2008 LPGA Tour

Golf tour season December 2024 March 2026 2008 LPGA Tour 2008 1 18 – 2008 12 14 37 7 MEX Lorena Ochoa Money leader MEX Lorena Ochoa Rolex Player of the Year MEX Lorena Ochoa Vare Trophy MEX Lorena Ochoa Rookie of the Year TWN Yani Tseng 2007 2009 The 2008 LPGA Tour was a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world that took place from February through December 2008. The tournaments were sanctioned by the United States–based Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). In 2008, prize money on the LPGA Tour was $60.3 million, which was the highest in the history of the tour until 2016. Lorena Ochoa topped the money list, earning $2,763,193. Ochoa also led the league in most wins with seven, including four consecutive tournaments in March and April and one major tournament. The four major championships were won by: Lorena Ochoa (Kraft Nabisco Championship), Yani Tseng (LPGA Championship), Inbee Park (U.S. Women's Open), and Jiyai Shin (Women's British Open). All major winners except Ochoa were not only first-time major winners, but first-time winners on the LPGA Tour. Tseng, at 19 years old, and Park and Shin, both at 20 years old, became the youngest-ever winners of the respective majors. On May 12, a day after winning her third tournament of the season, Annika Sörenstam announced her intent to "step away" from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season. She continued to draw large crowds through the remainder of the season, though she did not win another tournament on the LPGA Tour before the end of the year. Jiyai Shin, a 20-year-old non-LPGA member, set records on the LPGA Tour by winning three of the nine tournaments in which she played, including the Women's British Open and the season-ending ADT Championship with its $1 million first place prize. She became the first non-LPGA member ever to win three events. The LPGA organization also attracted attention in 2008 when commissioner Carolyn Bivens announced a new policy in August that would have required all players who had been on the tour for two years to show proficiency in English or face suspension.http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1836145,00.html LPGA to require all players speak English Golf.com August 26, 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080827061011/http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0%2C28136%2C1836145%2C00.html 27 August 2008 dead http://www.asianweek.com/2008/08/27/more-american-requirements-for-lpga-players/ Lieu: More American Requirements for LPGA Players AsianWeek August 29, 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080903080211/http://www.asianweek.com/2008/08/27/more-american-requirements-for-lpga-players/ 3 September 2008 dead dmy-all The Tour rescinded the policy two weeks later after increasing criticism from the media and from LPGA Tour sponsors.http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2008/08/28/lpga-brand-advisory.aspx The Marketing Doctor says: The LPGA Is Making A Big Mistake https://web.archive.org/web/20081220213114/http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2008/08/28/lpga-brand-advisory.aspx 2008-12-20 Marketing Doctor Blog August 28, 2008https://www.espn.com/golf/columns/story?columnist=sirak_ron&id=3571122&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab7pos2 LPGA Tour should have seen the fallout coming from English policy Ron Sirak ESPN September 5, 2008 September 6, 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080909203400/http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/columns/story?columnist=sirak_ron&id=3571122&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab7pos2 9 September 2008 live Tournament schedule and results ADT Playoff Categories: winner: Official LPGA Tour events with a purse of at least $2,000,000. Winners of these events automatically qualify for the ADT Championship. standard: Winners do not automatically qualify for the ADT Championship; the ADT points system is used. unofficial: These events are not official LPGA Tour events and participation is not part of the ADT Playoff system. The number in parentheses after winners' names show the player's total number of official money, individual event wins on the LPGA Tour, including that event.http://www.lpga.com/content/Chronology2000-2008.pdf LPGA Tournament Chronology 2000-2008 LPGA https://web.archive.org/web/20110304105055/http://www.lpga.com/content/Chronology2000-2008.pdf March 4, 2011 Date Tournament Location ADT Playoff category Winner Purse ($) Winner'sshare ($) Jan 20 Women's World Cup of Golf South Africa unofficial (Jennifer Rosales / Dorothy Delasin) 1,400,000 210,000 Feb 16 SBS Open at Turtle