1. Last chance at glory; Weetabix Women's British Open wraps up 2005 major season

SOUTHPORT, Merseyside, England - There are many reasons that major championships are special. There are only four each year and each has its own traditions and nuances that make it stand out from the rest. The Weetabix Women's British Open, while technically the youngest of the four majors on the LPGA schedule, is rich in history and tradition, making it one of the most coveted titles in women's professional golf. This year, the Weetabix Women's British Open returns to Royal Birkdale for the first time as a major. Royal Birkdale hosted the tournament in 2000, the year before the event achieved major championship status, with Sophie Gustafson claiming the title.

Last year, Karen Stupples authored one of the most impressive final-round starts in the history of professional golf. Trailing by one, Stupples opened her round with an eagle at the first and followed with a double-eagle at the second to eventually cruise to a five-shot win over Rachel Hetherington, setting off a boisterous celebration in her home country.

But defending her title will be a stern test, as she faces a field of 150 players on the par-72 layout that will feature three par-5s on the back nine. 

This year's first three major championships have been memorable and the final one will not disappoint for drama.

Annika Sorenstam took the first two major championships by storm. She opened the major season by running away with the Kraft Nabisco Championship, winning by eight shots over Rosie Jones.

Sorenstam kept her pursuit of the Grand Slam alive by cruising to a three-shot win at the McDonald's LPGA Championship Presented by Coca-Cola.

But the Soren-Slam wasn't to be, as the youngsters took their turn at the U.S. Women's Open conducted by the USGA. Birdie Kim's dramatic hole-out for birdie from the 18th greenside bunker made Kim, 23, a Rolex First-Time Winner over amateurs Morgan Pressel and Brittany Lang.

Sorenstam resumes her pursuit of Patty Berg's record 15 major titles. Sorenstam has won nine in her storied career, but has never won three in a single season. She is trying to become the first player to win three majors in a year since Pat Bradley won the Nabisco Dinah Shore, LPGA Championship and du Maurier Classic in 1986.

While Sorenstam is chasing records, several players will be chasing their first major, including top-ranked players such as Cristie Kerr, Lorena Ochoa and Paula Creamer. Creamer, who has a stranglehold on the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year race, claimed her second LPGA Tour title last week at the Evian Masters.

Jones is also in the field, playing in her last major after announcing that she is retiring at the end of the season. Jones has never won a major during her career and has finished in the top five 11 times, including her runner-up finish to Sorenstam earlier this year.

Another player that is chasing history is amateur Michelle Wie. Invited to the tournament on a sponsor's exemption, Wie is playing in all four majors for the first time in her career. Wie finished in second place at the McDonald's LPGA Championship earlier this year and tied for second last week at the Evian Masters.

2. Final Field List - Weetabix Women's British Open

3. Weetabix Women's British Open celebrates fifth anniversary

SOUTHPORT, Merseyside, England - The Weetabix Women's British Open celebrates its fifth anniversary as a major championship this week. The event, which has been on the LPGA schedule since 1994, was named one of the Tour's four majors in September 2000 and took on the label officially for the 2001 event. Since then, the $1.8 million tournament has produced an iconic list of winners and has been staged on some of the most feted golf courses in the history of the sport.

In 2001, at Sunningdale Golf Club, Se Ri Pak won her third-career major by two strokes over Mi Hyun Kim, marking the first time players from South Korea finished first and second in a major championship. Pak has since accumulated enough points to qualify for the LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame. She now only need to fulfill the 10-year playing requirement and will be fully eligible for enshrinement in 2007.

The following year, the Weetabix Women's British Open headed to Turnberry Golf Club and saw 30-time LPGA champion Karrie Webb walk away the winner, two stokes clear of Michelle Ellis and Paula Marti. The win allowed Webb to complete the Super Career Grand Slam, meaning she has won all five major championships staged during her career. Webb is a six-time LPGA major champion and fulfilled her own 10-year playing requirement this year as she officially entered the LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame after the second round of the McDonald's LPGA Championship Presented by Coca-Cola.

Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club hosted the event in 2003 and was the stage for Annika Sorenstam's first Weetabix Women's British Open victory, a win that made her only the sixth member in LPGA history to complete the LPGA Career Grand Slam. She was one shot better than Se Ri Pak in 2003, and a win this year would mean she has won all four majors twice in her career. It would also make her the first player since Pat Bradley in 1986 to win three of the four LPGA majors in the same year.

