South Jersey Set to Host LPGA Event

Twenty-one of the top 25 players in the world rankings will take the course Friday, as the ShopRite LPGA Classic begins at the Bay Course at the Stockton Seaview Hotel and Golf Club, just a few miles from Atlantic City.

The 54-hole affair marks the start of a stretch of five tournaments over the next six weeks, two of them major championships. Brittany Lincicome will defend her title against 143 challengers who will be going after a $1.5 million purse. The champion will collect $225,000.

The field features all seven players who have won official LPGA events so far this season, including top-ranked Yani Tseng, along with Ai Miyazato, Stacy Lewis, Sun Young Yoo, Angela Stanford, Jessica Korda, and Azahara Munoz.

It also includes Morgan Pressel, fresh off her semifinal loss to Munoz at the Sybase Match Play Championship two weeks ago in an event that saw Pressel penalized for slow play.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)