The 2008 LPGA Tour was a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world that took place from February through December 2008. The tournaments were sanctioned by the United States–based Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). In 2008, prize money on the LPGA Tour was $60.3 million, which was the highest in the history of the tour until 2016.

Lorena Ochoa topped the money list, earning $2,763,193. Ochoa also led the league in most wins with seven, including four consecutive tournaments in March and April and one major tournament.

The four major championships were won by: Lorena Ochoa (Kraft Nabisco Championship), Yani Tseng (LPGA Championship), Inbee Park (U.S. Women's Open), and Jiyai Shin (Women's British Open). All major winners except Ochoa were not only first-time major winners, but first-time winners on the LPGA Tour. Tseng, at 19 years old, and Park and Shin, both at 20 years old, became the youngest-ever winners of the respective majors.

On May 12, a day after winning her third tournament of the season, Annika Sörenstam announced her intent to "step away" from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season. She continued to draw large crowds through the remainder of the season, though she did not win another tournament on the LPGA Tour before the end of the year.

Jiyai Shin, a 20-year-old non-LPGA member, set records on the LPGA Tour by winning three of the nine tournaments in which she played, including the Women's British Open and the season-ending ADT Championship with its $1 million first place prize. She became the first non-LPGA member ever to win three events.

The LPGA organization also attracted attention in 2008 when commissioner Carolyn Bivens announced a new policy in August that would have required all players who had been on the tour for two years to show proficiency in English or face suspension. The Tour rescinded the policy two weeks later after increasing criticism from the media and from LPGA Tour sponsors.

Tournament schedule and results ADT Playoff Categories: winner: Official LPGA Tour events with a purse of at least $2,000,000. Winners of these events automatically qualify for the ADT Championship. standard: Winners do not automatically qualify for the ADT Championship; the ADT points system is used. unofficial: These events are not official LPGA Tour events and participation is not part of the ADT Playoff system.

The number in parentheses after winners' names show the player's total number of official money, individual event wins on the LPGA Tour, including that event.

Date Tournament Location ADT Playoff category Winner Purse ($) Winner'sshare ($) Jan 20 Women's World Cup of Golf South Africa unofficial (Jennifer Rosales / Dorothy Delasin) 1,400,000 210,000 Feb 16 SBS Open at Turtle Bay Hawaii standard Annika Sörenstam (70) 1,100,000 165,000 Feb 23 Fields Open in Hawaii Hawaii standard Paula Creamer (5) 1,300,000 195,000 Mar 2 HSBC Women's Champions Singapore winner Lorena Ochoa (18) 2,000,000 300,000 Mar 116 MasterCard Classic Mexico standard Louise Friberg (1) 1,300,000 195,000 Mar 30 Safeway International Arizona standard Lorena Ochoa (19) 1,500,000 225,000 Apr 6 Kraft Nabisco Championship California winner Lorena Ochoa (20) 2,000,000 300,000 Apr 13 Corona Championship Mexico standard Lorena Ochoa (21) 1,300,000 195,000 Apr 20 Ginn Open Florida winner Lorena Ochoa (22) 2,600,000 390,000 Apr 27 Stanford International Pro-Am Florida winner Annika Sörenstam (71) 2,000,000 300,000 May 4 SemGroup Championship Oklahoma standard Paula Creamer (6) 1,800,000 270,000May 11 Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill Virginia winner Annika Sörenstam (72) 2,200,000 330,000May 18 Sybase Classic New Jersey winner Lorena Ochoa (23) 2,000,000 300,000May 25 LPGA Corning Classic New York standard Leta Lindley (1) 1,500,000 225,000Jun 1 Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika South Carolina winner Seon Hwa Lee (3) 2,600,000 390,000Jun 8 McDonald's LPGA Championship Maryland winner Yani Tseng (1) 2,000,000 300,000 End of first half of the seasonJun 22 Wegmans LPGA New York winner Eun-Hee Ji (1) 2,000,000 300,000Jun 29 U.S. Women's Open Minnesota winner Inbee Park (1) 3,250,000 585,000Jul 6 P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship Arkansas standard Seon Hwa Lee (4) 1,700,000 255,000Jul 13 Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Ohio standard Paula Creamer (7) 1,300,000 195,000Jul 20 LPGA State Farm Classic Illinois standard Ji Young Oh (1) 1,700,000 255,000Jul 27 Evian Masters France winner Helen Alfredsson (6) 3,250,000 487,500Aug 3 Ricoh Women's British Open England winner Jiyai Shin (1*) 2,100,000 314,464Aug 17 CN Canadian Women's Open Ontario winner Katherine Hull (1) 2,250,000 337,500Aug 24 Safeway Classic Oregon standard Cristie Kerr (11) 1,700,000 255,000Sep 14 Bell Micro LPGA Classic Alabama standard Angela Stanford (2) 1,400,000 210,000Sep 28 Navistar LPGA Classic Alabama standard Lorena Ochoa (24) 1,400,000 210,000Oct 5 Samsung World Championship California standard Paula Creamer (8) 1,000,000 250,000Oct 12 Longs Drugs Challenge California standard In-Kyung Kim (1) 1,200,000 180,000Oct 19 Kapalua LPGA Classic Hawaii standard Morgan Pressel (2) 1,500,000 225,000Oct 26 Grand China Air LPGA China standard Helen Alfredsson (7) 1,800,000 270,000Nov 2 Hana Bank-KOLON Championship South Korea standard Candie Kung (4) 1,600,000 240,000Nov 9 Mizuno Classic Japan standard Jiyai Shin (2*) 1,400,000 210,000Nov 16 Lorena Ochoa Invitational Mexico standard Angela Stanford (3) 1,000,000 200,000Nov 23 ADT Championship Florida n/a Jiyai Shin (3*) 1,550,000 1,000,000Nov 30 Lexus Cup Singapore unofficial Team International n/aDec 14** Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge Nevada unofficial Champions Tour n/a Tournaments in bold are majors. **The Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge was held on November 17. It was broadcast on television on December 13 and 14. The official LPGA Tour schedule lists the tournament dates based on the date of the television broadcast. *Shin was not an LPGA member in 2008.

