2010 LPGA Tour

The 2010 LPGA Tour was a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world that began in Thailand on February 13, 2010, and ended in Florida on December 5, 2010. The tournaments were sanctioned by the United States–based Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).

2010 LPGA Tour season

Duration	February 13, 2010 (2010-02-13) – December 5, 2010 (2010-12-05)
Number of official events	24
Most wins	5 Ai Miyazato
Money leader	Na Yeon Choi
Rolex Player of the Year	Yani Tseng
Rookie of the Year	Azahara Muñoz
← 2009 2011 →

The tour included 24 tournaments, including events in Malaysia, southern California, and two in New Jersey that were new to the schedule in 2010. Of the 24 tournaments on the schedule, 14 were hosted in the United States. The 2010 season was the tour's smallest schedule in nearly 40 years.

Na Yeon Choi, a third-year player from Korea, topped the official money list with earnings of $1,871,166. She had two wins and 15 top-10 finishes in 23 starts and won the Vare Trophy, given to the player with the lowest scoring average. Yani Tseng from Taiwan captured Player of the Year honors; she won three tournaments in 2010 including two of the four major championships. Spaniard Azahara Muñoz won the Rookie of the Year Award.

The four majors were won by: Yani Tseng (Kraft Nabisco Championship), Cristie Kerr (LPGA Championship), Paula Creamer (U.S. Women's Open), and Yani Tseng (Women's British Open). Tseng's win in the Women's British Open at age 21 made her the youngest player in LPGA history to win three major championships.

Changes in the 2010 season

The 2010 season was the 60th anniversary of the LPGA Tour. As with most years, changes were made to the schedule from the previous year, which included:

• The LPGA Championship sponsorship changed from McDonald's to Wegmans, and the major was moved from Havre de Grace, Maryland, to Rochester, New York. The championship's new home is the Locust Hill Country Club, the host course for the Wegmans LPGA, a regular tour event which was discontinued.
• The first tournament of the season in the U.S. was the Kia Classic, held in late March at La Costa in Carlsbad, California.
• Missing from the schedule was the longtime stop in Phoenix.
• The Sybase Match Play Championship made its debut, replacing the Sybase Classic; both held in northern New Jersey.
• The Bell Micro LPGA Classic returned after a one-year hiatus, held the week of May 10–16.
• After a three-year absence from Atlantic City, the tour returned with long-time supporter ShopRite as the title sponsor.^[1]

Schedule and results

The season included 24 official money events, compared with 34 just two years earlier, as the LPGA struggled to cope with the economic downturn. There were three unofficial money events, with 17 off-weeks between the first and last events in 2010.^[2]

Date	Tournament	Location	Winner	First prize ($)
Feb 21	Honda PTT LPGA Thailand	Thailand	Ai Miyazato (2)	195,000
Feb 28	HSBC Women's Champions	Singapore	Ai Miyazato (3)	195,000
Mar 28	Kia Classic Presented by J Golf	California	Hee Kyung Seo (1)1	255,000
Apr 4	Kraft Nabisco Championship	California	Yani Tseng (3)	300,000
Apr 16	The Mojo 62	Jamaica	Anna Nordqvist (n/a)2	350,000
May 2	Tres Marias Championship	Mexico	Ai Miyazato (4)	195,000
May 16	Bell Micro LPGA Classic	Alabama	Se Ri Pak (25)	195,000
May 23	Sybase Match Play Championship	New Jersey	Sun-Young Yoo (1)	375,000
May 30	HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup2	Brazil	Meaghan Francella (n/a)2	105,000
Jun 14	LPGA State Farm Classic	Illinois	Cristie Kerr (13)	255,000
Jun 20	ShopRite LPGA Classic	New Jersey	Ai Miyazato (5)	225,000
Jun 27	LPGA Championship	New York	Cristie Kerr (14)	337,500
Jul 4	Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic	Ohio	Na Yeon Choi (3)	150,000
Jul 11	U.S. Women's Open	Pennsylvania	Paula Creamer (9)	585,000
Jul 25	Evian Masters	France	Jiyai Shin (7)	487,500
Aug 1	Women's British Open	England	Yani Tseng (4)	408,714
Aug 22	Safeway Classic	Oregon	Ai Miyazato (6)	225,000
Aug 29	CN Canadian Women's Open	Manitoba	Michelle Wie (2)	337,500
Sep 12	P&G NW Arkansas Championship	Arkansas	Yani Tseng (5)	300,000
Oct 10	Navistar LPGA Classic	Alabama	Katherine Hull (2)	195,000
Oct 17	CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge	California	Beatriz Recari (1)	165,000
Oct 24	Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia	Malayasia	Jimin Kang (2)	270,000
Oct 31	LPGA Hana Bank Championship	South Korea	Na Yeon Choi (4)	270,000
Nov 7	Mizuno Classic	Japan	Jiyai Shin (8)	180,000
Nov 9	Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge2	Nevada	PGA Tour
Nov 14	Lorena Ochoa Invitational	Mexico	In-Kyung Kim (3)	220,000
Dec 5	LPGA Tour Championship	Florida	Maria Hjorth (4)	225,000

Tournaments in bold are majors.
¹ Hee Kyung Seo was not a member of the LPGA at the time of her win in the Kia Classic.
² Exhibition tournament, unofficial earnings.

Leaders

Money List leaders

Rank	Player	Country	Earnings ($)	Events
1	Na Yeon Choi	South Korea	1,871,166	23
2	Jiyai Shin	South Korea	1,783,127	19
3	Cristie Kerr	United States	1,601,552	21
4	Yani Tseng	Taiwan	1,573,529	19
5	Suzann Pettersen	Norway	1,557,175	19
6	Ai Miyazato	Japan	1,457,384	21
7	In-Kyung Kim	South Korea	1,210,068	21
8	Song-Hee Kim	South Korea	1,208,698	22
9	Michelle Wie	United States	888,017	19
10	Paula Creamer	United States	883,870	14

Full 2010 Official Money List- navigate to "2010"

Scoring Average leaders

Rank	Player	Country	Average
1	Na Yeon Choi	South Korea	69.87
2	Cristie Kerr	United States	69.95
3	Suzann Pettersen	Norway	70.09
4	Song-Hee Kim	South Korea	70.21
5	Jiyai Shin	South Korea	70.25

Full 2010 Scoring Average List - navigate to "2010", then "Scoring Average"

Awards and honors

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.
  • 2010 Winner: Yani Tseng . Runner-up: Cristie Kerr
• The Vare Trophy, named for Glenna Collett-Vare, is given to the player with the lowest scoring average for the season.
  • 2010 Winner: Na Yeon Choi. Runner-up: Cristie Kerr
• 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 award is named after Louise Suggs, one of the founders of the LPGA.
  • 2010 Winner: Azahara Muñoz. Runner-up: Beatriz Recari

See also

• 2010 in golf
• 2010 Ladies European Tour
• 2010 Duramed Futures Tour