The Marathon Classic, in full the Marathon Classic Presented by Dana, is a women's professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour. It was founded in 1984 and has been played yearly, except in 1986 and 2011, in Sylvania, Ohio, a suburb northwest of Toledo. The tournament is televised by Golf Channel.
History
The tournament was founded after PGA Tour caddie Judd Silverman, a Toledo native, sought to bring a ladies professional golf tournament to his hometown. He contacted sponsors and actor Jamie Farr, also a Toledo native, brought his name and several of his celebrity friends to the tournament. Throughout the history of the event, children's charities in Northwest Ohio and Southern Michigan have been the charitable beneficiaries of the tournament. They have received more than $6.2 million during the event's history. From 2004 to 2010, the title sponsor was Owens Corning, the world's largest manufacturer of fiberglass and related products, headquartered in Toledo, near the site of the tournament. In 2012, they became a presenting sponsor. Kroger, one of the largest American supermarket chains, with headquarters in Cincinnati, has also been involved as a sponsor of the tournament since 1997. Owens-Illinois became a sponsor in 2012. From 1984 to 1988, the tournament was held in the village of Holland at Glengarry Country Club which became Stone Oak Country Club The event moved several miles north in 1989 to its current home, Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, just south of the Michiganstate line. The largest playoff in LPGA history took place at the 1999 Jamie Farr, a six-player affair involving Karrie Webb, Carin Koch, Sherri Steinhauer, Se Ri Pak, Kelli Kuehne, and Mardi Lunn. Defending champion Pak won it on first hole of sudden death, sinking a birdie putt. In 2007, Pak won the Farr for the fifth time, becoming only the fourth player on the LPGA Tour to win the same tournament five times. The tournament was at risk of ending after 2009, due to a variety of circumstances including the slumping worldwide economy and reported dissatisfaction with LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens. Late in August 2009, after Bivens had resigned under pressure, it was announced that the tournament would continue for at least one more year, albeit with a sharply reduced purse. On June 29, 2010, LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan announced the Farr Classic would return for at least three more years beginning in 2012. The tournament took a one-year hiatus in 2011, as the Toledo area hosted the U.S. Senior Open, a major championship on the Champions Tour, at the Inverness Club in late July. A similar break occurred in 1986, when the PGA Championship was at Inverness in August. On December 2, 2011, tournament director Judd Silverman announced that the Jamie Farr Classic would have a new name and a new logo; it became the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic Presented by Kroger, Owens Corning and O-I. On January 8, 2013, the LPGA announced that Marathon Petroleum was replacing Jamie Farr as the title sponsor. In 2016, the event received broadcast network coveragefor the first time when CBS Sports televised the final round live. Tournament names through the years:
