(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hilton Grand Vacations Inc. (NYSE:HGV), the industry-leading global vacation ownership company, opened the 2022 LPGA Tour season with the record-breaking Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. This year’s event was the most attended LPGA Tour season opener with nearly three times the number of tickets sold over previous years and the tournament’s largest purse size to-date.
The four-day tournament wrapped on Sunday, Jan. 23 with LPGA Tour player and 2017 Major Champion Danielle Kang winning the Professional Title and 2004 World Series Champion Derek Lowe clinching the Celebrity Title.
The 2022 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, the first under Hilton Grand Vacations since its acquisition of Diamond Resorts, featured 50 beloved celebrities, athletes and entertainers playing alongside 29 LPGA champions at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Florida.
Kang took the Professional Title with multiple birdies during her Sunday play, giving her the lead over Nelly Korda, Brooke Henderson and Gaby López for the LPGA Tour’s first win of the season. LPGA Tour champions played 72 holes of no-cut stroke play for $1.5 million in official prize money, a 25% increase from the 2021 purse. Celebrity participants competed for a $500,000 purse using a modified Stableford format.
The celebrity field ended with Lowe and LPGA Hall of Famer and Lake Nona resident Annika Sörenstam going stroke-to-stroke and needing one extra hole to determine the victor. After sinking a 25-foot putt for birdie on the playoff hole, Lowe won the title and $100,000 in prize money.
“The first Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions was one for the record books,” said Mark Wang, president and CEO of Hilton Grand Vacations. “Congratulations to the LPGA Tour’s Danielle Kang for winning the Professional Title and Derek Lowe for claiming the Celebrity Title, both having such strong performances down to the very last hole. We’re thrilled that spectators and fans had such a fun and engaging experience, and we look forward to what’s in store for future Tournament of Champions.”
As part of the company’s corporate social responsibility program – HGV Serves – Hilton Grand Vacations will make a $100,000 donation to Annika Sörenstam’s ANNIKA Foundation to help expand opportunities for female golfers at the junior, collegiate and professional levels. This donation includes proceeds from the tournament’s on-site silent auction, which raised over $80,000.
During the Tournament week, Hilton Grand Vacations also hosted a Women’s Leadership Conference, featuring Sörenstam, along with women leaders from a variety of industries.
Off the course, HGV and Diamond owners, along with invited guests, had the exclusive opportunity to attend three nights of live music under the stars at the open-air Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions stage in Lake Nona Town Center. Attendees were treated to performances by GRAMMY Award-winning artists Sheryl Crow, LeAnn Rimes, Sara Evans, Boyz II Men, Gin Blossoms and Goo Goo Dolls.
For highlights from this year’s Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, visit: www.HGVLPGA.com.
The Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions has partnered with the Tavistock Group, owner and developer of Lake Nona, to return to the renowned Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in 2023 and 2024. Stay tuned for dates.