LPGA Tour Announces 34-Event Season For '16

The LPGA Tour Commissioner Michael Whan said that the tour "will feature 34 tournaments, two more than this year, in 15 countries on its schedule" for '16 with record total prize money of $63.1M, according to Mark Lamport-Stokes of REUTERS. The season starts on Paradise Island in the Bahamas from Jan. 28-31 "before moving on to Ocala, Florida, then Australia, Thailand and Singapore in a whirlwind start to a season that ends with the Nov. 17-20 CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida." Fourteen new events have been added in the last five years, "strengthening a tournament schedule that will also include stops in England, Brazil, France, China, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Canada and Mexico." TV coverage has been "significantly upped" from this year and six events in '16 will benefit from network TV broadcasting in the U.S. over the weekend (REUTERS, 11/20).