Bay Hawaii standard SWE Annika Sörenstam (70) 1,100,000 165,000 Feb 23 Fields Open in Hawaii Hawaii standard USA Paula Creamer (5) 1,300,000 195,000 Mar 2 HSBC Women's Champions Singapore winner MEX Lorena Ochoa (18) 2,000,000 300,000 Mar 116 MasterCard Classic Mexico standard SWE Louise Friberg (1) 1,300,000 195,000 Mar 30 Safeway International Arizona standard MEX Lorena Ochoa (19) 1,500,000 225,000 Apr 6 Kraft Nabisco Championship California winner MEX Lorena Ochoa (20) 2,000,000 300,000 Apr 13 Corona Championship Mexico standard MEX Lorena Ochoa (21) 1,300,000 195,000 Apr 20 Ginn Open Florida winner MEX Lorena Ochoa (22) 2,600,000 390,000 Apr 27 Stanford International Pro-Am Florida winner SWE Annika Sörenstam (71) 2,000,000 300,000 May 4 SemGroup Championship Oklahoma standard USA Paula Creamer (6) 1,800,000 270,000May 11 Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill Virginia winner SWE Annika Sörenstam (72) 2,200,000 330,000May 18 Sybase Classic New Jersey winner MEX Lorena Ochoa (23) 2,000,000 300,000May 25 LPGA Corning Classic New York standard USA Leta Lindley (1) 1,500,000 225,000Jun 1 Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika South Carolina winner KOR Seon Hwa Lee (3) 2,600,000 390,000Jun 8 McDonald's LPGA Championship Maryland winner TWN Yani Tseng (1) 2,000,000 300,000 End of first half of the seasonJun 22 Wegmans LPGA New York winner KOR Eun-Hee Ji (1) 2,000,000 300,000Jun 29 U.S. Women's Open Minnesota winner KOR Inbee Park (1) 3,250,000 585,000Jul 6 P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship Arkansas standard KOR Seon Hwa Lee (4) 1,700,000 255,000Jul 13 Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Ohio standard USA Paula Creamer (7) 1,300,000 195,000Jul 20 LPGA State Farm Classic Illinois standard KOR Ji Young Oh (1) 1,700,000 255,000Jul 27 Evian Masters France winner SWE Helen Alfredsson (6) 3,250,000 487,500Aug 3 Ricoh Women's British Open England winner KOR Jiyai Shin (1*) 2,100,000 314,464Aug 17 CN Canadian Women's Open Ontario winner AUS Katherine Hull (1) 2,250,000 337,500Aug 24 Safeway Classic Oregon standard USA Cristie Kerr (11) 1,700,000 255,000Sep 14 Bell Micro LPGA Classic Alabama standard USA Angela Stanford (2) 1,400,000 210,000Sep 28 Navistar LPGA Classic Alabama standard MEX Lorena Ochoa (24) 1,400,000 210,000Oct 5 Samsung World Championship California standard USA Paula Creamer (8) 1,000,000 250,000Oct 12 Longs Drugs Challenge California standard KOR In-Kyung Kim (1) 1,200,000 180,000Oct 19 Kapalua LPGA Classic Hawaii standard USA Morgan Pressel (2) 1,500,000 225,000Oct 26 Grand China Air LPGA China standard SWE Helen Alfredsson (7) 1,800,000 270,000Nov 2 Hana Bank-KOLON Championship South Korea standard USA Candie Kung (4) 1,600,000 240,000Nov 9 Mizuno Classic Japan standard KOR Jiyai Shin (2*) 1,400,000 210,000Nov 16 Lorena Ochoa Invitational Mexico standard USA Angela Stanford (3) 1,000,000 200,000Nov 23 ADT Championship Florida n/a KOR Jiyai Shin (3*) 1,550,000 1,000,000Nov 30 Lexus Cup Singapore unofficial Team International n/aDec 14** Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge Nevada unofficial Champions Tour n/a Tournaments in bold are majors. **The Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge was held on November 17. It was broadcast on television on December 13 and 14. The official LPGA Tour schedule lists the tournament dates based on the date of the television broadcast. *Shin was not an LPGA member in 2008. Leaders Money List leaders RankPlayerCountryEarnings ($)Events1 Lorena Ochoa 2,763,193 232 Paula Creamer 1,823,992 263 Yani Tseng 1,752,086 274 Annika Sörenstam 1,735,912 225 Helen Alfredsson 1,431,408 266 Lee Seon-hwa 1,187,294 307 Suzann Pettersen 1,177,809 248 Inbee Park 1,138,370 279 Angela Stanford 1,134,753 2810 Cristie Kerr 1,108,839 26 Source:https://www.lpga.com/stats-and-rankings/money-and-finishes#tab-list Money/Finishes: Official Money – 2008 LPGA Scoring Average leaders RankPlayerCountryAverage1 Lorena Ochoa 69.702 Annika Sörenstam 70.473 Paula Creamer 70.564 Yani Tseng 70.775 Cristie Kerr 70.88 Source:https://www.lpga.com/stats-and-rankings/scoring Scoring: Scoring Average – 2008 LPGA 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. 2008 Winner: MEX Lorena Ochoa. Runner-up: USA Paula Creamer The Vare Trophy, named for Glenna Collett-Vare, is given to the player with the lowest scoring average for the season. 2008 Winner: MEX Lorena Ochoa. Runner-up: SWE Annika Sörenstam The Louis 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. 2008 Winner: TWN Yani Tseng. Runner-up: KOR Na Yeon Choi See also 2008 in golf 2008 Duramed Futures Tour 2008 Ladies European Tour References Category:LPGA Tour seasons LPGA Tour