2006 Duramed FUTURES Tour
The 2006 Duramed FUTURES Tour was a series of professional women's golf tournaments held from March through September 2006 in the United States. The FUTURES Tour is the second-tier women's professional golf tour in the United States and is the "official developmental tour" of the LPGA Tour.
The age minimum age for participation was lowered to 17 for the 2006 season.[1]
2006 Schedule and results
The number in parentheses after winners' names shows the player's total number of official money, individual event wins on the FUTURES Tour including that event.
| Dates | Tournament | Location | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 10-12 | Lakeland Duramed FUTURES Classic | Florida |  Meaghan Francella (1) |
| Mar 17-19 | Greater Tampa Duramed FUTURES Classic | Florida | Ashley Prange (1) |
| Apr 7-9 | Louisiana Pelican Classic | Louisiana |  Song-Hee Kim (1) |
| Apr 21-23 | The Power of a Dream Golf Classic | Texas | Hye Jung Choi (1) |
| Apr 28-30 | Jalapeno Golf Classic | Texas | Kristy McPherson (1) |
| May 5-7 | IOS Golf Classic | Texas | Song-Hee Kim (2) |
| May 12-14 | Tucson Duramed FUTURES Golf Classic | Arizona | Charlotte Mayorkas (1) |
| June 2-4 | Aurora Health Care Championship | Wisconsin | Song-Hee Kim (3) |
| June 9-11 | Team WLF.org Golf Classic | Illinois | Mollie Fankhauser (1) |
| June 15-18 | Michelob ULTRA Duramed FUTURES Players Championship | Illinois |  Salimah Mussani (1) |
| June 23-25 | Lima Memorial Hospital FUTURES Classic | Ohio | Ji Min Jeong (1) |
| June 30 - July 2 | Northwest Indiana FUTURES Golf Classic | Indiana | Ashley Prange (2) |
| July 14-16 | CIGNA Golf Classic | Connecticut | Song-Hee Kim (4) |
| July 21-23 | Alliance Bank Golf Classic | New York | Ha-Na Chae (1) |
| Aug 4-6 | Laconia Savings Bank Golf Classic | New Hampshire | Charlotte Mayorkas (2) |
| Aug 11-13 | Betty Puskar Golf Classic | West Virginia | Kristy McPherson (2) |
| Aug 18-20 | Hunters Oak Golf Classic | Maryland | Ashley Hoagland (1) |
| Aug 25-27 | The Gettysburg Championship | Pennsylvania | Song-Hee Kim (5) |
| Sep 8-10 | ILOVENY Championship | New York | Ji Min Jeong (2) |
Tournaments in bold are majors.
2006 Leading money winners
These top five money winners at the end of the 2006 season were awarded fully exempt status on the LPGA Tour for the 2007 season.
| Position | Player | Country | Earnings (US$) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Song-Hee Kim | South Korea | 76,287 |
| 2 | Charlotte Mayorkas | United States | 66,351 |
| 3 | Inbee Park | South Korea | 49,079 |
| 4 | Kristy McPherson | United States | 40,558 |
| 5 | Meaghan Francella | United States | 39,416 |
Major tournament
In 2006, the FUTURES Tour held its first major tournament. The Michelob ULTRA FUTURES Players Championship in Decatur, Illinois, which has been on the Tour's schedule since 1985, was the Tour's first 72-hole event, and carried the Tour's largest purse ever — $100,000. The winner, Salimah Mussani, received a sponsor's exemption to play in the LPGA's State Farm Classic in September, 2006. Mussani, a native of Canada, also played in the CN Canadian Women's Open, an August 2006 event on the LPGA Tour.
2006 traffic death
On June 18, 2006, while driving from a tournament in Decatur, Illinois to the next tournament in Lima, Ohio, Futures Tour player Gaelle Truet was killed in a car accident at age 27. She was the first Tour player to perish in a traffic incident in the 26 years of the Futures Tour and the 50 years of the LPGA Tour.
References
- ↑ "Duramed FUTURES Tour Lowers Minimum Age Requirement". Golf Business Wire. February 1, 2006. Retrieved February 26, 2013.