The 2011 LPGA Tour was a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world that began in Thailand on February 17, 2011, and had its last official event end on November 20, 2011, in Florida. The tournaments were sanctioned by the United States–based Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).
Season overview
There were 23 official tournaments on the 2011 LPGA, the lowest number in nearly 40 years. More events were held outside of the United States, with eleven different countries hosting tournaments, the highest number in the history of the LPGA Tour. Thirteen tournaments were held in the United States, the lowest number in several decades.
Yani Tseng from Taiwan, was the dominant player on the 2011 Tour. She won seven of the 22 tournaments in which she played and had fourteen top-10 finishes. Her wins in the Women's British Open and the LPGA Championship made her the youngest player ever, male or female, to win five career major tournaments. She won the LPGA money list title with $2,921,713 in official earnings; American Cristie Kerr finished second with $1,470,979.
Tseng also won the Player of the Year award and the Vare Trophy given to the player with the lowest scoring average for the season. Korean Hee Kyung Seo won the Rookie of the Year award.
The new RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup, held in honor of the LPGA's founders, did not have a cash purse. Instead, a $1 million mock purse was awarded. This purse counted toward the players' annual money list standings, and the event carried a full points allocation toward the World Golf Rankings and LPGA season award races. The sponsor matched the $1 million purse with a donation to charity: $500,000 to LPGA-USGA Girls Golf program and $500,000 to charities of each player's choice for the top ten finishers.[2]
The CME Group Titleholders, the successor to the LPGA Tour Championship, had a field made up of three qualifiers from each official tour event—specifically the top three finishers who have not already qualified for the Titleholders.[3]
The Tres Marias Championship, scheduled for April in Mexico, was canceled in late January because of security concerns; this created a three-week gap in the LPGA schedule.[4]
The number in parentheses after winners' names show the player's total number wins in official money individual events on the LPGA Tour, including that event.
The "Titleholders qualifiers" column indicates the three golfers at each official event who qualify for the season-ending tournament, the CME Group Titleholders.
