2006 LPGA Tour

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2006 LPGA Tour season
DurationJanuary 20, 2006 (2006-01-20) – December 24, 2006 (2006-12-24)
Number of official events33
Most wins6 Mexico Lorena Ochoa
Money leaderMexico Lorena Ochoa
Rolex Player of the YearMexico Lorena Ochoa
Rookie of the YearSouth Korea Seon Hwa Lee
2005
2007

The 2006 LPGA Tour was a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world, which took place from February through December 2006. The tournaments were sanctioned by the United States-based Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). In 2006, prize money on the LPGA Tour exceeded US$50 million for the first time in the history of the LPGA Tour.

Lorena Ochoa became the first Mexican to top the money list on the LPGA Tour, or any major international golf tour, while Annika Sörenstam held her position as the top ranked player through the whole season. Multi-time major champions Karrie Webb and Se Ri Pak had comeback seasons after fallow periods, each claiming a major championship.

2006 saw a growth in the international presence on the Tour. Of the 33 events, only seven were won by Americans, with Cristie Kerr the only American to win more than once (three times). By contrast, Mexican Lorena Ochoa won six events, Australian Karrie Webb five, Swede Annika Sörenstam three, and nine different South Koreans combined to win 11 events. The season-ending LPGA Playoffs at The ADT was won by Paraguayan Julieta Granada. The other seven finalists in that event featured only two Americans (Paula Creamer and Natalie Gulbis); the others were Ochoa, Webb, Koreans Il Mi Chung and Mi Hyun Kim, and Japanese Ai Miyazato.

For details of what happened in the main tournaments of the year see 2006 in golf.

Tournament schedule and results[edit]

  • The winner of Major events automatically qualified for the LPGA Playoffs at The ADT. ADT Playoffs points were doubled at Major events.
  • The top-20 finishers in Points events earned double ADT Playoffs points.
  • The champion of Winner events automatically qualified for LPGA Playoffs at The ADT. Other top-20 finishers earned single ADT Playoffs points.
  • The Global Group (pre-determined international events) events were combined to count as one Winner event qualifier, with the player earning the most combined points in these events earning automatic entry to LPGA Playoffs at The ADT. No additional points were awarded.
  • Unofficial money Events did not count toward entry into the LPGA Playoffs at The ADT.
  • The first half of the season concluded with the final full-field domestic event (Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic) prior to the Tour traveling to Europe.
  • The second half concluded with final event (The Mitchell Company Tournament of Champions) prior to the LPGA Playoffs at The ADT.

