Daytona Beach, FL – The LPGA Tour released its 2013 schedule on Tuesday and the 28-event slate features three new events.
"We've been pretty focused on adding sponsors and events. One of my favorite emails was to send the players a note saying you're spending Memorial Day in the Bahamas," LPGA Tour commissioner Michael Whan told Golf Channel when the schedule was announced Tuesday morning. "We're proud that we travel, but proud that 18 are based here in the States.
"You'll see us take a week off every few weeks and that's what the LPGA has done for 60 years. And that helps us get full fields and the top players playing more often."
For the second straight season, the schedule will open in Australia, with the Women's Australian Open from Feb. 14-17. From there, the tour heads to Thailand and Singapore before the first stateside event takes place March 14-17 with the LPGA Founders Cup in Arizona.
The tour shifts to California for two tournaments, the second of which is the year's first major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship. After a week off, the tour will move to Hawaii for an event that runs from Wednesday to Saturday.
The tour heads back to Texas the final weekend in April for its first new event, the North Texas LPGA Shootout. After stops in Virginia and Alabama, the tour heads to the islands for the next new event, the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic.
Four events are scheduled for June, two of which will be in New York and both are major championships. The second major of the year is the Wegmans LPGA Championship, June 6-9. Three weeks later is the third major, the U.S. Women's Open, which will be contested at Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton on Long Island.
July has just two events, the first of which is in Canada and the second is the tour's annual stop in Toledo. The first week in August will be the year's fourth major, the Women's British Open, which will be played at St. Andrews in Scotland.
Two weeks later will be the Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club. The tour heads north of the border to Canada in late August, before heading to Oregon. That is the penultimate U.S.-based event of the season.
The lone event in September, as of now, is the Evian Masters in France, which this season becomes the fifth major on tour.
The first weekend in October is the final new event, the Reignwood Pine Valley LPGA Classic, in Beijing. That will mark the tour's first stop in China. The next four events will all be in Asia.
In mid-November, the tour goes to Mexico for Lorena Ochoa's event. The following week is the final event, the CME Group Titleholders.
"I believe strongly that there is at least one more tournament that could be added to this year's schedule. It would be late summer, early fall. We're just working out some details. We have the location and the sponsor," Whan said on Golf Channel.
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