Symetra Tour

The Symetra Tour, previously known as the LPGA Futures Tour and known for sponsorship reasons between 2006 and 2010 as the Duramed FUTURES Tour, is the official developmental golf tour of the LPGA Tour. Tour membership is open to professional women golfers and to qualified amateurs.

History

The Futures Tour was founded in Florida in 1981 as the "Tampa Bay Mini Tour". It officially became the Futures Golf Tour in 1983^[1] and in 1999 become a national tour designated as the "official developmental tour" of the LPGA Tour (the U.S. based professional women's golf tour).

Grace Park, Marilyn Lovander and Audra Burks were the first players to receive automatic LPGA Tour exempt status by finishing one, two, and three on the Futures Golf Tour Money List.^[1]

The minimum age for participation was lowered to 17 prior to the 2006 season.^[2] On July 18, 2007, the LPGA announced that it had acquired the Futures Tour effective immediately, "bringing women's professional golf now under one umbrella." Previously the Futures Tour had operated as a licensee of the LPGA.^[3]

Duramed, a pharmaceutical company, was the tour's title sponsor from 2006 through the end of the 2010 season.

In 2010, the tour was known as the "LPGA Futures Tour." In 2012, Symetra, a United States-based insurance provider, became the title sponsor of the tour and tour's name was changed to "Symetra Tour".

Promotion to LPGA

1999–2007

From 1999 through 2007 the top five leading money winners at the end of each season earned full membership in the following season's LPGA Tour. Starting with the sixth-ranked player at the end of the season, ten additional Futures Tour players who are not already members of the LPGA, automatically advanced into the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament, bypassing the sectional qualifying tournament.

2008–2010

Beginning in 2008 the process for promotion to the LPGA Tour was changed. The top ten leading money winners at the end of the season gain membership on the LPGA Tour for the next season, with those finishing in the top five positions gaining higher priority for entry into events than those finishing in positions six through ten. Finishers in positions sixth through ten still have the option to attend LPGA Qualifying School to try to improve their membership for the following season.^[4]

2011–present

Beginning in 2011, the promotion process was changed slightly to allow the next 12 players, excluding current LPGA members, after the top ten qualifiers to automatic entry into Stage III of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament.^[5]

The Symetra Tour also offers instant promotion to the LPGA for those who win three times in a single season, similar to the PGA-affiliated Web.com Tour and European Tour-affiliated Challenge Tour.

Players

Players come from around the world to compete on the Symetra Tour.

Futures Tour graduates include LPGA tournament winners Laura Davies, Meaghan Francella, Cristie Kerr, Christina Kim, Mo Martin, Lorena Ochoa, Grace Park, Stacy Prammanasudh, Sherri Steinhauer, and Karrie Webb.

Historical tour schedules and results

Awards

• The Player of the Year Award is given to the player who leads the money list at the end of the season.
• The Gaëlle Truet Rookie of the Year Award is awarded to the player competing in her first professional season who finishes highest on the Symetra Tour money List. Truet was a Tour member who was killed in a car accident during the 2006 season. The award was renamed in her honor beginning in 2006.
• The Trainor Award has been given each year since 1999 to an individual or group that has made a significant contribution to women's golf. It is named in honor of the Tour's founder and former president, Eloise Trainor.
• The Heather Wilbur Spirit Award has been given each year since 2003 to a Symetra Tour player who "best exemplifies dedication, courage, perseverance, love of the game and spirit toward achieving goals as a professional golfer." It is named in memory of Heather Wilbur, a four-year Futures Tour player who died from leukemia in 2000 at age 27.

Year	Player of the Year	Rookie of the Year	Trainor Award	Heather Wilbur Spirit Award
2016	Madelene Sagström	Madelene Sagström
2015	Annie Park	Annie Park
2014	Marissa Steen	Min Lee
2013	P.K. Kongkraphan	Giulia Molinaro		Melissa Eaton
2012	Esther Choe	Mi Hyang Lee		Nicole Jeray
2011	Kathleen Ekey	Sydnee Michaels		Izzy Beisiegel
2010	Cindy LaCrosse	Jennifer Song	Executive Women's Golf Association	Mo Martin
2009	Mina Harigae	Mina Harigae	Renee Powell	Malinda Johnson
2008	Vicky Hurst	Vicky Hurst	Jocelyne Bourassa	Katie Fraley
2007	Emily Bastel	Violeta Retamoza	Cynthia Rihm	Jenny Hansen
2006	Song-Hee Kim	Song-Hee Kim	Sherrin Smyers	Katie Connelly
2005	Seon-Hwa Lee	Sun Young Yoo	Karrie Webb	Salimah Mussani
2004	Jimin Kang	Aram Cho	Decatur, Illinois Women's Committees	Lindsey Wright
2003	Stacy Prammanasudh	Soo Young Moon	Wilma Gilliland	Heather Wilbur
2002	Lorena Ochoa	Lorena Ochoa	Bob Hirschman and Connie Shorb
2001	Beth Bauer	Beth Bauer	Diane Lewis
2000	Heather Zakhar	Jamie Hullett	Betty Puskar
1999	Grace Park		Lew Williams
1998	Michelle Bell
1997	Marilyn Lovander
1996	Vickie Moran
1995	Patty Ehrhart
1994	Marilyn Lovander
1993	Nanci Bowen
1992	Jodi Figley
1991	Kim Williams
1990	Denise Baldwin
1989	Jennifer MacCurrach
1988	Jenny Lidback
1987	Laurel Kean
1986	Tammie Green
1985	Tammie Green
1984	Penny Hammel

The Big Break

Many of the contestants on The Golf Channel's The Big Break III: Ladies Only, which aired in the Spring of 2005, played on the Futures Tour, including Danielle Amiee, who ended up being the show's overall champion. The other players from the show that played on the Futures Tour were Jan Dowling, Valeria Ochoa, runner-up Pamela Crikelair, and LPGA veteran Cindy Miller. Show co-host Stephanie Sparks played on the Futures Tour from 1996 to 1999.

The Big Break V: Hawaii, which aired in the spring of 2006, included six additional Futures Tour competitors: Dana Lacey, Ashley Prange, Kim Lewellen, Kristina Tucker, Becky Lucidi and Jeanne Cho. Prange won the competition; Cho was runner-up.

The Big Break VI: Trump National, broadcast in the fall of 2006, included six more Futures Tour players: Rachel Bailey, the individual winner of the 2002 Sunbelt Conference Championship at New Mexico State University; Bridget Dwyer, a member of the 2004 NCAA Women's Golf Championship winning team at UCLA; Ashley Gomes, the 2004 WAC Player of the Year and individual winner of the 2004 WAC Championship while at San Jose State University; Sarah Lynn Johnston, the 2004 Southern Conference Player of the Year and individual winner of the 2004 Southern Conference Championship while at Furman University; Kristy McPherson, a three-time NCAA All-American First Team selection and two-time individual winner of the SEC Championship while at The University of South Carolina; and Briana Vega, who holds North Carolina State University's scoring records for 18-holes (68) and 54-holes (216).

Notes and references

External links

• Official website
• Life lessons of the Future Tour ESPN, July 14, 2006