LPGA to return to Hawaii with new title sponsor

After a two-year absence, the LPGA Tour will return to Hawaii in April with the $1.7 million LPGA Lotte Championship, according to the tour, which announced the three-year agreement on Thursday.

The April 18-April 21 event with title sponsor Lotte, an industrial conglomerate with operations in Korea and Japan, and J Golf as presenting sponsor, will feature a Saturday finish and a full field of 144 players. Tour officials will announce the venue in coming weeks.

Michelle Wie debuted as a full-fledged LPGA member in a 2009 Hawaii event (Photo: David Cannon/Getty Images)

"We are honored that such an established and well-respected conglomerate like Lotte has chosen the LPGA to expand its global platform," tour commissioner Mike Whan said in a statement. "Together with Lotte and J Golf, we look forward to returning to the Hawaiian Islands, where our tour has such a great history of fantastic golf."

The new contest is one of four -- including the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open at Royal Melbourne Golf Club; the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic in Waterloo, Canada; and the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic Presented by Kroger, Owens Corning and O-I -- that the LPGA has added to its 2012 schedule, which the tour has yet to make public.

The LPGA last played in Hawaii in 2009 in the SBS Open, where Honolulu native Michelle Wie debuted -- and almost won -- as a full-time member of the association. Citing the economy, organizers cancelled that year's scheduled October Kapalua LPGA Classic, pulling out of their its five-year contract with four years remaining.

The LPGA-Seoul Broadcasting System relationship came to a rancorous end after the tour signed a long-term contract with J Golf, according to reports. J Golf, which holds the LPGA’s TV rights in Korea, broadcasts to eight million homes in that country. Golf Channel will air the Lotte Championship in the U.S.