Shanghai, China: The LPGA has been forced to cancel a tournament in China less than one month before its scheduled start after failure to receive approval from the local government.
The Alisports LPGA tournament was scheduled to take place from October 5-8.
Mike Whan, the LPGA Commissioner, released a statement which said: “Unfortunately, we have just received word that the tournament was unsuccessful in obtaining approval from the local district government.
“The hardest part about this news is that we have a title sponsor, a tournament operator, a TV production group and a host venue all set to go.
“However, in China, sporting events of this nature cannot take place without approvals at multiple levels – and the local approval was denied.
“This news is very disappointing, particularly in that it comes less than a month before the event was scheduled to take place.”
It’s the second time in three years that tournament, previously known as the Reignwood LPGA Classic, has been cancelled.
Whan said the LPGA hoped the event – won by Korean Kim In-kyung last year – would be back on the schedule for 2018.
A Reuters report said that Alisports, a division of Alibaba Group, announced last October that it was partnering with the LPGA ‘to own an LPGA tournament hosted annually in mainland China for the next 10 years’.