Safeway Classic Will Move to August

Portland LPGA Event will be Held August 15-21

After 33 years, the Safeway Classic, the longest running event on the LPGA Tour, is moving to August. According to Tom Maletis, President of Tournament Golf Foundation (TGFI), the event owners and organizers, “There was an opportunity to move our event to August and we determined it was in the best interests of the event and our title sponsor to make the move.”

The Safeway Classic has been held each September since 1972. The move to the August dates will help the event in several areas. “Although the weather is almost always great in September, it has been an issue in the past, including 2004. The August timing should help in this regard,” said Maletis.

Additional factors in the move include more availability of volunteers, lack of conflicts with other major sporting and social events in the region, including high school and college football and the annual Race for the Cure. Additional conflicts have included the Solheim Cup every other year and television conflicts with Ryder Cup coverage. “Also, with summer vacation still in place, we will have much more opportunity for youth to attend both our Junior Clinic and the Les Schwab Par 3 Pro-Am,” said Maletis.

The tournament will continue to be broadcast nationally and internationally on The Golf Channel and will continue to feature a Monday Pro-Am sponsored by West Coast Bank, a two-day Pro-Am on Wednesday and Thursday sponsored by Kraft-Nabisco and the 54-hole tournament proper.

“We are excited about the move,” said Maletis. “It should be a great change for our fans, our volunteers and our sponsors.”

The Safeway Classic has featured one of the strongest fields on the LPGA tour the past few years and is considered one of the premiere stops on the circuit by most players. The 2004 event was won by Hee-Won Han in a playoff with Lorie Kane. The 2002 and 2003 events were won by Annika Sorenstam.

Tournament Golf Foundation is comprised of a Portland group of volunteers who donate their time and provide the primary operations of the annual event. Begun in 1972, the group is now comprised of 47 individuals and couples. To date, TGFI has donated over $9 million to local children’s charities, over $3 million in the past four years. TGFI also owns and operates the Safeway International, held each March in Phoenix, Arizona. TGFI donated over $1.5 million in the past year to charities in Oregon and Arizona through the Safeway Foundation, with $752,000 going to children’s charities in Oregon.

For more information on Tournament Golf Foundation and the Safeway Classic, visit www.safewaygolf.com