Posted on: Friday, November 12, 2004

LPGA returns to Hawai'i, Turtle Bay

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Turtle Bay Resort and the Seoul Broadcasting System will bring the LPGA back to Hawai'i next year. The SBS Classic will be played at Turtle Bay's Arnold Palmer Course Feb. 21 to 26.

The North Shore resort was the original site of the Hawaiian Ladies Open, from 1987 to 1989. That tournament left Hawai'i in 2001. The LPGA's Takefuji Classic on the Big Island also left the following year and efforts to bring the women's golf tour back have been unsuccessful until now.

Turtle Bay Director of Golf Matt Hall said the resort pursued an LPGA event to increase its visibility and raise the level of competitive golf in the state. The Champions Tour returns to the Palmer Course for the fourth year the week before the LPGA.

"We want to continue to host competitive golf," Hall said. "From hosting junior golf to high school, we just got done with collegiate golf. We were the first ones to host a U.S. Open sectional qualifier in the state. We've proven ourselves with the Turtle Bay Championship and now with the LPGA we'll continue to move in that direction."

SBS has a five-year agreement for the tournament. The 2005 event will have a $1 million purse. The winner in the 132-player field gets $150,000. Tournament dates will be Thursday to Saturday, Feb. 24 to 26, with the Pro-Am on Feb. 23.

Dorothy Delasin, the 2000 LPGA Rookie of the Year, has been affiliated with Turtle Bay since earlier this year.

"I'm thrilled that the LPGA will have the opportunity to go back to Hawai'i and Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore of O'ahu," Delasin said in a statement. "I plan to show up early and it's safe to say most of the LPGA players will be there with me."

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8043.