Rich
Harvest Farms has been chosen to host the 2016 International Crown, a new LPGA event
that will pit teams from eight nations against one another, LPGA officials said
Thursday at the PGA
Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla.
Clearly
designed with the popularity of the Ryder Cup in mind, the International Crown will debut on
July 21-27, 2014, at Owings
Mills, near Baltimore. The second event will be played in 2016 at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar
Grove, where the 2009 Solheim Cup was held.
The International Crown will feature three days
of four-ball competition, plus singles matches on Sunday and will have a total
purse of $1.6 million. It will be played in even years, when the Solheim Cup is
not contested. Each team will have four players.
``The
International Crown will take women's golf to the next level and allow fans to
rally behind their homelands,'' LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan said. ``In
sports, there's nothing greater than wearing your nation's flag, fans singing
your national anthem, and bringing the crown
home.''
The Rolex rankings will be used to
select the countries and players who will participate. Under the current
rankings, the United
States, South Korea, Japan, Sweden, Australia, Spain, Taiwan and England would be
competing.
``We need this type of event,'' said Stacy Lewis,
the top-ranked American. ``People always want to know why golfers from Asia are
so good. Now we can see how all the countries stack up. Representing your
country is the ultimate thing. Getting announced on the first tee when you are
representing the USA, it doesn't get any better than that. It's a goal of mine
to be in the event.''
It's also another opportunity for Rich Harvest
Farms, ranked 58th in Golf Digest's list of America's 100 Greatest
Golf Courses, to showcase itself.
``We're honored to have the International Crown
at Rich Harvest Farms,'' owner Jerry Rich said. ``We look forward to welcoming
the wonderful spectators and fans of women's golf, including the youth in our
community, to witness this global tournament.''
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