LPGA adds tournament on Oahu in April

As Michelle Wie prepares to graduate from Stanford and Stephanie Kono and Ayaka Kaneko embark on their rookie seasons, the LPGA is about to bring them all back home.

The tour will announce today that the $1.7 million LPGA Lotte Championship Presented by J Golf will be played April 18-21 on Oahu. A course for the full-field event will be announced soon. It is expected to be Ko Olina, sources said.

The three-year agreement with Lotte, an industrial conglomerate in Korea and Japan, brings the tour back to Hawaii after a three-year absence.

The tournament will be broadcast on the Golf Channel. It is the fifth tournament added to the LPGA schedule for 2012.

Lotte also sponsors two Korean LPGA events. J Golf is the LPGA’s television rights holder in Korea.