News Staff Admin posted on February 08, 2012 10:10
LPGA event will be played at Ko Olina
Source: staradvertiser.com
By Ann Miller; POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Feb 08, 2012
After a two-year break, the LPGA will return to Hawaii and Ko Olina Golf Club in April. The LPGA Lotte Championship, Presented by J Golf, was announced a month ago. Over the weekend, final contracts were signed confirming Ko Olina as the site.
The inaugural tournament is April 18-21, with a $1.7 million purse. The full-field (144 players), 72-hole event will finish on Saturday, so the final round can be broadcast live in Asia, where it will be Sunday.
Lotte is an industrial conglomerate in Korea and Japan. J Golf is the LPGA's television rights holder in Korea. The Golf Channel will televise the event. The LPGA has a three-year agreement with Lotte.
Ko Olina now has to stage a tournament on a little more than two months notice. Lotte has brought in 141 Premier Sports & Entertainment, which handles the Sony Open in Hawaii, and a Korean counterpart to organize and market the event.
Ko Olina's tournament history is also on its side.
"We have a great volunteer core that's previously done tournaments," said Ko Olina director of golf Greg Nichols. "They had their first meeting (Monday). On their own, they were coming out to see where to rope and stake.
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