Projo Sports Blog

BARRINGTON _ Women not only will continue to compete in the CVS Caremark Charity Classic, they will become a bigger presence than ever this year.

At least four of the world's top women pros will take part in the 11th annual CVS event June 21-23 at Rhode Island Country Club, tournament officials announced today.

Women did not take part in the $1.55 million event until two years ago. One team of two women has competed in each of the last two years.

This year, at least four women will play in the 36-hole event, although with a major change in format. The women who will play, Hall of Famer Juli Inkster, Natalie Gulbis, Morgan Pressel and Helen Alfredsson, will not work together.

Each will be paired with a male pro, making four of the 10 partnerships mixed teams. Co-host Brad Faxon will partner with Inkster; Billy Andrade, the other co-host, will combine with Sweden's Alfredsson; tournament regular Davis Love III will partner, by request, with Pressel; and Peter Jacobsen, whose company operates the event, will team with Gulbis.

``You want to keep freshening it up,'' said Tom Ryan, the president and CEO of CVS. ``When we had the two women, Natalie and Juli, the first time, it was overwhelming. They were terrific. They're great ambassadors of golf. The reaction from the fans was great so we said, `Why not do some more.' ''

``It's great for our tournament,'' agreed Faxon.

Two other teams also were named. Rhode Islanders Dana and Brett Quigley, who have copeted in every event, will stay together as they have done in the past and young stars Camilo Villegas and Bubba Watson will be back to defend the title they won last year.

The remaining eight players will be announced at a later date. Ryan and Faxon both hinted that it is very possible that even more women could be added to the field.

The event raised $1.8 million for area charities last year and has donated more than $12 million to charity in its first 10 years.

 Tags  Billy Andrade Brad Faxon CVS Caremark Classic Tom Ryan

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