Looking Back: Star Bank LPGA Classic
First played: 1994
Last played: 2001
The tournament was played every year at the Country Club of the North in Dayton, Ohio. Its original name was Children's Medical Center LPGA Classic, which it had for just one year. From 1995-98, it went by Star Bank LPGA Classic, then, in 1999 and 2000, Firstar LPGA Classic. In its final year, the name was LPGA Champions Classic.
Winners of the Star Bank LPGA Classic
1994 — Maggie Will, 210 (def. Alicia Dibos, Jill Briles-Hinton in playoff)1995 — Christa Johnson, 210
1996 — Laura Davies, 204
1997 — Colleen Walker, 203
1998 — Meg Mallon, 199 (def. Dottie Pepper in playoff)
1999 — Rosie Jones, 207 (def. Jan Stephenson, Becky Iverson in playoff)
2000 — Annika Sorenstam, 197
2001 — Wendy Doolan, 132 (shortened to 36 holes by weather, def. Wendy Ward in playoff)
There were no multiple champions in the tournament's history, although the inaugural winner, Maggie Will, did tie for second behind Laura Davies in 1996. That was Davies' 15th career win on the LPGA Tour.
Will's victory in 1994 was the first of four times — half of its eight-year history — the tournament ended in a sudden-death playoff. In 1998, Meg Mallon and Dottie Pepper tied at 199 (at the time the event's scoring record) before Mallon won on the first extra hole.
In 1999, Rosie Jones won a 3-way playoff on the fourth hole of sudden death. And in its last year, 2001, Wendy Doolan outlasted Wendy Ward, winning on the fifth hole of the playoff. So the Star Bank LPGA Classic began and ended with playoffs.
In 1999, Annika Sorenstam set the tournament's 54-hole scoring record at 197, but only won by one stroke over runner-up Karrie Webb.
Sources:
LPGA Tour. Tournament Chronology, 1990-1999, via Wayback Machine, https://web.archive.org/web/20070920192212/http://www.lpga.com/content/Chronology90-99.pdf.
LPGA Tour. Tournament Chronology, 2000-2008, via Wayback Machine, https://web.archive.org/web/20110304105055/http://www.lpga.com/content/Chronology2000-2008.pdf.