The first three years as a major, the tournament yielded a Hall of Fame winner, but last year produced a raucous celebration that has carried over to this year. Back at Sunningdale Golf Club, Englishwoman Karen Stupples began her final round with an eagle-albatross to storm past her competitors and become the first British woman to win a major championship since Alison Nicholas won the 1997 U.S. Women's Open conducted by the USGA. She beat Rachel Hetherington by five shots and tied the LPGA's 72-hole scoring record in a major championship (-19, Dottie Pepper, 1999 Nabisco Dinah Shore).

This year, the challenging Royal Birkdale Golf Club plays host to the final LPGA major and is sure to provide a stern test over the 72-hole event, an event that traditionally ends up with a larger-than-life winner on a larger-than-life course.

4. Golf For Women Magazine LPGA T&CP Championship begins today

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - The 2005 Golf For Women Magazine LPGA Teaching and Club Professional Championship will be held at the World Golf Village's Slammer & Squire Golf Course in St. Augustine, Fla., July 25-27. The tournament marks the 13th year that Golf For Women Magazine has served as the title sponsor.

The 54-hole event features Championship Division players and Senior Division players. The event is the largest championship for female teaching professionals in the world, and with a $102,000 purse, it is the premier competition for the LPGA Teaching and Club Professional (T&CP) membership. The Championship Division has a $90,000 purse with the winner also earning a coveted spot in the 2006 McDonald's LPGA Championship Presented by Coca-Cola, one of the LPGA's four major championships. Both division winners are guaranteed a spot in the 2006 Golf For Women Magazine LPGA T&CP Championship.

Highlighting the event are Cindy Miller, of Silver Creek, N.Y., who is back to defend her Championship Division title, and Linda Groover, of Hobe Sound, Fla., defending champion of the Senior Division.

This year marks the first time the Golf For Women Magazine LPGA T&CP Championship is being played at the World Golf Village's Slammer & Squire Golf Course in St. Augustine, Fla., which was the first to open at the World Golf Village in 1998.

The Golf For Women Magazine LPGA T&CP Championship is sponsored by: platinum sponsors Rolex; Callaway Golf; Odyssey; Titleist; FootJoy; and Cobra; and diamond sponsors PING; Cleveland Golf; ECCO; Etonic; Bobby Jones Golf Company; and Ralph Lauren Golf. Laterra Resort & Spa will serve as the host hotel, offering luxury accommodations at the World Golf Village.

5. Creamer storms to Evian Masters win, cracks top 10 in Solheim Cup standings; Becomes youngest, quickest LPGA member to earn $1 million

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France, July 23, 2005 - Before the 2005 LPGA Tour season began, rookie Paula Creamer sat down and dreamed up some fantastic goals that she wanted to accomplish in her first year. First, she wanted to make the United States Solheim Cup Team, and then she decided if she accomplished that goal, then everything else would fall into place, meaning wins and garnering the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award would come naturally.

She stated these goals confidently and publicly. Many shrugged them off as youthful exuberance from an 18-year-old who was excited to get her Tour card. After all, a rookie has never played in The Solheim Cup for the United States, and the last rookie to win on Tour before this year was Dorothy Delasin in 2000.

Then again, sometimes youthful exuberance fuels determination and what was once thought to be impossible becomes a reality. No, Creamer has not achieved her ultimate goal of making the U.S. Solheim Cup Team-yet-but after her eight-shot win at the Evian Masters last Saturday, her second victory this yea, she has moved to ninth place in the standings.

The top 10 in points on Aug. 28 at the conclusion of the Wendy's Championship for Children will automatically make the team, and Creamer's ascension is even more impressive considering she has had only one year to accumulate points, while all of her main challengers for one of the automatic spots have had two.

"That is a huge thing," Creamer said of cracking the top 10 in the rankings. "I am going to have to re-evaluate all of my goals now, but it is not over yet. There are still a lot of tournaments where players can move into the top 10, but I feel good where I am at right now."

Where she is right now-besides being in an automatic spot to make the U.S. Solheim Cup Team-is at the forefront of women's golf.

Creamer made her first trip to France for the Evian Masters a memorable one. She was below par every round (68-68-66-71=273) and built a commanding seven-shot lead going into the final round. It was as if she was playing hide and seek with the other 77 players in the limited field $2.5 million event. Except in this game, Creamer was never found. She finished at 15-under-par, eight shots ahead of Lorena Ochoa and 15-year-old amateur Michelle Wie.

