Kingsmill Championship

Kingsmill Championship
Tournament information
Location Williamsburg, Virginia
Established 2003, fifteen years ago
Course(s) Kingsmill Resort,
River Course
Par 71
Length 6,379 yards (5,833 m)
Organized by Kingsmill Resort
Tour(s) LPGA Tour
Format Stroke play - 72 holes
Prize fund $1.3 million
Month played May
Tournament record score
Aggregate 264 Lexi Thompson (2017)
To par −20 as above
Current champion
Thailand Ariya Jutanugarn
Williamsburg 
Location in the United States
Kingsmill 
Resort 
Location in Virginia

The Kingsmill Championship is a women's professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour, played in Williamsburg, Virginia. The 72-hole tournament is held on the par-71 River Course at Kingsmill Resort, set at 6,340 yards (5,797 m) in 2013.[1]

Previously known as the "Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill," the tournament was founded fifteen years ago in 2003 and played for seven seasons. Absent in 2010 and 2011, it returned for the 2012 season in early September, and switched to early May in 2013.[2]

The LPGA event succeeded the Michelob Championship at Kingsmill, an annual PGA Tour event held for 22 years, from 1981 through 2002.

Michelob ULTRA Open

Held at the Kingsmill Resort just south of Williamsburg, it formerly had one of the highest purses on the LPGA Tour, which attracted a very competitive field. It was voted the players' favorite stop on the tour in 2007 and fans' favorite tournament in 2008.[3]

With a purse of $2.2 million, the winner of this LPGA tournament automatically qualified for the season-ending LPGA Playoffs at The ADT, during the years the Playoffs were held, from 2006 through 2008. The purse for the revived event in 2012 was $1.3 million.

Former logo

The tournament was sponsored by Michelob ULTRA beer, and its parent company Anheuser-Busch. As of 2007, Anheuser-Busch had donated over $1.3 million to 30 different charities through the event. At the 2009 tournament, there was speculation that Anheuser-Busch would not continue its sponsorship; the late-2000s recession and the company's pending acquisition by InBev were among the factors.[4]

The talk led that year's winner, Cristie Kerr, and other players to lobby to keep the tournament.[4] In September 2009, Anheuser-Busch announced the discontinuation of its sponsorship of the event, and the LPGA Tour lost one of its most prominent stops.[3]

The decision came at a difficult time for the LPGA, which lost a number of events during 2008 and 2009.[3][4]

Kingsmill Championship

Sign outside Kingsmill Golf Club
showing winners of the events

At the 2012 event, Jiyai Shin won a sudden-death playoff with Paula Creamer that extended to nine holes and a fifth day. After eight consecutive pars by both, all played on the par-4 18th hole, darkness forced the playoff's suspension until Monday morning. Play was restarted on the 16th hole, and Creamer bogeyed with three putts while Shin parred.[5] Both were a day late arriving to the Women's British Open in England; Shin won the year's final major by nine strokes and Creamer finished third.

Kerr won her third title at Kingsmill in a playoff in 2013 over Suzann Pettersen, the 2007 champion. The playoff went two holes, both played on #18, and ended when Kerr sank her putt for par. The sudden-death format was changed in 2013 to play that finishing hole three times, then move to over to #16 if a fourth hole was necessary.[6]

Kerr is the only multiple winner, with victories in 2005, 2009, and 2013. Annika Sörenstam set the event's 72-hole scoring record in 2008 at 265, 19 strokes under par. Shin set the stop's single round record in 2012, with a 62 (−9) in the first round.

Tournament names

  • 2003: Michelob Light Open at Kingsmill
  • 2004–2009: Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill
  • 2012–2017: Kingsmill Championship
  • 2018–present: Kingsmill Championship presented by GEICO

Course

River Course in 2013[1]

Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal
Yards3731854853851603554954014003,2394053753961403624734051633823,1016,340
Par434434544364443454343571

Opened 43 years ago in 1975, the River Course was designed by noted course architect Pete Dye, who also supervised its renovation in 2004.[7]

Winners

YearDateChampionCountryWinning scoreTo parMargin
of victory		Purse
($)		Winner's
share ($)
Kingsmill Championship
2018May 17–20Ariya Jutanugarn (2) Thailand66-67-66=199−14Playoff1,300,000195,000
2017May 18–21Lexi Thompson United States65-65-69-65=264−205 strokes1,300,000195,000
2016May 19–22Ariya Jutanugarn Thailand69-69-65-67=270−141 stroke1,300,000195,000
2015May 14–18 ^Minjee Lee Australia68-67-69-65=269−152 strokes1,300,000195,000
2014May 15–18Lizette Salas United States67-68-65-71=271−134 strokes1,300,000195,000
2013May 2–5Cristie Kerr (3) United States66-71-66-69=272−12Playoff1,300,000195,000
2012Sep 6–10Jiyai Shin South Korea62-68-69-69=268−16Playoff1,300,000195,000
2011No tournament
2010
Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill
2009May 7–10Cristie Kerr (2) United States69-63-66-70=268−162 strokes2,200,000330,000
2008May 8–11Annika Sörenstam Sweden64-66-69-66=265−197 strokes2,200,000330,000
2007May 10–13Suzann Pettersen Norway66-72-68-61=274−10Playoff2,200,000330,000
2006May 11–14Karrie Webb Australia66-68-68-70=270−147 strokes2,200,000330,000
2005May 5–8Cristie Kerr United States68-68-68-72=276−85 strokes2,200,000330,000
2004May 6–9Se Ri Pak South Korea70-71-69-65=275−92 strokes2,200,000330,000
Michelob Light Open at Kingsmill
 2003 May 1–4Grace Park South Korea67-68-69-71=275−91 stroke1,600,000240,000
^ Play extended one day due to rain delays.

Tournament record

Lexi Thompson at Kingsmill in 2013
 Year PlayerScoreTo parRound
2012Jiyai Shin*62−91st
2016Chun In-gee62−93rd

* Tournament winner

References

  1. 1 2 "Fact Sheet". Kingsmill Championship. April 2013. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
  2. ↑ "LPGA momentum continues with addition of Kingsmill Championship". LPGA. January 11, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 "LPGA's contract with Kingsmill will not be renewed". Golf. Associated Press. September 23, 2009. Archived from the original on August 13, 2011. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 "LPGA's future at Kingsmill resort uncertain". USA Today. Associated Press. May 12, 2009. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Shin's par beats Creamer on ninth hole of sudden death at Kingsmill". PGA of America. Associated Press. September 10, 2012. Retrieved April 30, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Cristie Kerr wins in two-hole playoff". ESPN. Associated Press. May 5, 2013. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Events: Kingsmill Championship". Virginia State Golf Association. 2013. Retrieved May 1, 2013.

Coordinates: 37°13′30″N 76°40′05″W / 37.225°N 76.668°W / 37.225; -76.668

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