Gillette Challenge kicks off Desert Inn’s LPGA tourney

Monday, Nov. 8, 1999 | 10:16 a.m.

Se Ri Pak, Liselotte Neumann, and defending tournament champion Laura Davies headline a field of 10 top LPGA Tour players in the Gillette Tour Challenge, the kickoff event for the PageNet LPGA Tour Championship Tuesday at the Desert Inn Golf Club. Play begins at 2:30 p.m.

Also committed to the field are Helen Alfredsson, Rachel Hetherington, Rosie Jones, Lorie Kane, Mi Hyun Kim, Mardi Lunn and Juli Inkster in the alternate-shot tournament featuring five two-player teams. The team which wins the five-hole event wins $9,000 of the total $23,000 purse.

The winners also earn points towards advancing to the 2000 season-ending Gillette Tour Challenge Championship. In September, the team of Tom Watson, Dottie Pepper and Graham Marsh won the third annual Championship at the Mid-Ocean Golf Club in Bermuda.

In addition, immediately following the event, randomly-selected consumer Sheri Stafford of Hucksley, Iowa, will attempt a single 10-foot putt worth $25,000 (half for herself, half for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation).

The Gillette Tour Challenge, a 45-event, season-long series featuring the top players from the PGA Tour, Senior PGA Tour and LPGA Tour, is the first on-going series to integrate members of the three Tours. At the end of the respective seasons, eight top players from each Tour will advance to the Gillette Tour Challenge Championship, where teams comprised of one PGA Tour, one Senior PGA Tour and one LPGA Tour member will compete for $1.8 million in prize money.