For the Westchester Country Club in Rye, this June will be the first time it plays host to a women”™s major golf tournament. But for the world of women”™s golf, many consider this year”™s championship a rebirth for the competition.
- The Westchester Country Club in Rye.
The Ladies Professional Golf Association”™s Golf Championship was started in 1955 and is the second-oldest women”™s major tournament, behind the U.S. Women”™s Open. The tournament has been renamed the KPMG Women”™s PGA Championship, which represents the relationship forged between the Professional Golfers”™ Association of America, the LPGA and KPMG, a Big Four auditing firm that is sponsoring the event.
KPMG is also heading a women”™s leadership summit that will take place during the tournament and will bring together multiple industry sector leaders in business, sports and the media.
Along with the name rebranding, contestants will be competing for a $3.5 million purse, up substantially from last year”™s Wegmans LPGA Golf Championship winnings of $2.25 million in Pittsford, where the tournament has been held for the last five years. As part of a five-year deal with KPMG”™s sponsorship, NBC, for the first time ever, will broadcast this tournament for the Saturday and Sunday coverage, and the Golf Channel will telecast the early rounds on Thursday and Friday.
The Westchester Country Club has a long history of hosting tournaments and was the site for various PGA Tour events every year from 1963 to 2007, and then hosted the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship in 2011.
The PGA of America said the decision to have the tournament at the Westchester Country Club was largely due to the desire to “elevate women”™s golf into a whole new level,” said Bob Jeffrey, championships director for PGA of America.
Jeffrey said the Westchester Country Club is “definitely that caliber of golf course,” adding that “when the men played it, it really was a lead-up to the U.S. Open.”
- Mary Ann Sullivan
Of the 156 who will compete during the June 11-14 contest, Inbee Park, who has won the last two LPGA Championships, Stacy Lewis, Michelle Wie and Cristie Kerr are some who qualified and have registered for the tournament.
“A lot of women know about this course,” said Jenna Boyce, who is one of five on-site coordinators for PGA of America. “And they”™re excited to have an opportunity to measure up against the men.”
The championship will be played on the West Course, starting on hole 10 and ending on hole 9, the same course and format the men have played in the past.
Mary Ann Sullivan, a co-chair for the tournament committee and a member of the Westchester Country Club, said the club is lucky to be a part of this new start for women”™s golf.
“We”™re seasoned professionals at hosting championship tournaments,” she said. “We”™re good at it, we”™re good hosts, and we have a good golf course.
The country club has signed up 1,100 volunteers so far and is looking to recruit a total of 1,800 before the tournament starts, Boyce said.
In addition to recruiting volunteers, Sullivan said the challenge now, with fewer than 10 weeks to go, is ticket sales.
“Can I say that enough?” she joked. “We need to start to see people interested in coming and attending.”
The per-day tournament ticket prices range from $25 to $35 and the clubhouse package is $200. Jeffrey said it would be “great” if anywhere between 5,000 to 7,000 were sold, noting that the LPGA has a great history of walk-ups during the weekend days of the tournament.
Jeffrey said the focus for the next two months will be setting up the vendors on-site around the end of April and getting the word out, especially during the Masters Tournament that starts April 9.
“We”™re anxious for the world to see what we got,” Sullivan said. “We”™re looking good and we”™re anxious to show it.”
