LPGA cancels $2 million California event after underwriter fails to pay

Nelly Korda has one less title to defend in 2025. The Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship has been dropped from the LPGA’s spring schedule. The event, slated for March 20-23, was scheduled to be held at Palos Verdes Golf Club and feature a $2 million purse.

An LPGA statement said that "canceling the event on its current date was unavoidable due to the event underwriter failing to fulfill any portion of its payment obligations to the LPGA Tour for the 2024 and 2025 events."

The tour hopes to reschedule the event later in the year.

“We are deeply disappointed to announce this year’s Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship will not go forward in March,” said Interim LPGA Commissioner Liz Moore. “We apologize for the impact this has on our players, as well as on our fans, partners and volunteers. We also want to express our heartfelt gratitude to the staff and members at Palos Verdes Golf Club, Palos Verdes Estates, and tournament operator, Outlyr, for their exceptional partnership and hospitality.

"It is our intention to return to Palos Verdes in the future to host title sponsor, Fir Hills, once again alongside these great partners. We remain dedicated to bringing this event back to our schedule to honor the incredible legacy of Seri Pak, who has been a wonderful ambassador for the game and this event.”Last year Fir Hills, a Silicon Valley-based investment firm, entered a multi-year agreement with the LPGA as a tournament sponsor. LPGA legend Seri Pak came on board as the event host. (Pak, who went by Se Ri during her LPGA career, is now going by Seri.)

The tour has held an event at Palos Verdes for the past three seasons. In 2023, the Palos Verdes event, won by Ruoning Yin, was called the DIO Implant LA Open.

The news is particularly painful for those who aren’t in the three limited-field events in Asia. After the tour returns from China, there’s now a two-week gap on the schedule before the Ford Championship, held March 27-30, in Phoenix.

The tour's 2025 season begins next week with the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, but the first full-field event of the season will be the Founders Cup, held Feb. 6-9, in Bradenton, Florida. In total, there are now only three full-field opportunities prior to the Chevron Championship, the season’s first major, in late April. The field for the T-Mobile Match Play event in Las Vegas has been reduced to 64 players this year.

As the LPGA celebrates its 75th anniversary this season, the search is on for a new commissioner after Mollie Marcoux Samaan stepped down earlier this month. The tour’s 2025 schedule now features 32 official events as well as the mixed-team Grant Thornton Invitational and Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown, staged in South Korea.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: LPGA loses full-field event in March after underwriter fails to pay