The Lotte Championship, an LPGA Tour event sponsored by Lotte Group, will shift its timing and venue starting next year to form part of a revived "Hawaiian Swing." [Photo=LPGA]
The Lotte Championship, an LPGA Tour event sponsored by Lotte Group, will shift its timing and venue starting next year to form part of a revived "Hawaiian Swing." [Photo=LPGA]

The LPGA Tour is reviving its "Hawaiian Swing" for the first time in about 20 years.

Golfweek reported Tuesday that the LPGA Tour is finalizing plans to hold multiple consecutive tournaments in the Hawaiian Islands as part of an effort to streamline its schedule and boost global competitiveness. Under the plan, the Lotte Championship and a newly created event, the Nanea Cup, will be held back-to-back in Hawaii in March next year.

The move mirrors the PGA Tour's long-running Hawaiian Swing model, which has for years paired the Sentry at Kapalua Plantation Course in Maui with the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club near Honolulu in consecutive weeks each January. The format also carries a significant commercial advantage: Hawaii's unique time difference allows broadcasters to secure prime-time slots on the US East Coast.

Lotte Group extended its title sponsorship of the Lotte Championship with the LPGA Tour by five years after this past May's edition. At the same time, the tournament will move from October to March and shift its venue to the Plantation Course at Kapalua Golf Club on Maui — the same course that hosts the PGA Tour's season opener, the Sentry.

The Lotte Championship will be paired with the newly established Nanea Cup, which carries a purse of $4 million and will be held at Nanea Golf Club on the Big Island, forming the back-to-back Hawaiian Swing. Lotte Group will also provide players with an annual living allowance of $250,000 to support their welfare and help cover the costs of an extended stay on tour.

The last time the LPGA Tour officially ran a Hawaiian Swing was in the mid-2000s, when it linked the SBS Open at Turtle Bay on Oahu and the Fields Open at Ko Olina in consecutive weeks as a marquee early-season stretch.

The format drew strong fan interest at the time, with top stars of the era — including Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa and Park Se-ri — competing through Hawaii's powerful trade winds. The swing collapsed after the 2008 global financial crisis sharply curtailed title sponsorships, and the Lotte Championship, founded in 2012, became the sole surviving Hawaii event on the tour.

When the Hawaiian Swing returns next year, players will face consecutive weeks of adapting to Hawaii's distinctive Bermuda grass and strong winds, raising the competitive intensity. Given the tour's high proportion of Asian players, the consecutive Hawaii events are also expected to serve as a geographic buffer before players make the longer journey to the US mainland.


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