Her 22 birdies over the four rounds were three better than anybody else in the field, and the tournament was all but over after 54 holes.

"At the beginning, I was very nervous just knowing that I had a seven-shot lead," said Creamer, who won the Evian Masters two months and one day after winning the Sybase Classic presented by Lincoln Mercury. "I obviously wanted to go as low as I could, but I was not risking a lot out there."

She did not need to. The smallest her lead got all day was five shots and she was on cruise control for the final 12 holes, recording 11 pars and one birdie.

"I was feeling it, but I was also just trying to get it done," she said.

Creamer earned $375,000 for the win-the third largest first-place check on Tour this year-and crossed the $1 million mark in season earnings, making her the youngest and quickest player in LPGA Tour history to earn more then $1 million. She also broke Karrie Webb's 1996 record for most money won by a rookie in a single season.

Wie rallied from a sluggish opening-round 75 to climb from a tie for 45th to a tie for second. She could have fared much better, but struggled with the par-4 fourth, playing it at 5-over-par for the week.

"I just left so many shots out there," said Wie, who has finished runner-up in three out of six events this year on the LPGA Tour. "I couldn't count how many putts I missed. It's pretty frustrating, but otherwise I'm pretty happy with the way I hit it. I came back yesterday and today and I felt like I improved."

Ochoa did not have a round better than a 3-under-par 69 as she recorded her fourth runner-up finish of 2005.

Lorie Kane finished alone in fourth at 282 (-6), while Helen Alfredsson, Maria Hjorth, Carin Koch, Christina Kim, last week's champion Meena Lee and Frenchwoman Karine Icher all tied for fifth at 283 (-5).

Creamer's in the money

Evian Masters win helps shatter LPGA money records

The players finishing in the top five on the final 2005 Futures Tour money list will receive exemptions onto the 2006 LPGA Tour.

Player Events played Earnings

8. Upcoming Tournament - Safeway Classic Presented by Pepsi, Columbia Edgewater Country Club, Portland, Ore., $1,400,000, August 19-21, 2005

9. LPGA News and Notes

Creamer 11th player to earn $1 million in a single season. With her win at the Evian Masters, rookie Paula Creamer became the eleventh millionaire in LPGA history. Through 16 events she has earned $1,114,650 and joins Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb, Juli Inkster, Meg Mallon, Se Ri Pak, Mi Hyun Kim, Grace Park, Hee-Won Han, Lorena Ochoa and Cristie Kerr as the only players in the LPGA's 54-year history to earn more than $1 million in a single season.

Ochoa earns $1 million for second consecutive year. Three-time LPGA Tour champion Lorena Ochoa crossed the $1 million mark for the second time in her career with her tie for second at the Evian Masters. Ochoa earned $246,064 last week and now has earned $1,129,803 this year. Ochoa finished third on the ADT Official Money List last year with $1,450,824.

ADT Official Money List shakeup. The Evian Masters produced quite a shakeup on the ADT Official Money List. Annika Sorenstam is still at the top, but with her tie for second, Lorena Ochoa jumped from third to second, passing Cristie Kerr. Rookie Paula Creamer, who won the Evian Masters by eight shots, also leapfrogged Kerr and moved from fourth to third place. Ochoa benefited greatly financially, as she tied for second with amateur Michelle Wie, who was not eligible to receive any prize earnings.

Lee backs up win with fifth-place finish. After a win at the BMO Financial Group Canadian Women's Open and a trans-Atlantic flight to France, rookie Meena Lee is still playing some fabulous golf. Lee, who was also runner-up at the inaugural HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship, tied for fifth at the Evian Masters. She has now finished in the top five in three of her last four events and in that time has moved from 45th to fifth on the ADT Official Money List.

Tinning gets an ace, wins a kilo of gold. Robe di Kappa Ladies European Tour (LET) member Iben Tinning aced the 14th hole at the Evian Masters Golf Club and earned a prize worth its weight in gold, quite literally. For the hole-in-one, which Tinning used a 4-iron from 196 yards, she received a one kilogram gold bar, worth approximately $13,600.

Kane records best finish of the year. Lorie Kane's fourth-place finish at the Evian Masters was her best finish of the season. It is her third top-10 finish this year and replaces her tie for fourth at the U.S. Women's Open conducted by the USGA as her best tournament of 2005. Kane finished the Evian Masters at 282 (-6), nine shots behind winner Paula Creamer.

