Even though this is the first year for the Marathon Classic, formerly known as the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic, So Yeon Ryu will be the defending champion.
She blew away the field last year with a final round 62 and won by a comfortable seven shots over Angela Stanford.
Ryu has been one of the most consistent players on the LPGA over the past two seasons. She had 15 top-10 finishes in 2012 and won LPGA Rookie of the Year honors. She has posted six top-10’s this year.
Most recently she was runner-up at the WalMart NW Arkansas Championship to Inbee Park, losing in a playoff, and finished third in the U.S. Women’s Open at Sebonack.
She is No. 5 on the LPGA Tour money list and No. 5 on the Rolex Rankings.
Like all good things that must come to an end, the association of Toledo native, Jamie Farr’s name has been erased from the tournament’s title. It takes a lot of money to run a golf tournament and Marathon, a Northwest Ohio based company, was happy to step up to the plate to keep the LPGA Tour stopping in Toledo every year.
The Marathon Classic annually draws a solid field and many of the LPGA’s top names will be on hand for this year’s tournament.
World No. 1, Inbee Park, No. 2, Stacy Lewis, former world No. 1, Yani Tseng, Michelle Wie, Morgan Pressel, Na Yeon Choi, and Paula Creamer are in the field this week.
Inbee Park has been on an incredible roll this year with six LPGA tournament wins including the first three major championships of the season.
Park will attempt to be the only player other than Bobby Jones to win four major championships in a calendar year when she tees it up at the Ricoh Women’s British Open at St. Andrews in just two weeks time.
Former Marathon Classic winner, Se Ri Pak will also play this week. She won this event on five different occasions throughout her career. Pak is tied with Mickey Wright and Annika Sorenstam as the only players to win an LPGA event five times.
The Marathon Classic will be aired on the Golf Channel. All four rounds can be seen Thursday-Sunday, July 18-21 2:00-4:00 PM ET.