The Golf News Net

The LPGA Tour announced a 2009 schedule today that features fewer events and less total purse money than the 2008 schedule.

Despite these struggles, LPGA Tour Commissioner Carolyn Bivens maintains that the schedule is "a barometer of stability, appeal and value for our players and our property."

The events that will not return in 2009 are the Fields Open in Hawaii, SemGroup Championship, ADT Championship and Ginn Tribute Hosted by ANNIKA.  These events were worth approximately $7.5 million in purses.

The event formerly known as the Safeway International will be presented by the LPGA Tour in 2009 and be known as the Phoenix LPGA International, maintaining the $1.5 million purse from last season.  The event played this year as the Grand Air China LPGA is listed on the announced schedule as not having a title sponsor.

The Corona Championship was an event speculated to be disappearing from the 2009 schedule.  It will remain, though, with the same purse as 2008.

As expected, the Stanford International Pro-Am - played this year in Miami - will be shelved.  Instead, Stanford will sponsor a new event called the Stanford Financial Tour Championship in the Houston area, where the company is located.  The $2 million purse will carry over to the new event.

Other tournaments on the schedule have been moved to more favorable dates.  The Navistar and Bell Micro LPGA events in Alabama will be staged in consecutive weeks next season.  The State Farm Classic received a more favorable date.

One odd stretch of the schedule begins with the Jamir Farr Corning Classic that ends July 5.  The four tournament stretch that follows features two majors - the US Women's Open and the Ricoh Women's British Open - as well as the Evian Masters and the biannual Solheim Cup, ending August 28.  Were a player not to qualify for any of these events, they would be forced to play elsewhere or not at all for two months.

The LPGA Tour revived the Honda LPGA Thailand - an event played in 2006, but not in 2007 for planning purposes.  It will take the place of the Fields Open in Hawaii on the schedule and serve as a bridge for the first of two Asian swings on the Tour.  With the Thailand event, the count of international events on tour increases to 11.

Four events on the schedule do not have host courses - the Phoenix LPGA International, Samsung World Championship, China LPGA, and the Stanford Financial Tour Championship.

Ten events have higher purses than 2008.  Nine of them increased by $100,000.  As previously announced, the CN Canadian Women's Open purse will increase by $500,000 to $2.75 million. 

The total purse for the 2009 schedule announced is $53.4 million, though the purse for the Ginn OPEN was not announced at this time. The 2008 final total purse was $60.3 million.