There was speculation during last fall's wildly successful Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National that the Chaska course's next venture in major golf would be to host the KPMG Women's PGA Championship. This will become a fact on Friday, when an announcement is made at Hazeltine that it will serve as host for the KPMG in 2019.
The event started in 1955 as the LPGA Championship. The PGA of America took the lead role for this major in 2015, in concert with the LPGA and KPMG, an international professional services firm headquartered in the Netherlands.
The KPMG will be played in the Chicago area over the next two years: Olympia Fields in 2017 and Kemper Lakes in 2018. The dates for this year's tournament are from June 29 to July 2.
Several Hazeltine members contacted declined to confirm this would be Friday's announcement, although other sources in Minnesota golf said that was the case.
This will be the first variation of the traditional LPGA Championship to be played in Minnesota. The U.S. Women's Open has been played here four times:
1956-Northland in Duluth; winner-Kathy Cornelius. 1966-Hazeltine; winner-Sandra Spuzich. 1977-Hazeltine; winner-Hollis Stacy. 2008-Interlachen; winner-Inbee Park.
The Patty Berg Classic was held as an LPGA tour stop in St. Paul in the 1970s, and Edinburgh USA in Brooklyn Park was host to an LPGA event from 1990 through 1996, with that tournament running at Rush Creek in 1997 and 1998.
The 1966 Women's Open was the first major to be played at Hazeltine. Spuzich won at 9-over-par. Stacy was 4-over as the winner in 1977. Hazeltine underwent major renovations after that. It put those changes on display at the 1983 U.S. Senior Open.
