The '15 LPGA season will open at Golden Ocala Golf & Equestrian Club in Ocala, Fla., with Coates Golf as title sponsor of the new event, according to Andy Marks of the OCALA STAR-BANNER. Coates Golf COO Randall Coates said, "All the contracts have been signed. We have a three-year contract with the LPGA. It will be the first tournament of the year for the LPGA." Coates said the tournament will be titled the Coates Golf Championship presented by R&L Carriers. It begins Jan. 28 and concludes Jan. 31, the day before Super Bowl XLIX. R&L Carriers, a "freight shipping company, owns Golden Ocala." Coates: "We were a little pushed in the beginning with the LPGA that they would rather have held it somewhere like Orlando, but because we live in Ocala we wanted the economic benefits to come to our community." Coates added that the tournament itself will "have a smaller field size of 120 golfers, only due to limited daylight during the winter in Florida." Reports estimate the winner's share to be at $255,000, which would "fall in line with an overall purse" of $1.7M (OCALA STAR-BANNER, 7/29). GOLFWEEK's Beth Ann Nichols noted LPGA Chief Communications Officer Kraig Kann "would not comment, but players were informed" via e-mail yesterday. The LPGA this year "opened its season in the Bahamas before heading to Australia and Asia for three weeks and then playing on the U.S. West Coast." The complete LPGA schedule is "not expected to be released until late in the year" (GOLFWEEK.com, 7/28).
