FORT MYERS, Florida – The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) has announced that Crown Colony Golf & Country Club in Fort Myers, Florida will host the 4th annual LPGA DRIVE ON Championship. The 54-hole event will be held Thursday Feb. 3 through Saturday Feb. 5 and feature a field of 120 players competing for a $1.5 million purse.
“We are excited to kick off our 2022 LPGA Tour season with three consecutive events in Florida, with the opening swing concluding in Fort Myers at a worthy setting like the Crown Colony Golf & Country Club,” said Ricki Lasky, the LPGA’s Chief Tournament Business Officer. “We’re thrilled to continue our LPGA Drive On Championship in a familiar place like Southwest Florida, and thank our partners at Crown Colony for giving us a fantastic host venue to showcase our players.”
The beautiful Crown Colony Golf & Country Club is one of the premier gated, golf communities in Fort Myers. Spanning 403 acres, the golf course community offers beautiful homes and magnificent amenities all in a prime location. The crown jewel of the club and community is the 18-hole Audubon Sanctuary Certified golf course that provides a world class golf experience that is enjoyable and challenging for all levels of golfer. This is the first professional women’s event to be held at Crown Colony, with the Tour returning to the Fort Myers area for the first time since the 1975 Greater Fort Myers Classic, won by Sandra Haynie.
“On behalf of the Board of Governors, membership and staff, I am thrilled that Crown Colony has the privilege to host the 2022 LPGA DRIVE ON Championship featuring 120 of the best female golfers in the world,” said David Kent, General Manager and COO of Crown Colony Golf & Country Club. “This is a wonderful opportunity to showcase our exceptional golf club while enjoying competition at the highest level. We welcome the LPGA Tour back to Fort Myers for the first time in 47 years with open arms and eagerly await the Championship.”
The LPGA DRIVE ON Championship will be the third of five events in Florida during the 2022 season, along with the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions (Orlando), the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio (Boca Raton), the Pelican Women’s Championship (Belleair) and the CME Group Tour Championship (Naples). This is the 4th edition of the event, first played at Inverness Club in 2020 and won by major champion Danielle Kang. Ally Ewing won the LPGA DRIVE ON Championship at Reynolds Lake Oconee later that season to become a Rolex First-Time Winner on Tour, with Austin Ernst victorious at the LPGA DRIVE ON Championship presented by Volvik at Golden Ocala in 2021 for her third-career win.
“We are so appreciative of partners like those at Crown Colony Golf & Country Club for welcoming us as we continue the spirit of the LPGA DRIVE ON Championship events in Fort Myers,” said Mollie Marcoux Samaan, LPGA Commissioner. “We’ll be taking advantage of another incredible week on Tour with player initiatives that will support our Membership in different ways for the upcoming season.”
Leave a Reply