The Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic was a women's professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour. The 72-hole event made its debut in September 2007 at the Capitol Hill location on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Prattville, Alabama, a suburb northwest of Montgomery. Maria Hjorth won the inaugural event on the Senator Course by one stroke over Stacy Prammanasudh.
Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa then won consecutive titles, in a playoff in 2008 and by four strokes in 2009. Katherine Hull won in 2010 by a single stroke and set the tournament scoring record at 269 (−19).
The event saw the then youngest-ever winner of an LPGA event in 2011, with Lexi Thompson's five-stroke victory at age 16. (Amateur Lydia Ko lowered the record to age 15 in 2012 in Canada.) In 2012, Stacy Lewis won her third event of the season by two strokes over Thompson, who carded a 63 (−9) on Thursday, but had a 74 (+2) on Saturday.
The Senator Course at RTJ Capitol Hill converted its greens from bent grass to Champion Bermuda grass in the summer of 2011. The title sponsor was Navistar International, a manufacturer of commercial trucks, engines, and school buses. Following the 2012 event, it elected not to continue as title sponsor, and the tournament was dropped from the schedule in 2013. The tournament reappeared in 2014 when the Yokohama Tire Corporation took over as the title sponsor.
Formerly played later in the season, it was moved up in the schedule to May in 2016. The LPGA Tour event in Mobile, last played as the Airbus LPGA Classic in 2014, was held in May at an RTJ Golf Trail course.
Tournament names 2007: Navistar LPGA Classic 2008: Navistar LPGA Classic Presented by MaxxForce 2009–2011: Navistar LPGA Classic Presented by Monaco RV 2012: Navistar LPGA Classic 2014–2016: Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic
Course layout
Capitol Hill, Senator Course (2014) Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotalYards3701653903695403851745073763,276 5474003911633633891525154113,3316,607Par434454354365443443543672 Source:
Winners YearDates ChampionCountryWinning scoreTo parMarginof victoryPurse ($) Winner'sshare ($)2016 May 5–8 Ariya Jutanugarn 70-69-63-72=274 −14 1 stroke 1,300,000 195,000 2015 Aug 27–30 Kris Tamulis 71-68-67-65=271 −17 1 stroke 1,300,000 195,000 2014 Sep 18–21 Mi Jung Hur 64-70-67-66=267 −21 4 strokes 1,300,000 195,000 2013 No tournament2012 Sep 20–23 Stacy Lewis 66-70-65-69=270 −18 2 strokes 1,300,000 195,000 2011 Sep 15–18 Lexi Thompson1 66-68-67-70=271 −17 5 strokes 1,300,000 195,000 2010 Oct 7–10 Katherine Hull 68-67-67-67=269 −191 stroke 1,300,000 195,000 2009 Oct 1–4 Lorena Ochoa (2) 66-68-66-70=270 −184 strokes1,300,000 195,000 2008 Sep 25–28 Lorena Ochoa 67-67-69-70=273−15 Playoff 21,400,000 210,000 2007 Sep 27–30 Maria Hjorth 70-67-70-67=274 −14 1 stroke1,300,000 195,000 1 Thompson, age 16, was not an LPGA member at the time of this win in 2011. 2 Won in a three-player sudden-death playoff in 2008 on the second extra hole.
Tournament records YearPlayerScoreRound2007Stacy Prammanasudh 63 (−9) 1stAmy Hung 63 (−9) 4thAngela Park 63 (−9) 4th2009Yani Tseng 63 (−9) 2nd2010Mika Miyazato 63 (−9) 2ndLindsey Wright 63 (−9) 4th2012Lexi Thompson 63 (−9) 1st2016Ariya Jutanugarn 63 (−9) 3rd
References
External links
LPGA Tour - official tournament microsite Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail: Capitol Hill