LPGA to rename Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational to the Dow Championship, increases purse to $3,000,000: Reports
The LPGA Tour's Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational is reportedly getting a new name. Josh Carpenter, a golf analyst for Sports Business Journal, revealed in his recent social media post that the tournament will get a new name.
He took to his X (formerly Twitter) account on Thursday (January 18) to unveil that the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational will be renamed The Dow Championship in 2024. Moreover, the purse of the tournament will also be increased in 2024 as per Carpenter. The golf analyst claimed that the tournament will have a purse of $3 million from its current $2.7 million.
Carpenter posted:
"The@LPGA’s Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational is getting a new name this year: the Dow Championship. It’s also another purse increase on the LPGA, going to $3M from $2.7M."
The Great Dow Lakes Invitational is the calendar event of the LPGA Tour. It has concluded four successful editions. The tournament takes place in teams of two women golfers and last year, it was Cheyenne Knight, who clinched the trophy while playing with her teammate Elizabeth Szokol.
The tournament has four rounds, which have been played in fourball and foursome formats.
It is important to note that the tournament had increased its purse in 2023 also. Last year's edition was played with a purse of $2.7 million, which was increased from $2.5 million.
All about Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational
The Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational was started in 2019 and has completed four editions so far. After the inaugural edition, the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19 in 2020.
It's a 72-hole team stroke format tournament, which features 70 women golfers. The first and third rounds are played in a fourball format while the second and fourth have a foursome or alternate shot format.
It has been sponsored by Dow Chemical Company and is thus named after the sponsors. The event has witnessed a significant increase in the purse over the years. The first edition of the event had a purse of $2 million which was increased to $2.3 million in 2021. It had a purse of $2.5 million in 2022 and was ultimately increased to $2.7 million in 2023.
Cydney Clanton and Thidapa Suwannapura won the first edition after registering a six-stroke victory. They played four rounds of 67-64-63-59. Noticeably, Clanton and Suwannapura hold the record for scoring the lowest overall score. They settled for a score of under 27 to win the event.
Here are the winners of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational over the years:
- 2023: Cheyenne Knight and Elizabeth Szokol
- 2022: Jennifer Kupcho and Lizette Salas
- 2021: Ariya Jutanugarn and Moriya Jutanugarn
- 2020: Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
- 2019: Cydney Clanton and Thidapa Suwannapura