Leaders Money List leaders RankPlayerCountryEarnings ($)Events1 Lorena Ochoa 2,763,193 232 Paula Creamer 1,823,992 263 Yani Tseng 1,752,086 274 Annika Sörenstam 1,735,912 225 Helen Alfredsson 1,431,408 266 Lee Seon-hwa 1,187,294 307 Suzann Pettersen 1,177,809 248 Inbee Park 1,138,370 279 Angela Stanford 1,134,753 2810 Cristie Kerr 1,108,839 26 Source:

Scoring Average leaders RankPlayerCountryAverage1 Lorena Ochoa 69.702 Annika Sörenstam 70.473 Paula Creamer 70.564 Yani Tseng 70.775 Cristie Kerr 70.88 Source:

Award winners The three competitive awards given out by the LPGA each year are: The Rolex Player of the Year is awarded based on a formula in which points are awarded for top-10 finishes and are doubled at the LPGA's four major championships and at the season-ending ADT Championship. The points system is: 30 points for first; 12 points for second; nine points for third; seven points for fourth; six points for fifth; five points for sixth; four points for seventh; three points for eighth; two points for ninth and one point for 10th. 2008 Winner: Lorena Ochoa. Runner-up: Paula Creamer The Vare Trophy, named for Glenna Collett-Vare, is given to the player with the lowest scoring average for the season. 2008 Winner: Lorena Ochoa. Runner-up: Annika Sörenstam The Louis Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Award is awarded to the first-year player on the LPGA Tour who scores the highest in a points competition in which points are awarded at all full-field domestic events and doubled at the LPGA's four major championships. The points system is: 150 points for first; 80 points for second; 75 points for third; 70 points for fourth; and 65 points for fifth. After fifth place, points are awarded in increments of three, beginning at sixth place with 62 points. Rookies who make the cut in an event and finish below 41st each receive five points. The award is named after Louise Suggs, one of the founders of the LPGA. 2008 Winner: Yani Tseng. Runner-up: Na Yeon Choi

See also 2008 in golf 2008 Duramed Futures Tour 2008 Ladies European Tour

References