History of the Tournament
Thirty Glorious Years!
In 1977, Bill Griffiths believed a Ladies Professional Golf tournament offered a way to assist the Corning Country Club’s revenue and membership opportunities, while at the same time raising funds for area hospitals. He presented his idea that year to the club’s board of directors which included Corning Glass Works executives Van Campbell and George Douglas. They thought enough of Bill’s idea to put it before Corning Incorporated top management group. The company bought into it enthusiastically, and tapped Douglas to be the event’s first general chairman. Campbell Rutledge, Jr., then a recently retired vice president of sales and public relations was assigned the marketing, sales and promotion responsibilities. Thus, the LPGA Corning Classic born.
To oversee the first tournament, the group hired Ken Young of Los Angeles as the LPGA Corning Classic’s first tournament producer. At the time, he was the husband of LPGA Professional Donna Caponi. A touch of marketing savvy there, because it made it likely one of the top LPGA stars of the period would be in our field. In 1980, Caponi became our second LPGA Corning Classic Champion.
In this tournament’s early years, Douglas noted: “With such a complicated job, success comes from positive-thinking people – lots of them – who see the opportunity rather than the problem.” Good marketing played a major role too. The Corning event’s founders did much to foster the “friendly down home country image” of our area among the LPGA players they set about attracting. It worked, thanks in no small part to the efforts and attitude of some 800 volunteers whose number has held quite steadily through 30 years.
Key to getting our volunteers off on the right foot was Gerald Scanlon of Elmira. For the 1979 tournament, Scanlon and his committee trained 730 volunteers from throughout the twin tiers area. That initial cadre set the tone for all subsequent Classic volunteers and tournaments. They, and their successors, have played a major role in making the LPGA Corning Classic one of the best-run and best-regarded events on the LPGA Tour.
Douglas was succeeded as general chairman in 1987 by Lee Robbins, an LPGA Corning Classic volunteer since 1979. Douglas, who greatly loved the Classic and all that went into it, was taken ill during Tournament Week in 1980 and died even as the tournament was in progress. In his honor and memory, everyone associated with the classic – players, volunteers, sponsors and even folks in the gallery – wore black ribbons throughout the tournament.
After 10 years, Robbins was succeeded by Jack Benjamin in 1997. Benjamin continues as the LPGA Corning Classic president and, for the past two years, has also been president of the LPGA Tournament Owners’ Association.
Along Came Television
After six years of brief local tournament updates dropped in during Saturday and Sunday national telecasts of the J.C.Penney Skins Game played in Texas the same weekend, our event “graduated” to full four-round coverage on The Golf Channel in 1998. It has been a fixture there ever since. All associated with our tournament and our whole Southern- and Twin-Tier area greatly appreciates this TV exposure and the vignettes of our area that are presented to The Golf Channel’s world-wide viewing audience.
Growth Over the Years
The tournament’s growth over the years is reflected in the tournament office moves. Initially, the LPGA Corning Classic “office” was George Douglas’ office in the 9-story corporate headquarters building on Corning’s north side.
When Douglas was named head of Corning Enterprises, he moved to the third floor of the Baron Steuben Building, taking the tournament office functions with him. He later moved up to the sixth floor, and, even later, down to the street level first floor.
Each year, from March through early June, the Classic offices were relocated for logistical purposes to Charlie Keating’s house and garage just east of the Country Club driveway. In 1990, the tournament finally got its own office – at the west end of the new Pro Shop building on the site of the former swimming pool and pool house. The latter were relocated down the driveway. But the three-month “occupation” of the Keating house continued for another six years. In 2001, renovation of the former Turf Club/Rumors Night Club building was completed and the Classic had its own dedicated building in its present location appropriately named - LPGA Drive.
The Tournament Office is “home” to Dawn Marie Castellana, Tournament Director; Denece Gossie, Tournament Manager, Volunteers and Projects; and Jonathan Wilbur, Operations Coordinator / The First Tee of Corning Coordinator. All are full time employees. They are supported throughout the year by an outstanding volunteer (she was Volunteer of the Year in 2005) Sandi Sullivan who, though a volunteer, can be found in the office most every day all year long, (except during golf season). As the tournament draws closer, Sandi is joined by any number of veteran Classic volunteers who provide willing hands for the prep work and logistics that go into the staging of an LPGA tournament.
The Tournament Office is also home to the LPGA Corning Classic’s Hall of Fame, whose first members inducted in 1993 were George Douglas, Bill Griffiths, Campbell Rutledge, Edith Cotter, Charlie Keating and the Hon. Amory and Mrs. Laura Houghton. These six have since been joined by Van Campbell and Past LPGA Commissioner Charlie Mechem in 1995. Lee Robbins and Brian Gray were inducted in 1996 and H. David Goff and Jack Moore were added in 1998.
Purse & Proceeds Growth
No story about the growth of the LPGA Corning Classic would be complete without reflecting on the event’s fiscal growth. The tournament purse, which started out as $100,000 – with the winner getting $15,000 – stands this year at $1.5 million. This year’s winner will collect $225,000, two and a quarter times what Penny Pulz earned in 1979.
More important, with the record $315,000 in charity disbursements last October, the LPGA Corning Classic has paid out more than $5 million to our event’s beneficiaries – our Twin Tiers area hospitals, The Rotary Club Camp STAR program, the Lions Club Sight Preservation services, The First Tee, Corning, and the George Douglas Scholarship Fund.
This year’s 30th LPGA Corning Classic extends its distinction as the longest-running LPGA professional golf tournament under the same name, corporate sponsorship (Corning Incorporated), and venue (Corning Country Club). Everyone associated with this tournament is proud of that achievement and looks forward to extending it.