The Canadian Women's Open (French: Omnium féminin du Canada), currently branded as the CPKC Women's Open for sponsorship reasons, is a women's professional golf tournament managed by Golf Canada. It has been Canada's national championship tournament since its founding in 1973, and is an official event on the LPGA Tour.
History
Originally a three-round (54-hole) tournament for its first six years; it has been a four-round (72-hole) tournament since 1978. From 1979 through 2000, the event was one of the LPGA Tour's four major championships. In 2001, due to a loss of sponsorship as a result of Canadian law, its status was stripped, and was replaced by the Women's British Open, an existing event which was already a major on the Ladies European Tour.[1][2]
In 2007 and 2008, it was the final "winner" event of the LPGA season—i.e., an event in which the winner earns an automatic berth in the LPGA season-ending championship, the LPGA Tour Championship. As of 2009, the LPGA no longer uses this system to determine players who qualify for the Tour Championship. From 2007 to 2009, the CWO was the third richest event on the LPGA Tour, behind only the U.S. Women's Open and the Evian Masters in France. The prize fund was reduced in 2010 and 2012, but the $2.25 million purse remains among the highest on the LPGA Tour.[3]
In 2012, amateurLydia Ko became the youngest-ever winner of an LPGA Tour event. At 15 years and four months, she surpassed the record set by Lexi Thompson at 16 years and seven months in September 2011. Ko's win also made her only the fifth amateur to have won an LPGA Tour event, and the first in over 43 years.
She successfully defended her win as an amateur in 2013, and won her third in 2015 as a professional.
In 2018 Brooke Henderson became the first Canadian in 45 years, and only the second ever after Jocelyne Bourassa won the inaugural event in 1973, to win Canada's national open.[4]
Title sponsorship
The tournament was first known as La Canadienne, as the event was held in Quebec. In 1974, it was sponsored by Imperial Tobacco Canada, becoming the Peter Jackson Classic until 1984, after which it became the du Maurier Classic; both Peter Jackson and du Maurier are cigarettes within the Imperial Tobacco Canada umbrella.
From 1988, the tournament was officially titled the du Maurier Ltd. Classic due to advertising restrictions that came into force under the federal Tobacco Products Control Act; the sponsorship was officially with du Maurier as a company and not the du Maurier brand, as the law did not restrict manufacturers themselves from sponsoring cultural and sporting events.
In 2000, the tournament was threatened by new regulations prohibiting any tobacco advertising at sports and cultural events, requiring du Maurier to end its sponsorship. Organizers stated that they were having difficulties finding a sponsor, and could not assure that the event would be held again in 2001. Due to this uncertainty, the LPGA Tour stripped the du Maurier of its major status in favour of the Women's British Open.[1][5][2]
In November 2000, it was announced that the Bank of Montréal would become the new sponsor under a five-year deal, renaming it the Bank of Montreal Canadian Women's Open.[6] The bank declined to renew the sponsorship; in 2006, the Canadian National Railway became sponsor, renaming it the CN Canadian Women's Open.[7]
In November 2013, the Canadian Pacific Railway took over title sponsorship of the Canadian Women's Open and the event name was changed to Canadian Pacific Women's Open (later shortened to simply the CP Women's Open). Canadian Pacific also increased the purse to US$2.25 million.[8] Canadian Pacific merged with Kansas City Southern Railway in 2023 as Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC);[9][10] CPKC inherited the sponsorship, and announced an agreement to renew it through at least 2026. The purse further increased to US$2.5 million.[11]
^ Since Ko was an amateur, runners-up Inbee Park in 2012 and Karine Icher in 2013 won the $300,000 winner's share. Note: Green highlight indicates scoring records.
Winners when the event was a major, from 1979 to 2000
