News and notes for the week of September 7, 2009

1. Ten Duramed FUTURES Tour players earn 2010 LPGA membership
2. LPGA T&CP announce 2009 section award winners
3. Lee defends at P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship Presented by John Q. Hammons
4. This week: P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship Presented by John Q. Hammons, Pinnacle Country Club, Rogers, Ark., $1,800,000, September 11-13, 2009; TV Times
5. Next week: Samsung World Championship, Torrey Pines Golf Course, South Course, La Jolla, Calif., $1,000,000, September 17-20, 2009; TV Times; GCSAA Course Information
6. Season-ending race heats up for Rolex Player, Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year awards
7. Notes

1. Ten Duramed FUTURES Tour players earn 2010 LPGA membership

ALBANY, N.Y., Sept. 6, 2009 - Ten Duramed FUTURES Tour players earned 2010 LPGA membership by finishing in the top 10 on the Duramed FUTURES Tour season-ending money list, which concluded with the ILOVENY Championship in Albany, N.Y., Sept. 4-6.

This year's Duramed FUTURES Tour graduates are, in order of finish: 1. Mina Harigae of Monterey, Calif.; 2. Jean Reynolds of Newnan, Ga.; 3. Misun Cho of Cheongju, South Korea; 4. Samantha Richdale of Kelowna, British Columbia; 5. Song Yi Choi of Seoul, South Korea; 6. Whitney Wade of Glasgow, Ky; 7. Angela Buzminski of Oshawa, Ontario; 8. Christine Song of Fullerton, Calif.; 9. Alison Walshe of Westford, Mass.; and 10. Dewi Claire Schreefel of Diepenveen, Netherlands.

The 2009 season is the eleventh year in the 29-year history of the Duramed FUTURES Tour that players have been able to earn automatic exemptions onto the LPGA Tour and the seventh year that at least five LPGA memberships have been awarded. From 1999 to 2002, three exemptions were offered to top money winners. The 2009 season marks the second time 10 LPGA memberships were awarded.

Also, the next five players on the Duramed FUTURES Tour money list, excluding current LPGA members, earned automatic entry into the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla., set for Dec. 2-6. Those players, in order of finish, are as follows: Pernilla Lindberg of Bollnas, Sweden; Gerina Mendoza of Roswell, N.M.; Danah Ford of Indianapolis; Lisa Meldrum of Montreal, Quebec; Jenny Suh of Fairfax, Va.; and Liz Janangelo of West Hartford, Conn.

"My whole goal this year was to make top five and to get into the LPGA," said Harigae, 19, who finished on top of the Duramed FUTURES Tour season money list with single-season earnings of $88,386, and a rookie year that included three tournament wins. "But to come in first, it's just the icing on the cake. It's great."

About the Duramed FUTURES Tour
The LPGA's developmental tour, the Duramed FUTURES Tour, is in its 29th competitive season. The Tour's mission is to prepare the world's best young women professional golfers for a successful career on the LPGA Tour. The top 10 money winners each season earn automatic memberships on the LPGA Tour for the following season. With more than 500 alumnae moving on to the LPGA, former Duramed FUTURES Tour players have won a total of 345 LPGA titles, including 37 major championships. The Duramed FUTURES Tour is playing for a record season purse of nearly $1.8 million this year. Duramed FUTURES Tour events have contributed more than $4.5 million to charitable organizations throughout the nation since 1989. Follow the Duramed FUTURES Tour on the web at duramedfuturestour.com; facebook.com/DuramedFUTURESTour; twitter.com/ROAD2LPGA and youtube.com/ROAD2LPGA.

2. LPGA T&CP announce 2009 section award winners

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Teaching and Club Professional (T&CP) membership has selected its annual section award winners for Teacher, Professional and Coach of the Year. The LPGA T&CP membership's five sections - Central, Midwest, Northeast, Southeast and Western - annually select winners in each of the three categories.

Among the sectional winners in each category, the LPGA T&CP Executive Committee selects the overall national award winner for each category, which will be announced in the coming weeks. The 2009 LPGA T&CP section award winners are listed below:

Teacher of the Year
Central: Deb Vangellow, Sweetwater Country Club; Sugarland, Texas
Midwest: Rita Reasons, Nancy Quarcelino School of Golf; Spring Hill, Tenn.
Northeast: Joy Smith, ClubGolf Performance Center; Gaithersburg, Md.
Southeast: Krista Dunton, Berkeley Hall Club, Bluffton, SC
Western: Karyn Dunphy, Weddington Golf & Tennis; Studio City, Calif.

