Looking Back: Henredon Classic on LPGA Tour

The Henredon Classic was a professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour, played annually for 10 years beginning in the early 1980s. It was played in North Carolina, and for its last three years used a Stableford scoring format. In its later years, the tournament's name was changed to Planters Pat Bradley International.

First played: 1981

Last played: 1990

The Henredon Classic tournament used a 72-hole, stroke-play format from 1981-86, then switched to 54 holes in 1987. When the tournament was rebranded to the "Planters Pat Bradley International" in 1988, it also got a new format: Stableford scoring. It was the first tournament in LPGA Tour history to use the Stableford system. The tournament awarded 8 points for a double eagle, 5 for an eagle, 3 for a birdie, 0 for par; and subtracted 1 point for a bogey, 3 points for double bogey or worse.

Winners of Henredon Classic/Pat Bradley International

1981 — Sandra Haynie, 281
1982 — JoAnne Carner, 282 (def. Sandra Haynie in playoff)
1983 — Patty Sheehan, 272
1984 — Patty Sheehan, 277
1985 — Nancy Lopez, 268
1986 — Betsy King, 277 (def. JoAnne Carner in playoff)
1987 — Mary Beth Zimmerman, 206
1988 — Martha Nause 14 points
1989 — Robin Hood, 16 points
1990 — Cindy Rarick, 25 points

Sandra Haynie helped the tournament debut in style: Her victory in the 1981 inaugural was the 40th (and third to last) of her LPGA career.

JoAnne Carner's win in 1982 was the middle tournament in a stretch of three conseuctive wins over three weeks for Carner. And Carner was the runner-up in 1983 and 1984. Then, in 1986 — one year after she had posted what turned out to be her final LPGA wins — Carner lost in a playoff to Betsy King.

In the 1983 Henredon Classic, Kathy Whitworth made a historic hole-in-one: It was her 11th and final ace in LPGA Tour play. Whitworth's 11 career aces are not just the LPGA record, but the most by any professional golfer on a single tour.

Patty Sheehan was the tournament's only two-time champ, winning back-to-back in 1983-84. The event's 72-hole scoring record of 268 was set by Nancy Lopez in 1985. Lopez won by 10 strokes over runner-up Val Skinner that year, also the tournament-record for margin of victory.

And Lopez's 268 in 1985 wasn't just a tournament record. At the time, that 268 was the lowest 72-hole score ever recorded on the LPGA Tour. Lopez had 25 sub-par holes that week, also an all-time LPGA record at the time — and nearly half her season total of 58 sub-par holes (also an LPGA record at the time).

The tournament, under both its names, was played each year at Willow Creek Country Club in High Point, North Carolina.

Sources:
Greensboro (N.C.) News and Record. "Planters gets introduction to an old scoring system," July 31, 1988.
LPGA Tour. 1989 Player Guide, All-Time Records, Ladies Professional Golf Association, 1989.
LPGA Tour. Tournament Chronology, 1980-1989, via Wayback Machine, https://web.archive.org/web/20110629095854/http://www.lpga.com/content/Chronology80-89.pdf.
LPGA Tour. Tournament Chronology, 1990-1999, via Wayback Machine, https://web.archive.org/web/20070920192212/http://www.lpga.com/content/Chronology90-99.pdf.
White Plains (N.Y.) Reporter Dispatch. "Golfer Zimmerman Scorches Henredon," Associated Press, August 10, 1987.