The LPGA Tour Championship, in full the LPGA Tour Championship Presented by Rolex, was the season-ending women's professional

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

tournament on the

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-based

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...

. After two seasons it was discontinued, replaced by the

CME Group Titleholders The CME Group Tour Championship is a women's professional golf tournament, the season-ending event of the LPGA Tour. It succeeded the LPGA Tour Championship, which was played for two seasons in 2009 and 2010. From 2011 to 2013 the tournament wa ...

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. The tournament was created in 2009 to replace the

ADT Championship The ADT Championship was a women's professional golf tournament on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. The season-ending event on the tour, it became the LPGA Playoffs at The ADT from 2006 through 2008. History The tournament was played in its final playoff ...

, which was discontinued after ADT decided not to extend its sponsorship. The LPGA Tour Championship was not considered an extension of the ADT and its inaugural edition was in 2009.

Stanford Financial and SEC action

In November 2008 Stanford Financial was announced as the new sponsor of the tournament with a purse of $2 million. On February 17, 2009 the

Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

accused Stanford chairman Allen R. Stanford in an $8 billion investment fraud scheme, and the

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offices of Stanford Financial were raided and the firm's assets were frozen. In response to this action, the LPGA issued a statement that it was "monitoring developments regarding the situation." On May 26, 2009, the LPGA announced that the tournament would still take place, without a sponsor and with the purse lowered to $1.5 million. The tournament would be known as the LPGA Tour Championship. In September,

Rolex Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name of ...

was added as the presenting sponsor. The 2009 tournament was played at the Houstonian Golf and Country Club in

Richmond, Texas Richmond is a city in and the county seat of Fort Bend County, Texas, Fort Bend County, Texas, United States. The city is located within the metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city population was 11,627. It is home to the founder ...

, southwest of Houston.

Importance in year-end awards

In close races for LPGA season titles, the last tournament of the year often determines the winners of the year-end awards: Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Vare Trophy (lowest scoring average), and the Money List leader.

2009 tournament

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finished the 54 holes at 13-under par, carding a 65 in the third round on Monday for a two stroke-victory over runner-up Lorena Ochoa. The tournament was originally planned as a 72-hole event, but November weather intervened; Friday's second round was delayed and then curtailed by darkness, and weekend play was canceled due to rain. The second round was completed on Monday morning and the 36-hole cut was made, and the third round commenced immediately in calm and sunny conditions. The final day also held a large amount of suspense for the Player of the Year race between top-ranked Lorena Ochoa of

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and the year's leading rookie,

Jiyai Shin Jiyai Shin (Korean: 신지애 ''Shin Ji-ae'', ; born 28 April 1988) is a former world No. 1 ranked South Korean professional golfer who primarily plays on the LPGA of Japan Tour as of the 2020 golf season. She previously played primarily on the ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. Ochoa's second-place finish secured the Player of the Year award.Golf.com
- Nordqvist wins LPGA Tour Championship - 2009-11-23 - accessed 2011-11-17

2010 tournament

After months of uncertainty, the LPGA announced in early August that the 2010 LPGA Tour Championship would be played December 2–5 at the Grand Cypress Golf Club in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

. The 120-player field was reduced to the top-70 and ties after 36 holes, and the top-30 and ties after 54 holes.

Maria Hjorth Maria Anna Hjorth (born 15 October 1973) is a Swedish professional golfer. Early years Hjorth was born in Falun. As the youngest of three daughters to Kjell and Monica Hjorth, she first gripped a golf club at three years of age. Six years old, ...

shot a final round 72 to finish at 283 (-5) and won by a single stroke over runner-up

Amy Yang Amy Yang, also known as Yang Hee-Young ( ko, 양희영, born 28 July 1989) is a South Korean professional golfer, currently playing on the United States-based LPGA Tour and on the Ladies European Tour (LET). Amateur career Yang began playing go ...

.Golf.com
- Maria Hjorth wins LPGA Tour Championship - 2010-12-05 - accessed 2011-11-17

Field of players

The field was made up of the top 120 players on the LPGA official money list following the

Mizuno Classic The Toto Japan Classic is an annual women's professional golf tournament in Japan, jointly sanctioned by the two richest women's professional tours: the U.S.-based LPGA Tour and the LPGA of Japan Tour. It was an unofficial money event on the LPGA ...

in November.

Winners

¹ The 2009 tournament was shortened to 54 holes due to weather.

Tournament records

References

External links

LPGA official tournament microsite
{{Former LPGA Tour Events Former LPGA Tour events Golf in Texas Golf in Florida Women's sports in Florida Women's sports in Texas