LPGA Sybase Classic Attracts Star-Studded Field

Tournament Begins May 14 at Upper Montclair Country Club

New Jersey native Diana D’Alessio will play in the Sybase Classic.

May 4, 2009 — The LPGA Tour makes its annual stop in the Met Area next week for the Sybase Classic Presented by ShopRite, from May 14 through 17 at Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, N.J. Lorena Ochoa will try for her fourth consecutive victory in the championship and the all-star field features all of the top ten players in the World Ranking. This is the only chance for Met Area golf fans to see local favorites Meaghan Francella (Port Chester, N.Y.) and Diana D’Alessio (Flanders, N.J.) compete in the tri-state region.

Upper Montclair Country Club, one of the Met Area’s finest courses, will host the Sybase Classic for the third consecutive year. The club boasts 27 holes designed by Robert Trent Jones and has a long history of hosting top-level competition. Upper Montclair was the longtime host of the Cadillac NFL Classic on the Senior Tour, and also hosted two previous LPGA events: the Coca-Cola Classic and the Chrysler-Plymouth Charity Classic. The Metropolitan Golf Association has conducted nine championships at the club, most notably the 1990 Ike Championship and 1976 Met Open.

For the fifth consecutive year, the MGA Foundation will host an MGA/MetLife Junior Clinic on-site at the Sybase Classic on Saturday, May 16. The Junior Clinic will feature instruction from top Met Area teaching professionals as well as fun, interactive golf games for the participants. The group will include youngsters from LPGA Girls Golf, Total Golf Adventures and The First Tee of Essex County at Weequahic Park in Newark, N.J., one of five First Tee of Metropolitan New York sites in the Met Area that will attend the clinic.

For Sybase Classic ticket information, visit www.sybaseclassic.com. Full coverage of local players in the field and results will be available each day of the championship in the Tour Watch section of www.mgagolf.org. For more information on the MGA/MetLife Clinic, please contact Riley McCarthy (rmccarthy@mgagolf.org) at 914-347-4653.