Pure Silk Championship

Held at the Kingsmill Resort just south of Williamsburg, it formerly had one of the highest purses on the LPGA Tour, which attracted a very competitive field. It was voted the players' favorite stop on the tour in 2007 and fans' favorite tournament in 2008.[3]

With a purse of $2.2 million, the winner of this LPGA tournament automatically qualified for the season-ending LPGA Playoffs at The ADT, during the years the Playoffs were held, from 2006 through 2008. The purse for the revived event in 2012 was $1.3 million. The tournament was sponsored by Michelob ULTRA beer, and its parent company Anheuser-Busch. As of 2007, Anheuser-Busch had donated over $1.3 million to 30 different charities through the event. At the 2009 tournament, there was speculation that Anheuser-Busch would not continue its sponsorship; the late-2000s recession and the company's pending acquisition by InBev were among the factors.[4]

The talk led that year's winner, Cristie Kerr, and other players to lobby to keep the tournament.[4] In September 2009, Anheuser-Busch announced the discontinuation of its sponsorship of the event, and the LPGA Tour lost one of its most prominent stops.[3]

The decision came at a difficult time for the LPGA, which lost a number of events during 2008 and 2009.[3][4]

Sign outside Kingsmill Golf Club
showing winners of the events

At the 2012 event, Jiyai Shin won a sudden-death playoff with Paula Creamer that extended to nine holes and a fifth day. After eight consecutive pars by both, all played on the par-4 18th hole, darkness forced the playoff's suspension until Monday morning. Play was restarted on the 16th hole, and Creamer bogeyed with three putts while Shin parred.[5] Both were a day late arriving to the Women's British Open in England; Shin won the year's final major by nine strokes and Creamer finished third.

Kerr won her third title at Kingsmill in a playoff in 2013 over Suzann Pettersen, the 2007 champion. The playoff went two holes, both played on #18, and ended when Kerr sank her putt for par. The sudden-death format was changed in 2013 to play that finishing hole three times, then move to over to #16 if a fourth hole was necessary.[6]

Kerr is the only multiple winner, with victories in 2005, 2009, and 2013. Annika Sörenstam set the event's 72-hole scoring record in 2008 at 265, 19 strokes under par. Shin set the stop's single round record in 2012, with a 62 (−9) in the first round.

• 2003: Michelob Light Open at Kingsmill
• 2004–2009: Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill
• 2012–2017: Kingsmill Championship
• 2018: Kingsmill Championship presented by GEICO
• 2019–2021: Pure Silk Championship presented by Visit Williamsburg

River Course in 2013[1]

Opened 48 years ago in 1975, the River Course was designed by noted course architect Pete Dye, who also supervised its renovation in 2004.[7]

Year	Date	Champion	Country	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Purse ($)	Winner's share ($)
Pure Silk Championship
2021	May 20–23	Hsu Wei-ling	Chinese Taipei	66-72-65-68=271	−13	2 strokes	1,300,000	195,000
2019	May 23–26	Bronte Law	England	65-68-67-67=267	−17	2 strokes	1,300,000	195,000
Kingsmill Championship
2018	May 17–20	Ariya Jutanugarn (2)	Thailand	66-67-66=199	−14	Playoff	1,300,000	195,000
2017	May 18–21	Lexi Thompson	United States	65-65-69-65=264	−20	5 strokes	1,300,000	195,000
2016	May 19–22	Ariya Jutanugarn	Thailand	69-69-65-67=270	−14	1 stroke	1,300,000	195,000
2015	May 14–18 ^	Minjee Lee	Australia	68-67-69-65=269	−15	2 strokes	1,300,000	195,000
2014	May 15–18	Lizette Salas	United States	67-68-65-71=271	−13	4 strokes	1,300,000	195,000
2013	May 2–5	Cristie Kerr (3)	United States	66-71-66-69=272	−12	Playoff	1,300,000	195,000
2012	Sep 6–10	Jiyai Shin	South Korea	62-68-69-69=268	−16	Playoff	1,300,000	195,000
2011	No tournament
2010
Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill
2009	May 7–10	Cristie Kerr (2)	United States	69-63-66-70=268	−16	2 strokes	2,200,000	330,000
2008	May 8–11	Annika Sörenstam	Sweden	64-66-69-66=265	−19	7 strokes	2,200,000	330,000
2007	May 10–13	Suzann Pettersen	Norway	66-72-68-61=274	−10	Playoff	2,200,000	330,000
2006	May 11–14	Karrie Webb	Australia	66-68-68-70=270	−14	7 strokes	2,200,000	330,000
2005	May 5–8	Cristie Kerr	United States	68-68-68-72=276	−8	5 strokes	2,200,000	330,000
2004	May 6–9	Se Ri Pak	South Korea	70-71-69-65=275	−9	2 strokes	2,200,000	330,000
Michelob Light Open at Kingsmill
2003	May 1–4	Grace Park	South Korea	67-68-69-71=275	−9	1 stroke	1,600,000	240,000

^ Play extended one day due to rain delays.

Lexi Thompson at Kingsmill in 2013

* Tournament winner

• Official website
• Coverage on the LPGA Tour's official site
• Kingsmill Resort – LPGA event

37.225°N 76.668°W / 37.225; -76.668