Coach of the Year
Central: Jill Trujillo, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N.M.
Midwest: Diane Daugherty, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Ill.
Northeast: Patty Frohna-Post, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Southeast: Kelley Hester, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga.

About the LPGA Teaching and Club Professionals
The LPGA Teaching and Club Professional (T&CP) membership, founded in 1959 and celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has enjoyed an unprecedented rate of growth in recent years and boasts the largest membership of women golf professionals in the world. With nearly 1,300 members, the LPGA Teaching and Club Professionals are dedicated to the advancement of golf through teaching, coaching and managing golf facilities. Its national member programs including teaching, coaching, business management and leadership skills, training programs and conferences, tournaments, employment services, online education and junior golf programs. LPGA T&CP members also teach and support the LPGA's various grassroots programs that are working to increase the involvement of women and youth in golf, as well as contribute to the growth of the sport overall including LPGA-USGA Girls Golf, Ronald McDonald House Charities LPGA Tour Junior Clinics and the LPGA Golf Clinics for Women. The LPGA is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Fla. For more information on the LPGA Tour, log on to www.LPGA.com.

3. Lee defends at P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship Presented by John Q. Hammons

ROGERS, Ark. - The LPGA Tour heads to the southern United States this week for the third P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship Presented by John Q. Hammons. The world's best players will play for a share of the $1.8 million purse as fourth-year LPGA Tour member Seon Hwa Lee aims to defend her title this week and earn career LPGA victory number five.

The three-day event will once again be staged on the 6,274-yard course at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers, Ark. Along with the defending champ, 14 of the top-20 players on the LPGA Official Money List will be teeing it up.

Lee, a 23-year-old out of South Korea, has four top-10 finishes this year, including a tie for third at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Presented by Kroger and a tie for fourth at the Safeway Classic Presented by Coca-Cola. In 2006, Lee was named the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year, namely for her four top-five finishes, including her first-career win at the ShopRite LPGA Classic.

Cristie Kerr, the top-ranked American player, also holds down the top spot on the LPGA Official Money List, with reigning Evian Masters champion Ai Miyazato (third), top-ranked rookie Jiyai Shin (fourth) and two-time winner In-Kyung Kim (fifth) rounding out the top five earners of 2009 - all with $1 million or more in season earnings.

The field for the Northwest Arkansas event also features two of this year's major championship winners, including Brittany Lincicome (Kraft Nabisco Championship) and Eun-Hee Ji (U.S. Women's Open).

Thirteen talented LPGA Tour rookies will be traveling to Rogers, Ark., as well, with 11 of those looking for their all-important first career victory. M.J. Hur recently became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the Safeway Classic Presented by Coca-Cola, and Shin captured the titles at the HSBC Women's Champions event in Singapore and the Wegmans LPGA event in Rochester, N.Y. Shin also won three times as a non-LPGA member in 2008 at the RICOH Women's British Open, Mizuno Classic, and season-ending ADT Championship. Tour rookie Stacy Lewis will be making her third appearance at the NW Arkansas Championship Presented by John Q. Hammons as the former (University of Arkansas) Razorback is annually treated to a hometown welcome in Rogers.

4. This week: P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship Presented by John Q. Hammons, Pinnacle Country Club, Rogers, Ark., $1,800,000, September 11-13, 2009; TV Times

Par: 36-35, 71
Yardage: 6,274
Format: 54-hole stroke play
       Winner: $270,000
       Runner-up: $165,433
Field: 144 players
Defending champion: Seon Hwa Lee|
Victory margin: Defeated Jane Park and Meena Lee by one stroke
Media center: 479-268-3414
LPGA media contact: Jason Taylor

● TV Times

Golf Channel
Sept. 11 12:30-2:30 p.m.
Sept. 12-13 1-4 p.m.

