Sonoran skies. Inspired golf. Festive crowds, warmed by the Arizona sun.
Tournament play at Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club’s two Jack Nicklaus-designed courses charges the desert air.
But when the LPGA Safeway International descends upon Superstition Mountain in late March, these surroundings become the site of one of the most compelling golf weekends in North America.
That was reinforced in 2008, when a tournament-record crowd of 159,300 spectators watched the LPGA’s top players contend for a $1.5 million purse at the Prospector Course. On the final day, Rolex Player of the Year Lorena Ochoa shot a 6-under 66 to win her second straight Safeway International finishing 22-under par. She was followed by Jee Young Lee, Minea Blomqvist, Eun-Hi Jee and Angela Stanford.
The highly anticipated finish also played out before a worldwide television audience on The Golf Channel, which aired all four rounds of the 72-hole tournament. Additionally, the 2008 Safeway International raised nearly $1 million for local nonprofits. After five years at Superstition Mountain, the Safeway International has helped to raise more than $4 million for charity.
Tournament Facts
| Dates: |
March 24 - 30, 2008 |
| Purse: |
$1.5 million |
| History: |
Founded in 1980; moved to Superstition Mountain in 2004 |
| Format: |
72 holes, 144 players
(cut to top 70 pros plus ties after 36 holes) |
| 2008 Champion: |
Lorena Ochoa |
| Past Winners: |
Lorena Ochoa (2007)
Juli Inkster (2006)
Annika Sorenstam (2005)
Annika Sorenstam (2004)
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“This golf course is always in the best shape.....The greens are a great test. They roll so pure. All you have to do is get it going on the right line, and they should go in. The fairways are perfect. There's not a blade of grass out of place and that's wh”
~ Paula Creamer, LPGA golfer
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