Michelle Wie West to host inaugural LPGA/AJGA event at Liberty National in 2023

JERSEY CITY N.J. — With Lady Liberty looking over, an inaugural LPGA event will take place June 1-4, 2023. 

The Mizuho Americas Open — hosted by Michelle Wie West — is coming to Liberty National Golf Club, where 120 players will tee it up with a backdrop of New York City and vie for a purse of $2.75 million — the largest of the LPGA’s non-major tournaments. 

In addition, the Mizuho Americas Open will simultaneously host an American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) invitational. Twenty-four female  AJGA players will compete alongside the LPGA field for their own individual title. Then, in Rounds 3 and 4, the LPGA’s leaders will be paired with the AJGA’s leader — and so on down the leaderboard. 

“When I announced that I was stepping away from competitive golf earlier this season, my goal was to continue to live by the LPGA mantra to ‘Act Like a Founder,’ and to leave the game in a better place than I found it,” Wie West said in a press conference Friday at Liberty National. 

“With the help of Mizuho Americas and the amazing partners that have joined together to bring this to Liberty National, we’ll be able to do just that and impact future generations of the game. I am so proud to host this groundbreaking event and partner with a company that sees the value in supporting women’s golf.”

Liberty National has hosted PGA Tour FedExCup Playoff events and the 2017 Presidents Cup, but never an LPGA tournament. Recently, the world’s best female players have been given the opportunity to play famed courses for the first time — such as Muirfield at this year’s AIG Women’s Open and Pebble Beach at next year’s U.S. Women’s Open.

Now, with the Mizuho Americas Open, another step is being taken in equating the men’s and women’s games. 

“The (LPGA), we are on the rise and we are elevating our tour every day, and to be associated with the very best is what we’re looking to do,” LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said. “We’ve all watched these amazing courses for years. We’ve seen the men playing out there and now to insert the very best women in the world, you’ll get a sense of their talent. … The statistics and data we’re seeing come out of the LPGA right now are off the charts and very comparable to the men, and to put them at the same venue makes a big difference.”