All times Eastern

5. Next week: Samsung World Championship, Torrey Pines Golf Course, South Course, La Jolla, Calif., $1,000,000, September 17-20, 2009; TV Times; GCSAA Course Information

Par: 36-36, 72
Yardage: 6,721
Format: 72-hole stroke play
       Winner: $250,000
       Runner-up: $157,035
Field: 20 players
Defending champion: Paula Creamer
Victory margin: Defeated Song-Hee Kim by one stroke
Tournament information: 858-350-5500

● TV Times

Golf Channel
Sept. 17-18 8:30-10:30 p.m. (tape delayed)

NBC
Sept. 19 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Sept. 20 4-6 p.m.

All times Eastern

● GCSAA Course Information

Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
Torrey Pines Golf Course, South Course
La Jolla, Calif.

GCSAA Class A Golf Course Superintendent, contact: Candice M. Combs, CGCS, 858-552-1634
Course architect, date: William P. Bell, 1957
Most recent redesign/renovation: Rees Jones, 2001

Course grasses
Tees - Bermudagrass; perennial ryegrass
Fairways - Kikuyugrass
Greens - Poa annua
Rough - Perennial ryegrass; kikuyugrass

For more information, access GCSAA Fact Sheets at GCSAA.org

6. Season-ending race heats up for Rolex Player, Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year awards

With the second half of the 2009 LPGA Tour season well underway, the race is heating up for the Rolex Player of the Year and Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year awards. Both awards will officially conclude at the season-ending LPGA Tour Championship, Nov. 19-22 at The Houstonian Golf & Country Club in Richmond, Texas, near Houston. The Rolex Player of the Year and Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year are both based on points systems, which awards players points based on how they finish in each official LPGA event. All points are doubled at the four major championships - Kraft Nabisco Championship, McDonald's LPGA Championship Presented by Coca-Cola, U.S. Women's Open, RICOH Women's British Open.

Rolex Player of the Year point system is based on top-10 finishes: 1st place-30 points; 2nd-12; 3rd-nine; 4th-seven; 5th-six; 6th-five; 7th-four; 8th-three; 9th-two; 10th-one.

Top-10 Rolex Player of the Year standings (as of 9/07/09)

The Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year point system rewards points to rookies based on their finish after making the cut. Points range from 150 for a win and five points for positions 41st through each player making the cut.

Top-10 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year standings (as of 9/07/09)

7. News and Notes

Pettersen wins 2009 CN Canadian Women's Open
Crosses $1 million in season earnings, $5 million in career earnings

PRIDDIS, Alberta, Canada, Sept. 6, 2009 - Suzann Pettersen, of Norway, broke a winless streak of 44 events, with her five-stroke victory at the CN Canadian Women's Open over five other players. With the win, Pettersen (65-68-66-70=269, -15) not only crossed the $1 million mark in season earnings ($1,294,810) and is now second on the LPGA Official Money List, but also is 30th on the LPGA Career Earnings List with $5,230,651. Players tying for second at 10-under-par 274 were Angela Stanford (70-65-69-70); Momoko Ueda (67-72-70-65) - a career-best finish as a member; Morgan Pressel (71-71-66-66); Ai Miyazato (69-69-69-67) and Karrie Webb (69-68-68-69).

"This feels absolutely great. I've been playing very good since 2007," said Pettersen, the six-time LPGA Tour winner who has carded 19 top-10 finishes, including six runner-up finishes since the end of 2007, when she won five times. "Gave myself a lot of chances to win tournaments, and like I've been saying, if you put yourself in position often enough, you'll figure out how to close the deal."

Entering the final round with a five-stroke lead - the largest 54-hole lead by any player on Tour this season - Pettersen's advantage narrowed to three strokes over Webb by the time the group made the turn thanks to three birdies in four holes by Webb on the front nine.

"Obviously I really appreciated the crowds this week. They treated me like a defending champion," said Webb, who won the 1999 du Maurier Classic that was also hosted at Priddis Greens Golf & Country Club. "I think for her, even nine was pivotal and she went and made three birdies to start the back nine. Although I don't think she will say she felt comfortable, I think that something weird would have had to happen for her to lose from there."

Pettersen found some shaky ground after the birdies with consecutive bogeys on holes 13 and 14. Webb, too, bogeyed hole 13, but found a birdie on hole 16 before a final 17th-hole bogey to fall back to 10-under-par and allow Pettersen to earn the win - just one week after falling to M.J. Hur in a two-hole, sudden-death playoff at the Safeway Classic Presented by Coca-Cola.

