On Wednesday, the LPGA Tour released their 2018 schedule. On it, there will be 34 events again next year, but this time it will feature a record $68.75 million in total purses.
While three events have been removed from the 2018 schedule, three new events have been added. Two of those are on the West Coast, while one is on the mainland of China.
As it has in the past, the Pure Silk Bahamas Classic on Paradise Island will start off the 2018 season January 25-28. The season will also once again end at the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fla. November 15-18.
The new $68.75 million purse is bigger than the $65 million the women on the LPGA Tour competed for in 2017.
With the new Tournaments added in 2018, the West Coast swing in the beginning of the season will be expanded to include the HUGEL-JTBC Championship in the Los Angeles area April 19-22. The Tour will make its return the following week in San Fransisco at a new event sponsored by L&P Cosmetics, a Korean skincare company. The event will be held at Lake Merced Golf Club.
The final new event will see the Tour go to Shanghai October 18-21 for a third event of the Asian swing. The name and location of the event are still TBD.
With those three events being added, three events were removed from the schedule.
The Manulife LPGA Classic and the Lorena Ochoa Invitational are not returning to the schedule next year. Also, the McKayson New Zealand Women’s Open will not be played next year as it prepares to move to the front of the 2019 schedule.
Click here to see the full 2018 LPGA Tour Schedule.