Alfredsson's 65 best score of the event, personal best since 2003. Helen Alfredsson's final-round, 7-under-par 65 was the low round of the tournament and the second time she has broken 70 this year. It is also her best score since a third-round 64 at the 2003 Longs Drugs Challenge, which was her last LPGA win. Alfredsson fired a career-low 63 during the first round of the 1994 U.S. Women's Open conducted by the USGA.

Bae wins second Futures Tour event. Kyeong Bae, of Seoul, South Korea, picked up her second Futures Tour win of the year at the Laconia Savings Bank Futures Golf Classic. The $65,000 event was the held at Beaver Meadows Golf Course in Concord, N.H., and Bae was one shot better than runner-ups Seon-Hwa Lee, Kristy McPherson and Bo Mi Suh. Bae is now second on the Futures Tour money list and trails leader Lee by only $3,056. The top-five finishers on the season-ending Futures Tour money list automatically earn their exempt LPGA Tour for the 2006 season.

Hanna named Furman golf coach. Six-year LPGA Tour member Jen Hanna has been named head coach of the Furman University women's golf team, only the fifth head coach in the 33-year history of the program. Hanna, a 1998 National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) first-team All-American and Furman Athletic Hall of Fame member, had a standout four-year career as a Lady Paladin under coach Mic Potter, who resigned in June after 23 years at the helm of the program.

In six years as an LPGA competitor, Hanna posted a career-low 63 during the opening round of the 2001 Welch's/Circle K Championship and posted a career-best finish of eighth at the 2000 Subaru Memorial of Naples and the 2000 Firstar LPGA Classic. She has three LPGA top-10 finishes to her credit. In addition to her playing career, Hanna embraced the LPGA/USGA Girls Club, and in 2002 was named official spokeswoman. Since then, she has conducted more than 30 clinics for girls between the ages of 7 and 17 at various tour stops throughout the United States. Due in part to her efforts with the Girl's Club, Hanna was the recipient of the 2003 LPGA Budget Service Award. Hanna donated the cash prize from the award to the Furman University women's golf team.

LPGA-USGA Girls Golf sends 25 to the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship. With the growth of girls in golf, the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf program had 25 current and former members participate in the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship. Of the group, 11 advanced to the match play field of 64, led by Morgan Pressel's fifth place finish during stroke play. Two players advanced to the round of 16 before falling, Pressel and Jacqui Concolino.

The following is a list of the current LPGA-USGA Girls Golf members that participated in the tournament and their finish in the stroke play portion of the tournament: Marissa Cook, St. Louis, Mo., T125; Sydney Crane, Greensboro, N.C., T107; Ashley McKenney, Phoenix, Ariz., T90; Angela Oh, Philadelphia, Pa., T37; Kristen Schelling, Phoenix, Ariz., T25; Rachel Smith, Dallas, Texas, T148.

The following is a list of former members that participated in the tournament and their finish in the stroke play portion of the tournament: Jillian Brodd, Knoxville, Tenn., T148; Jacqui Concolino, Orlando, Fla., T44; Lindy Duncan, West Palm Beach, Fla., T19; Vicky Hurst, Daytona Beach, Fla., T25; Sara Hurwitch, Leesburg, Va., T115; Kimberly Johnson, San Diego, Calif., T99; Ashley Lance, Knoxville, Tenn., T122; Bethany Leclair, Phoenix, Ariz., T90; Amber Littman, Stoney Creek, N.C., T52; Kayla Mortellaro, Phoenix, Ariz., T99; Maggie Noel, Houston, Texas, T62; Morgan Pressel, Boca Raton, Fla., 5th; Jessica Schall, Daytona Beach, Fla., T145; Michelle Shin, Cape Coral, Fla., T44; Allison Travis, Boise, Idaho, T107; Cheyenne Woods, Phoenix, Ariz., T25; Jessica Yadloczky, Orlando, Fla., T25.

Media credential applications for the 2005 Solheim Cup are available. Log on to http://www.solheim-media.com/ for complete details. All requests must be submitted via the online process. By logging on to http://www.solheim-media.com/, you will have access to the online media credential application, phone/wireless ordering information and the media hotel reservation form. If you have any questions about the process or the 2005 Solheim Cup in general, please contact the LPGA Communications Department at 386-274-6200 or Jeff Weitekamp of the Indiana Sports Corporation at (317) 237-5016.