CN Miracle Match raises $1.6 million. By matching donations from fans and by player performances at the CN Canadian Women's Open, title sponsor CN (Canadian National Railway Company) presented a $1.6 million check to the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation on Sunday morning, midway through the final round. Part of the donations came from $500 for every birdie and $5,000 for every eagle made on the 18th hole. A duo of runner-up finishers - U.S. Solheim Cup teammates Morgan Pressel and Angela Stanford - were the owners of the eagles carded on the 18th hole. There were also a total of 80 birdies on 18 throughout the week.

Kerr, Pettersen, one-two punch. Cristie Kerr's tie for 18th at the CN Canadian Women's Open - a tournament she won in 2006 (72-69-68-70=279, -5) and $33,707 paycheck was enough to keep her in the lead of many of the LPGA Tour's major statistical categories. With the $412,000 win, though, champion Suzann Pettersen (65-68-66-70=269, -15) finds herself in closing the gap on Kerr. The duo are first (Kerr) and second (Pettersen) in the following categories: LPGA Official Money List ($1,360,786, $1,294,810); Rolex Player of the Year (114 points, 107 points); Vare Trophy - scoring average (70.1507, 70.4242); and birdies (277, 268).

Stanford leads Tour in eagles. Angela Stanford's tie for second at the CN Canadian Women's Open (70-65-69-70=274, -10) was helped along by an eagle in each of the weekend rounds. On Saturday's 18th hole, she rolled in a 63-foot putt from the back of the green for eagle and, on the 71st hole of the event, she carded a chip-in from 40 feet. Stanford has four top-10 finishes at the event since 2005.

Stanford at the CN Canadian Women's Open

Dahllof cards second-round ace, Kim sets tournament record. Eva Dahllof, of Sweden, carded her second LPGA career hole-in-one during the second round of the CN Canadian Women's Open. On the sixth hole of Priddis Greens Golf & Country Club, Dahllof used a 7-iron from 159 yards to land the ace. Her only other LPGA hole-in-one came during the third round of the 1998 Star Bank LPGA Classic.

Also in the second round, third-year Tour member Song-Hee Kim not only carded a career-low 62 (-9), but set a tournament and course-record in the process. As a raw score, her 28 (-7) on the front nine, thanks to birdies on holes one through six and nine, is one of 14 carded in LPGA Tour history.

Sheehan caddies for The First Tee member. Alexandra "Alex" Phillips, 17, from The First Tee of Northern Nevada, had LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Famer Patty Sheehan on her bag last weekend at sixth-annual Walmart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. Phillips was paired with PGA TOUR legend Gary Player during the nationally televised 54-hole Champions Tour event, hosted at Pebble Beach (Pebble Beach Golf Links and Del Monte Golf Course) Sept. 4-6. Sheehan is a 30-time winner on the LPGA Tour and member of The First Tee of Northern Nevada Board of Directors.

LPGA rookie named 2010 Olympic torchbearer. LPGA Tour rookie player Jessica Shepley has been selected by the RBC to be one of the Olympic torchbearers for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Shepley, a native of Oakville, Ontario, will be one of approximately 12,000 Canadians who will carry the flame across the country beginning this fall. The 26-year-old competed on the Duramed FUTURES Tour in 2008, recording five top-10 finishes in 17 starts, including a runner-up finish at The Duramed Championship, to finish seventh on the season-ending money list and earn membership to the 2009 LPGA Tour.

LPGA T&CP in the news. LPGA Central Section Teaching & Club Professional (T&CP) Marvol Barnard was featured in the "Best Practices: Women & Golf" section of the August edition of PGA Magazine.

Southeast Section T&CP and Golf Fitness Magazine's managing editor, Karen Palacios-Jansen, will begin filming episodes for the new season of "The Clubhouse," which will air on Resort Sports Network (RSN TV) in late spring 2010. She was named the 2008 LPGA T&CP Teacher of the Year.

Pettersen earns stay at Canyon Ranch. By winning the CN Canadian Women's Open and $412,500 first-place check, Suzann Pettersen also earned an all-inclusive stay for two at a Canyon Ranch resort. In a combined effort to promote health and overall well-being among Tour players, Canyon Ranch will provide every winner of an LPGA event with one all-inclusive stay at one of Canyon Ranch's two destination resorts.