The LPGA Tour’s 52-year-old Portland Classic, its longest-running non-major, may be held for the final time this week. According to multiple sources, the tournament inaugurated in 1972, but without a title sponsor for two years, was not listed during a presentation of next year’s preliminary LPGA schedule at a player meeting ahead of last week’s CPKC Women’s Open. Golf Digest obtained and reviewed images of the slides presented during the meeting.
“We’re working hard to find a title sponsor and keep it on the calendar,” LPGA Vice President of Tournament Business Affairs Casey Ceman said on Tuesday.
Andrea Lee has a special place in her heart for the Portland Classic, where she won the tournament for her lone career title in 2022. The 25-year-old was disheartened to hear that the tournament might not return to the schedule.
“A little sad,” Lee said. “Just because I love Portland, I love this event so much. And, I feel like we get pretty good crowds out here whenever we do come out and play. So it would definitely be a bummer. But I really do hope that it comes back.”
While LPGA purses have risen dramatically in recent years, the Portland Classic’s purse has been stalled near the same amount over the past 16 seasons. In 2008, the prize money was $1.7 million, only $50,000 shy of the tournament’s all-time highs set in 2020 and this year.
During the COVID-19 shortened schedule in 2020, the $1.75 million Portland purse was the fourth-largest non-major of the year. It dropped to $1.4 million in 2021 before increasing to $1.5 million for the last two seasons. In 2024, the prize money is tied for the smallest full-field non-major purse, less than half of the new, full-field FM Championship’s $3.8 million. With the lack of a title sponsor, Ceman would not confirm that the LPGA supplemented funding to the Portland prize pool.
“It depends on what you would call it, LPGA reserves,” Ceman said. “But we’re doing everything we can to make sure it’s a healthy event this year, and it’s a great show for the players and the sponsors. It’s something that we’re proud of on the tour.”
This is the first time the tournament has not had a title sponsor for two years running since the first six iterations from 1972 to 1977. From 1977 to 1982, the tournament was played as an unofficial team event.
When Ping became the original title sponsor for the then-1978 Ping Classic Team Championship, the event had a 35-year run of well-known sponsors. Ping was the title sponsor until 1995 before Safeway took over from 1996 to 2013. In 2014, the event had only a presenting sponsor, Cambia Health Solutions, which became the title sponsor from 2015 through 2021. AmazingCre was the last title sponsor of the tournament in 2022.
Ceman said he and his team are having multiple meetings this week to secure a title sponsor for the event’s future. They are still determining if there will be a third consecutive season without a title sponsor. They affirmed that the LPGA’s goal is to keep the tournament on the schedule.
“We didn’t really share a full schedule with the players,” Ceman explained. “There’s some stuff that’s still TBD on the calendar. So they haven’t seen everything that we’re working on yet, but we’re keeping it posted as we go.”
If the tournament’s future is unsecured, a litany of LPGA history goes with it. Kathy Whitworth won the 1972 debut tournament, the first of 12 LPGA Hall of Famers to be a Portland Classic winner. Those include Nancy Lopez, Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa. The tournament has two of the LPGA’s three LPGA Monday qualifying champions—Brooke Henderson’s breakthrough title in 2015 and Channatee Wannasean’s maiden victory last year.
A multitude of decade-plus-long volunteers help run the tournament. Lorrie Davis, a guest service supervisor at the Moda Center who has been volunteering for 14 consecutive years, was disheartened to hear about the possible ending.
“That would be a disappointment,” Davis said. “I mean, the LPGA has been here for so many years and just the joy and the atmosphere I would miss. A lot of people would miss it.”
The tournament’s future should become more clear when the 2025 schedule is released around the CME Group Tour Championship in November.
The other LPGA tournaments that have been lost in recent years include the Kia Classic, held 12 times (2010-22) in Carlsbad, California; Mediheal in California (2018-22); Volunteers of America Classic outside Dallas (2013-23); ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland (2019-23).
The tournaments added to the schedule are the Ford Championship in Gilbert, Arizona, in 2024; Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play in Las Vegas; (2021); Kroger Queen City in Cincinnati (2022) and FM Championship in Boston (2024).
Main Image: Steve Dykes
