ROGERS — The LPGA’s NW Arkansas Championship will return to Pinnacle Country Club in June 2013, hopefully with a bit cooler temperatures.
Tournament director Jay Allen said a formal announcement will be made in a few days, but title sponsor Wal-Mart is on board for another year. Ai Miyazato, of Okinawa, Japan, won the $300,000 first-place check with a birdie on 18 on Sunday.
“The tournament will definitely be back next year,” Allen said. “We’re real pleased with it. What we hear from everyone, sponsors included, it that it gets better and better every year.”
This year it definitely got hotter. The five-year-old tournament, which was first played in September 2007, was moved to late June, the week before the U.S. Women’s Open.
The Pinnacle course was in great shape and the tournament avoided the rains that had plagued the early years of the tournament when it was held in September and July. However, a heat wave rolled into town along with the top women golfers and temperatures spiked at over 100 degrees for most of the week.
Tournament officials announced in the days leading up to the start of play that free bottled water and cooling towels would be distributed and shade tents were erected for spectators. Allen said he wasn’t aware of any heat-related emergencies during the three-day tournament.
“The elephant in the room is the heat,” Allen said. “We did our best to deal with it. We wanted to make it as safe as possible. I’m sure some people stayed away. I don’t blame people either, because it was hot out there.”
The NW Arkansas Championship receives high marks from the players because of its convenience. There is a large hotel just up the road from Pinnacle, an easily accessible airport, and this year more than 50 players stayed in private residences at Pinnacle’s gated community.
“It’s always nice to be here,” Miyazato said. “It’s always fun to play this tournament. All the volunteers always do things for the players and they do a great job. Everything is so organized and perfect.
“It’s just a great tournament, I love it.”
Tournament officials were pleased with the fan turnout despite brutally hot conditions. Neither the tournament nor the LGPA tracks official attendance, but it did appear to be less than the past two years.
There were large stationary crowds in the stands at the 17th and 18th greens, and moving throngs of a couple of hundred fans followed the final threesome as well as Stacy Lewis’ final-day group. Lewis, a former Arkansas Razorback, always draws a large following.
“I think it’s tough with the heat,” said Lewis, who finished tied for 19th. “I would almost like to see it later in the year just so we could get [more] fans. I think we had better crowds last year. Because of the heat, it’s dangerous for people to be out here, so I would like to see it in September.”
Forty-eight of the top 50 players in the world rankings played this week, reaffirming the LPGA players’ determination to support the tour, which added tournaments this year after losing several events and sponsors support as recently as 2010.
“We love coming here, so whenever [it is], we’ll come,” said Spain’s Azahura Munoz, who finished tied for second.
Scheduling struggle
Finding the right spot on the schedule for the NW Arkansas Championship has presented a challenge for the LPGA as it tries to avoid excessive heat, heavy rains and Arkansas Razorbacks football season.
SEPT. 7, 2007 WINNER Stacy Lewis+ JULY 4-6, 2008 WINNER Seon Hwa Lee SEPT. 11-13, 2009 WINNER Jiyai Shin SEPT. 10-12, 2010 WINNER Yani Tseng SEPT. 9-11, 2011 WINNER Yani Tseng JUNE 29-JULY 1, 2012 WINNER Ai Miyazato +Only one round was played in the 2007 tournament because of heavy rain. Lewis, then an amateur, led the field by one stroke when play was halted.
Sports, Pages 17 on 07/03/2012