BOSTON, April 13, 2017 – Some of the biggest names in women’s professional golf will travel to Wisconsin next month for the Red Nose Day Walgreens Charity Championship.
Set for May 20-21, the $300,000 Legends Tour event will be staged at Geneva National Resort in Lake Geneva, Wis., located one and half hours north of Chicago. The championship will bring 54 LPGA legends to the Badger State.
“I’ve been to Madison, Wisconsin a couple of times and I played in the U.S. Women’s Open when it was held in Kohler, so I’m looking forward to playing in Lake Geneva in May,” said LPGA Hall of Fame member Betsy King, who is 11 under par in her first three competitive Legends Tour rounds this year.
“Lake Geneva will be a great venue for The Legends Tour,” added Rosie Jones, a seven-time Legends Tour champion and a Legends Hall of Famer. “We’re really looking forward to going back to Wisconsin because we have experienced tremendous support there.”
In fact, The Legends Tour’s inaugural event was held in Green Bay, Wis., in 2000. That tournament attracted more than 15,000 golf fans on the weekend.
Jones and King will face some stiff competition from Legends member Juli Inkster, who won the Legends’ season opener in Arizona and now has four wins on the official senior tour of the LPGA. A World Golf Hall of Famer, Inkster has 31 LPGA wins and seven major championship titles. She will return as captain of the U.S. Solheim Cup Team this August in Iowa.
Also committed to compete in Lake Geneva is England’s Laura Davies, who has 84 professional wins worldwide. The World Golf Hall of Fame member has won once on the Legends Tour and will be looking for another victory in Wisconsin.
Martha Nause, a native of Sheboygan, will also be in the field to compete in her home state. Nause played on the LPGA Tour for 22 years, winning three times, including the 1994 du Maurier Classic -- then an LPGA major championship. Nause coached the men’s and women’s golf teams at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minn., for 12 years after retiring from the LPGA. She is a member of the Wisconsin Golf Hall of Fame.
Six Legends Tour players will compete for a separate purse in the Legends Honors Division for ages 63-over. Jan Stephenson and Jane Blalock will headline that group.
Red Nose Day is an initiative designed to raise awareness and money to benefit children around the world through the power of entertainment. In an effort to lift kids out of poverty, the Red Nose Day project has raised more than $1 billion globally in the last 25 years.
All proceeds from the Red Nose Day Walgreens Charity Championship go to Red Nose Day. Funds raised by Red Nose Day help to ensure that children living in poverty are safe, healthy and educated – both here in America and around the world. Find out more at rednoseday.org.
The championship’s official pro-am will be held Thursday, May 18, followed by practice rounds on Friday, May 19. Professional tournament rounds will be held on Saturday and Sunday, May 20-21, with tee times starting at 8:30 a.m. each day.
Tickets are on sale now in area Walgreens stores for $10 per adult each day. Tickets at the gate on tournament days will be $15 per adult for each round. Kids 13 and under, as well as active military with IDs, will be admitted free of charge.
Ticket price includes parking, grounds access and Walgreens Vendor Expo, offering free samples and giveaways. Parking will be inside the resort gates adjacent to the clubhouse on a first-come, first-available basis. Additional parking is located near the Hunt Club -- just inside the main resort entrance off WI-50W with a free shuttle ride to the tournament admissions gate. The Expo will be open each day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Here are the current field commitments for the championship:
- Ammaccapane, Danielle | Los Angeles, Calif.
- Bartholomew, Jean | West Palm Beach, Fla.
- Blalock, Jane (LHD) | Cambridge, Mass.
- Bradley, Pat | West Hyannisport, Mass.
- Crosby, Elaine | Jackson, Mich.
- Davies, Laura | Surrey, England
- Doolan, Wendy | Lakeland, Fla.
- Figg-Currier | Cindy, Austin, Texas
- Finney, Allison | Bermuda Dunes, Calif.
- Geddes, Jane | New Canaan, Conn.
- Grimes, Lisa | Minneapolis, Minn.
- Hamlin, Shelley (LHD) | Laveen, Ariz.
- Hurst, Pat | Danville, Calif.
- Inkster, Juli | Los Altos, Calif.
- Jeray, Nicole | Berwyn, Ill.
- Johnson, Christa | Tucson, Ariz.
- Johnson, Trish | London, England
- Jones, Rosie | Hilton Head, S.C.
- Kane, Lorie | Prince Edward Island, Canada
- King, Betsy | Scottsdale, Ariz.
- Lovander, Marilyn | Punta Gorda, Fla.
- McGann, Michelle | North Palm Beach, Fla.
- Moxness, Barb | Edina, Minn.
- Mucha, Barb | Orlando, Fla.
- Nause, Martha | Minneapolis, Minn.
- Neumann, Liselotte | Rancho Mirage, Calif.
- Palmer, Sandra (LHD) | Long Beach, Calif.
- Rarick, Cindy | Tucson, Ariz.
- Redman, Michele | Plymouth, Minn.
- Rinker, Laurie | Stuart, Fla.
- Rizzo, Patti | Coral Gables, Fla.
- Sheehan, Patty | Reno, Nev.
- Stacy, Hollis | Holmes Beach, Fla.
- Stephenson, Jan (LHD) | Sydney, Australia
- Tschetter, Kris | Warrenton, Va.
- West, Lori | Solana Beach, Calif.
- LHD – Legends Honors Division