Date set as LPGA announces match-play event returns to Las Vegas

The LPGA is coming backmost to Las Vegas successful 2022, making it authoritative with the merchandise of the tour’s 2022 docket that includes the Bank of Hope Match Play erstwhile again headed to Shadow Creek astatine the extremity of May.

The announcement is mostly a formality, with Bank of Hope and Shadow Creek having some signed three-year deals to clasp the tournament. Exactly wherever it would onshore connected the calendar was the main question.

The 2022 mentation is slated for May 25-29, a five-day tourney that volition again diagnostic 3 days of round-robin play successful a pod strategy to trim the tract of 64 to 16 players, who volition spell head-to-head successful a single-elimination bracket connected the weekend.

The purse volition again beryllium $1.5 million, with $225,000 going to the champion.

As with the inaugural event, the Bank of Hope Match Play volition beryllium held the week earlier the U.S. Women’s Open. That was a convenient pairing successful 2021 erstwhile the Open was held successful San Francisco. In 2022, however, the year’s biggest large volition beryllium played astatine Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club successful Southern Pines, North Carolina.

Holding an lawsuit the week earlier a large whitethorn person mislaid the tourney a fewer apical players, arsenic Nelly Korda, Jessica Korda, Lydia Ko and Lexi Thompson were among those to skip Shadow Creek.

However, players who did vie successful Las Vegas said it was 1 of the champion venues and events they played each season, and they expected much players to privation to travel successful the future.

“We had gifts extracurricular our lockers astir each day. Great food. Just world-class treatment.” said 2021 victor Ally Ewing. “They’ve tally the play tourney really, truly well, and I deliberation they’ve acceptable a beauteous precocious modular for conscionable the peculiar attraction that we’ve gotten.”

One different large alteration for 2022 volition beryllium the instrumentality of fans. The Bank of Hope Match Play was 1 of the last events held this twelvemonth that kept spectators disconnected the people due to the fact that of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. There were besides nary spectators astatine the CJ Cup erstwhile the PGA Tour played astatine Shadow Creek successful precocious 2020.

How spectators volition acceptable among a precise choky and hard people to navigate volition beryllium an absorbing facet to the 2022 edition.

LPGA officials are not lone excited astir coming backmost to Las Vegas, but astir the wide 2022 docket which features immoderate caller events and accrued purses.

“The signifier is acceptable for 2022 to beryllium 1 of the astir breathtaking years successful the past of the LPGA Tour, with the summation of caller events, the largest full purse ever, implicit 500 hours of broadcast television, and a corporate committedness to being the starring women’s nonrecreational sports spot successful the world,” said LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan.

Samaan was really portion of the tourney storyline successful 2021, having been named commissioner the week of the Bank of Hope event.

“As the location to the champion pistillate golfers successful the world, we volition proceed to absorption connected offering a dynamic docket that allows players to scope their highest show successful play and successful life, and that provides the level to animate young girls and women astir the globe to imagination big,” helium said.

Two caller events connected the docket see a 4th tourney successful Southern California, the JTBC Championship (April 28-May 1) successful Palos Verdes Estates, and the Kroger Queen City Championship (Sept. 8-11), marking the LPGA’s instrumentality to Cincinnati for the archetypal clip since 1989.

Greg Robertson covers play for the Review-Journal. He tin beryllium reached astatine grobertson@reviewjournal.com.