Location | Sylvania, Ohio, U.S. |
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Established | 1984, 33 years ago |
Course(s) | Highland Meadows Golf Club |
Par | 71 |
Length | 6,506 yards (5,949 m) |
Tour(s) | LPGA Tour |
Format | Stroke play – 72 holes |
Prize fund | $1.5 million |
Month played | July |
Aggregate | 261 Se Ri Pak (1998) |
To par | −23 as above |
Lydia Ko |
The Marathon Classic, in full the Marathon Classic Presented by Owens Corning and O-I, is a women's professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour. It was founded 33 years ago in 1984 and has been played yearly, except in 1986 and 2011, in Sylvania, Ohio, a suburb northwest of Toledo. The tournament is televised by Golf Channel and CBS Sports.
The tournament was founded after PGA Tour caddie Judd Silverman, a Toledo native, sought to bring a ladies professional golf tournament to his hometown. He contacted sponsors and actor Jamie Farr, also a Toledo native, brought his name and several of his celebrity friends to the tournament. Throughout the history of the event, children's charities in Northwest Ohio and Southern Michigan have been the charitable beneficiaries of the tournament. They have received more than $6.2 million during the event's history.
From 2004 to 2010, the title sponsor was Owens Corning, the world's largest manufacturer of fiberglass and related products, headquartered in Toledo, near the site of the tournament. In 2012, they became a presenting sponsor. Kroger, one of the largest American supermarket chains, with headquarters in Cincinnati, has also been involved as a sponsor of the tournament since 1997. Owens-Illinois (O-I) will begin being a sponsor during the 2012 tournament.
From 1984 to 1988 the tournament was held in the village of Holland at the Glengarry Country Club, which became Stone Oak Country Club in 1988. The event moved several miles north to the Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania in 1989, where it is currently played.
The largest playoff in LPGA history took place at the 1999 Jamie Farr, a six-player affair involving Karrie Webb, Carin Koch, Sherri Steinhauer, Se Ri Pak, Kelli Kuehne, and Mardi Lunn. Pak won it on first hole of sudden death by making a ten-foot birdie putt.