The LPGA CME Group Tour Championship will "stay in Naples" through '23, while the $1M Race to the CME Globe "also will remain for that length," according to Greg Hardwig of the NAPLES DAILY NEWS. LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan ahead of this weekend's tourney "did not mention an extension with Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort." The current agreement with the facility is through '19 and an extension is "being negotiated, but has not been finalized." Whan said, "If this is where CME wants to be, then this is where we'll be as well." Hardwig noted CME Group has a "decade-long history of partnering with the LPGA." The season-ending Tour Championship was "first sponsored" by CME Group in '11 (NAPLES DAILY NEWS, 11/18).
SCHEDULE'S SHAPING UP: Whan said that the '18 LPGA schedule will "consist of 34 events." ESPNW's Bill Fields noted three events on the '17 schedule -- the Citibanamex Lorena Ochoa Match Play, the Manulife LPGA Classic and the Mckayson New Zealand Women's Open -- "won't be played, but three new events to be announced will take their place." Whan added that two "will be held" in the western U.S. and the other "outside the U.S." Whan said total purses will be "roughly" $69M, a $4M increase over '17. Three other new events are on the "drawing board" for '19, when the New Zealand stop is also "expected to return to the schedule in the spring." Whan: "Revenues of the LPGA in the last five or six years are up almost 90 percent. We have added 20 title sponsors and over 20 official marketing partners in the last five or six years. Don't know too many sports that could claim that" (ESPN.com, 11/18). GOLFWEEK's Beth Ann Nichols noted Whan in '19 "expects two more domestic events will be added along with one international venue (reportedly in Vietnam)." A source said that Orlando is "in the discussion." Whan also "plans to move the Evian Championship away from its September date" as early as '19 (GOLFWEEK.com, 11/19).
