LPGA Takefuji Classic now at Waikoloa
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
The LPGA's 2002 season will begin on the Big Island, at Waikoloa. Organizers of the third LPGA Takefuji Classic said yesterday they hope it will do much more in 2003.
Takefuji will move down the highway, from Kona Country Club to Waikoloa's Beach Course, next year. It will be played Feb. 28-March 2. The purse has been bumped up $50,000, to $900,000.
2002 LPGA Takefuji Classic
When: Feb. 28-March 1
Pro-am: Feb. 27
Where: Waikoloa Beach Course, Big Island (Par 70, 6,163 yards)
Field: 130 LPGA players and two sponsor exemptions
Purse: $900,000 ($135,000 first prize)
TV: The Golf Channel (U.S.) and TV Tokyo (Japan)
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Information: 792-9377 on O'ahu
Defending champion Lori Kane, Hall of Famer Betsy King and former University of Hawai'i golfer Cindy Flom have indicated they will play, along with Japan's Hiromi Kobayashi and Akiko Fukushima.
Takefuji, Japan's largest consumer finance company, is in the final year of its three-year sponsorship agreement. Masahiro Kawana, founder of tournament organizer AJ Sports, Inc., said yesterday that negotiations are underway to extend the commitment.
Thos Rohr, president and CEO of Waikoloa Land Company, also hopes for a "long relationship."
"When we heard it was moving from Kona," Rohr said, "we called immediately and asked how we could keep it."
Kawana is "cautiously optimistic" there will again be two LPGA events in Hawai'i in 2003. The Hawaiian Ladies Open is not on the 2002 LPGA schedule. It had been played on O'ahu the past 15 years.
Beginning the season with two tournaments here would enhance the fields and give Hawai'i more opportunity to market itself to Japan, according to Kawana. "We can show this to the masses in Japan," Kawana said, "and get them thinking about Hawai'i again."
LPGA players are happy they still have a reason to come here, and hope to have more reasons.
"We're really glad Takefuji is staying on in Hawai'i," Kane said via conference call. "With regards to losing the Open, all the players realize the economics of the situation since Sept. 11. We all hope another event will come to the forefront."
TV Tokyo is showing the final two rounds in Japan. The Golf Channel is tentatively planning to take that feed and air live broadcasts in the United States all three days.
Australia's Karrie Webb captured the inaugural Takefuji Classic, and Kane won this year. Annika Sorenstam was second both years. Se Ri Pak was second on the money list, with Webb third and Kane fourth.
Flom represented Waikoloa for several years and still sponsors a junior tournament annually. She won the LPGA's unofficial Match Play Championship a decade ago at the Beach Course. Flom also won the inaugural Hawaiian Ladies Open in 1987.
The Beach Course will reverse its nines for the tournament. Five of the final eight holes will feature water hazards.
From Hawai'i, the LPGA will go to Arizona for two tournaments. The first major of the year, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, is the fourth event.
For Takefuji Classic information, call 792-9377.
