awards $1.5 million to the winner. "We are recapturing the momentum that we had at the beginning of 2020 and we are excited about our future, which will include news of new title sponsors and several significant purse increases," Whan said.The LPGA had plenty of momentum a year ago when it announced a 34-tournament schedule. After a week break during the Masters, the LPGA resumes with events in Hawaii and Los Angeles before going to Asia for three weeks.Whan hopes that moving the Asia events back three months will be enough time for travel restrictions to be eased.The U.S. Women's Open goes to Olympic Club in San Francisco for the first time, while the Women's PGA Championship will be a Atlanta Athletic Club and the Women's British Open will be at Carnoustie.The Founders Cup is leaving Arizona for the first time in its 10-year history, to Mountain Ridge Country Club in northern New Jersey. Europe also has a stretch of LPGA golf for a month, with the two majors along with the Ladies Scottish Open and the new tournament with the LET.The schedule includes the Solheim Cup on Labor Day weekend, to be held at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.