SYLVANIA, Ohio — The LGPA Tour announced Wednesday that the Marathon Classic held in Sylvania has been rescheduled for the end of July due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The tournament, originally scheduled for July 9 to 12, is now scheduled for July 23 to 26.
The LPGA says it is currently targeting a restart of the 2020 LPGA Tour season in mid-July.
“One thing that has become clear is that there will be no ‘opening bell’ regarding a return to safe play in this new normal of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan. “To be honest, being ‘first’ has never been the goal when it comes to returning to play in this new normal. We have built a schedule that we think is as safe as possible given what we know about travel bans, testing availability, and delivering events that our sponsors and our athletes will be excited to attend."
Whan said restarting the season would require a continued improvement in the COVID-19 situation in Ohio and Michigan.
The LPGA also announced increases to the purses of numerous 2020 tournaments, bringing the total available purse remaining for the year to more than $56 million, with players competing for an average of nearly $2.7 million per event.
“Many of our remaining events will feature higher purses in 2020 thanks in part to some of our sponsors, who could not reschedule their events, offering some of their prize funds to increase other purses,” said Whan. “In what has been a very challenging year for everyone, we are so thankful to our partners for their creativity, collaboration and dedication to helping our athletes get the most out of the playing opportunities they will have in this unprecedented season.”
