LPGA Tour pushes back restart date by a week, will begin July 23

The LPGA Tour announced on Friday that its season will resume a week later than planned. The Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, which was to be the tour’s first event back after the pause caused by the coronavirus, has been canceled. The event was scheduled for July 15-18. Now, the plan is for the season to restart with the Marathon LPGA Classic at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Ohio the following week.

Though the tournament won’t be played in 2020, Dow renewed its contract with the LPGA Tour. The event will be played in 2021, and an undisclosed number seasons in the future.

“While we are disappointed that the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational will not be held this year, I am excited that our friends at Dow have extended our relationship and will be hosting us in Midland for many years,” LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan said in a statement. “As I’ve said since this pandemic started, while we will do all we can to play safely in 2020, the most important thing is to ensure the long-term health of our tour. We are very thankful to the team at Dow for their ongoing and extended support.”

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The LPGA hasn’t played an event since February, as the tour had events scheduled in Asia in February and March that were canceled because the coronavirus was already spreading through Asia at that time.

With the tour resuming on July 23, players will have two events before the first major of the year, the Evian Championship.

RELATED: Korean LPGA Tour to resume in May

Though the LPGA Tour isn’t yet playing, top-ranked players on their tour have begun competing. The Korean LPGA Tour resumed its schedule, without fans, on Thursday. Sung Hyun Park, Sei Young Kim and Jeongeun Lee6, who are all ranked in the top 10 in the world, are playing in that first event. Park will also play in a charity skins game against Jin Young Ko, the No. 1 player in the world, in South Korea on May 24.