2007 LPGA Tour explained

Year:2007
Tour:LPGA Tour
Regular Season:
No Of Events:35
Most Wins:8 Lorena Ochoa
Honor1:Money leader
Honoree1: Lorena Ochoa
Honor2:Rolex Player of the Year
Honor3:Rookie of the Year
Honoree3: Angela Park
Prevseason:2006
Nextseason:2008

The 2007 LPGA Tour was a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world that took place from February through December 2007. The tournaments were sanctioned by the United States-based Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). In 2007, prize money on the LPGA Tour was $54.285 million, the highest to date.

Lorena Ochoa topped the money list with a record $4,364,994, easily surpassing Annika Sörenstam's previous record of $2,863,904. Sörenstam was out most of the 2007 with neck and back injuries. Ochoa led the tour in victories in 2007 with eight wins; Suzann Pettersen of Norway had five.

The four major championships were won by: Morgan Pressel (Kraft Nabisco Championship), Suzann Pettersen (LPGA Championship), Cristie Kerr (U.S. Women's Open), and Lorena Ochoa (Women's British Open). All four majors were won by first-time major winners. The British Open also marked a breakthrough for women's golf; for the first time the event took place at historic St Andrews in Scotland, the fabled "home of golf," that had previously been off-limits to women.

In a slight reversal of a trend from recent years, Americans saw a relative resurgence in dominance in 2007, winning 12 events. For the first time since 2000, two Americans won majors. However, only one American, Paula Creamer, won more than one event, while Mexico's Lorena Ochoa won eight times and Norway's Suzann Pettersen five. Koreans won only four events, seven fewer than the 11 won in 2006.

For details of what happened in the main tournaments of the year see 2007 in golf.

Tournament schedule and results

ADT Playoff Categories:

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.

Date Tournament Location ADT Playoff
category
Winner Purse ($) Winner's
share ($)
Jan 21 South Africa unofficial
(Julieta Granada / Celeste Troche)
Feb 17 Hawaii standard Paula Creamer (3) 1,100,000 165,000
Feb 24 Hawaii standard Stacy Prammanasudh (2) 1,200,000 180,000
Mar 11 Mexico standard Meaghan Francella (1) 1,200,000 180,000
Mar 25 Arizona standard Lorena Ochoa (10) 1,500,000 225,000
Apr 1 Kraft Nabisco Championship California winner Morgan Pressel (1) 2,000,000 300,000
Apr 15 Florida winner Brittany Lincicome (2) 2,600,000 390,000
Apr 29 Mexico standard Silvia Cavalleri (1) 1,300,000 195,000
May 6 Oklahoma standard Mi Hyun Kim (8) 1,400,000 210,000
May 13 Virginia winner Suzann Pettersen (1) 2,200,000 330,000
May 20 New Jersey standard Lorena Ochoa (11) 1,400,000 210,000
May 27 New York standard Young Kim (1) 1,300,000 195,000
Jun 3 South Carolina winner Nicole Castrale (1) 2,600,000 390,000
Jun 10 McDonald's LPGA Championship Maryland winner Suzann Pettersen (2) 2,000,000 300,000
Jun 24 New York standard Lorena Ochoa (12) 1,800,000 270,000
End of first half of the season
Jul 1 U.S. Women's Open North Carolina winner Cristie Kerr (10) 3,100,000 560,000
Jul 15 Ohio standard Se Ri Pak (24) 1,300,000 195,000
Jul 22 New York winner Seon Hwa Lee (2) 2,000,000 500,000
Jul 29 France winner Natalie Gulbis (1) 3,000,000 450,000
Aug 5 Ricoh Women's British Open Scotland winner Lorena Ochoa (13) 2,000,000 320,512
Aug 19 Alberta winner Lorena Ochoa (14) 2,250,000 337,500
Aug 26 Oregon standard Lorena Ochoa (15) 1,700,000 255,000
Sep 2 Illinois standard Sherri Steinhauer (8) 1,300,000 195,000
Sep 9 LPGA NW Arkansas Championship* || Arkansas || standard || Stacy Lewis (n/a) || 625,000 || align=right|90,000|-|Sep 16 || Solheim Cup || Sweden || align=center|n/a || || colspan=2 align=center|n/a|-|Sep 30 || Navistar LPGA Classic || Alabama || standard || Maria Hjorth (3) || 1,300,000 || align=right|195,000|-|Oct 7 || Longs Drugs Challenge || California || standard || Suzann Pettersen (3) || 1,100,000 || align=right|165,000|-|Oct 14 || Samsung World Championship || California || standard || Lorena Ochoa (16) || 1,000,000 || align=right|250,000|-|Oct 21 || Hana Bank-KOLON Championship || South Korea || standard || Suzann Pettersen (4) || 1,500,000 || align=right|191,250|-|Oct 28 || Honda LPGA Thailand || Thailand || standard || Suzann Pettersen (5) || 1,300,000 || align=right|195,000|-|Nov 4 || Mizuno Classic || Japan || standard || Momoko Ueda (1) || 1,400,000 || align=right|210,000|-|Nov 11 || The Mitchell Company LPGA Tournament of Champions || Alabama || standard || Paula Creamer (4) || 1,000,000 || align=right|150,000|-|Nov 18 || ADT Championship || Florida || align=center|n/a || Lorena Ochoa (17) || 1,550,000 || align=right|1,000,000|-|Dec 9 || Lexus Cup || Australia || unofficial || Team Asia || colspan=2 align=center|n/a|-|Dec 23** || Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge || Nevada || unofficial || LPGA Tour || colspan=2 align=center|n/a|}

Tournaments in bold are majors.
*The LPGA NW Arkansas Championship was not completed due to inclement weather. Only 18 holes were played so it was not an official tournament, nor did the money count as official money.
**The Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge was held on November 13. It was broadcast on television on December 22 and 23. The official LPGA Tour schedule listed the tournament dates based on the television broadcast.

Leaders

Money List leaders

RankPlayerCountryEarnings ($)Events
1 4,364,994 25
2 1,802,400 24
3 1,384,798 24
4 1,273,848 27
5 1,100,198 28
6 1,098,921 22
7 1,038,598 27
8 983,922 28
9 972,452 25
10 966,256 24

Full 2007 Official Money List

Scoring Average leaders

RankPlayerCountryAverage
1 69.69
2 70.50
3 70.86
4 71.27
5 71.28

Full 2007 Scoring Average List - navigate to "2007", then "Scoring Average"

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.
  • The Vare Trophy, named for Glenna Collett-Vare, is given to the player with the lowest scoring average for the season.
  • The Louise 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.

See also

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