Looking Back: West Virginia LPGA Classic

The West Virginia LPGA Classic was a professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour in the 1970s and 1980s. Known as the Wheeling LPGA Classic in its early years, it was played 11 times.

First played: 1974

Last played: 1984

Of the 11 times this tournament took place, six of them ended with a playoff — including five consecutive years from 1979 through 1983. Hall of Famers Pat Bradley, Betsy King and Donna Caponi were among those players who never won the West Virginia LPGA Classic, but did lose in one of those playoffs.

Hollis Stacy (another Hall of Famer) was a two-time winner, both times in playoffs. She also finished runner-up by one stroke in 1977. Her first playoff win, in 1981, was against four other golfers, tying the then-LPGA record for most players in a sudden-death playoff.

Jane Blalock and Alice Miller were the event's other two-time champs. Both Stacy and Miller won their respective two titles in back-to-back years. Miller's win in 1983 was the first of her eight career LPGA Tour titles.

The low 54-hole score was 207, set by Blalock in 1978. Blalock won by seven strokes that year, also the tournament record for margin of victory. (Blalock also finished runner-up in the first tournament's first year of 1974.)

Beverly Klass, who gained fame when she played on the LPGA Tour as a 9-year-old in 1965, had a career-best finish — tied for second place — in the 1984 West Virginia LPGA Classic.

Winners of the West Virginia LPGA Classic

1974 — Carole Jo Skala, 212
1975 — Susie McAllister, 212
1976 — Jane Blalock, 217 (def. Pat Bradley in playoff)
1977 — Debbie Austin, 209
1978 — Jane Blalock, 207
1979 — Debbie Massey, 219 (def. Betsy King in playoff)
1980 — Sandra Post, 211 (def. Donna Caponi in playoff)
1981 — Hollis Stacy, 212 (def. Alice Ritzman, Penny Pulz, Susie McAllister and Kathy Postlewait in playoff)
1982 — Hollis Stacy, 209 (def. Kathy Postlewait in playoff)
1983 — Alice Miller, 216 (def. Debbie Massey and Lori Garbacz in playoff)
1984 — Alice Miller, 209

Also known as: The tournament was named the Wheeling Ladies Classic its first two years, then Wheeling Classic (1976-79), West Virginia LPGA Classic (1980), West Virginia Bank Classic (1981) and West Virginia LPGA Classic again its final three years (through 1984).

Golf courses: The tournament was always played at Speidel Golf Club in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Sources:
LPGA Tour. LPGA Tournament Chronology 1970-79, via Wayback Machine, https://web.archive.org/web/20100102105959/http://www.lpga.com/content/Chronology70-79.pdf.
LPGA Tour. LPGA Tournament Chronology 1980-89, via Wayback Machine, https://web.archive.org/web/20110629095854/http://www.lpga.com/content/Chronology80-89.pdf.
LPGA Tour. LPGA 1989 Player Guide, "Players" and "All-Time Records."