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 22 Women's World Cup of Golf South Africa unofficial  Sweden
(Annika Sörenstam & Liselotte Neumann)
Feb 18 SBS Open at Turtle Bay Hawaii points South Korea Joo Mi Kim (1) 1,000,000 150,000
Feb 25 Fields Open in Hawaii Hawaii points South Korea Meena Lee (2) 1,100,000 165,000
Mar 12 MasterCard Classic Mexico points Sweden Annika Sörenstam (67) 1,200,000 180,000
Mar 19 Safeway International Arizona points United States Juli Inkster (31) 1,400,000 210,000
Apr 2 Kraft Nabisco Championship California major Australia Karrie Webb (31) 1,800,000 270,000
Apr 15 LPGA Takefuji Classic Nevada points Mexico Lorena Ochoa (4) 1,100,000 165,000
Apr 23 Florida's Natural Charity Championship Georgia points South Korea Sung Ah Yim (1) 1,400,000 210,000
Apr 30 Ginn Clubs & Resorts Open Florida points South Korea Mi Hyun Kim (6) 2,500,000 375,000
May 7 Franklin American Mortgage Championship Tennessee points United States Cristie Kerr (7) 1,100,000 165,000
May 14 Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill Virginia winner Australia Karrie Webb (32) 2,200,000 330,000
May 21 Sybase Classic * New York points Mexico Lorena Ochoa (5) 1,300,000 195,000
May 28 LPGA Corning Classic New York points South Korea Hee-Won Han (5) 1,200,000 180,000
Jun 4 ShopRite LPGA Classic New Jersey points South Korea Seon Hwa Lee (1) 1,500,000 225,000
Jun 11 McDonald's LPGA Championship Maryland major South Korea Se Ri Pak (23) 1,800,000 270,000
Jun 25 Wegmans LPGA New York points South Korea Jeong Jang (2) 1,800,000 270,000
Jul 2 U.S. Women's Open Rhode Island major Sweden Annika Sörenstam (68) 3,100,000 560,000
Jul 9 HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship New Jersey winner United States Brittany Lincicome (1) 2,000,000 500,000
Jul 16 Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Ohio points South Korea Mi Hyun Kim (7) 1,200,000 180,000
Start of second half of season
Jul 29 Evian Masters France winner Australia Karrie Webb (33) 3,000,000 450,000
Aug 6 Weetabix Women's British Open England major United States Sherri Steinhauer (7) 1,800,000 305,440
Aug 13 CN Canadian Women's Open Ontario points United States Cristie Kerr (8) 1,700,000 255,000
Aug 20 Safeway Classic Oregon points United States Pat Hurst (5) 1,400,000 210,000
Aug 27 Wendy's Championship for Children Ohio points Mexico Lorena Ochoa (6) 1,100,000 165,000
Sep 3 State Farm Classic Illinois points Sweden Annika Sörenstam (69) 1,300,000 195,000
Sep 10 John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic Oklahoma points United States Cristie Kerr (9) 1,000,000 150,000
Sep 24 Longs Drugs Challenge California points Australia Karrie Webb (34) 1,100,000 165,000
Oct 8 Corona Morelia Championship Mexico points Mexico Lorena Ochoa (7) 1,000,000 150,000
Oct 15 Samsung World Championship California winner Mexico Lorena Ochoa (8) 875,000 218,750
Oct 22 Honda LPGA Thailand Thailand global group South Korea Hee-Won Han (6) 1,300,000 195,000
Oct 29 KOLON-Hana Bank Championship South Korea global group South Korea Jin Joo Hong (1) 1,350,000 202,500
Nov 5 Mizuno Classic Japan] global group Australia Karrie Webb (35) 1,200,000 180,000
Nov 12 The Mitchell Company Tournament of Champions Alabama winner Mexico Lorena Ochoa (9) 1,000,000 150,000
Nov 19 ADT Championship Florida n/a Paraguay Julieta Granada (1) 1,550,000 1,000,000
Dec 17 Lexus Cup Singapore unofficial Team Asia n/a
Dec 24 Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge Nevada unofficial PGA Tour n/a

Tournaments in bold are majors.
* tournament shortened to 54 holes because of rain.

Leaders[edit]

Money List leaders

Rank Player Country Earnings ($) Events
1 Lorena Ochoa  Mexico 2,592,872 25
2 Karrie Webb  Australia 2,090,113 21
3 Annika Sörenstam  Sweden 1,971,741 20
4 Julieta Granada  Paraguay 1,633,586 31
5 Cristie Kerr  United States 1,578,362 26
6 Mi Hyun Kim  South Korea 1,332,274 30
7 Juli Inkster  United States 1,326,442 21
8 Jang Jeong  South Korea 1,151,070 27
9 Hee-Won Han  South Korea 1,147,651 28
10 Pat Hurst  United States 1,128,662 19

Full 2006 Official Money List

Scoring Average leaders

Rank Player Country Average
1 Lorena Ochoa  Mexico 69.24
2 Annika Sörenstam  Sweden 69.82
3 Cristie Kerr  United States 70.07
4 Karrie Webb  Australia 70.11
5 Juli Inkster  United States 70.48

Full 2006 Scoring Average List - navigate to "2006", then "Scoring Average"

Award winners[edit]

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[edit]