The LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, with headquarters in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world which runs from February to December each year. In 2007 prize money on the LPGA Tour is USD $54.285 million.
Other "LPGA"s exist in other countries, each with a geographical designation in its name, but the U.S. organization is the largest and best known. The LPGA is also an organization for female club and teaching golf professionals. This is different from the PGA Tour which runs the main professional tours in the U.S. and, since 1968, has been independent of the club and teaching professionals' organization, the PGA of America.
The LPGA was founded in 1950 by a group of 13 women, including Babe Didrikson Zaharias. It is now the oldest ongoing women's professional sports organization in the United States. Carolyn Bivens is the current LPGA Commissioner.
