The Sara Lee Classic was a

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

tournament on the

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

from 1988 to 2002. It was played at Hermitage Golf Course in Old Hickory, Tennessee from 1988 to 1999. In 2000, the tournament moved to the Legends Club of Tennessee in

Franklin, Tennessee Franklin is a city in and the county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. About south of Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area and Middle Tennessee. As of 2020 Uni ...

and changed its name to the Electrolux USA Championship. The tournament was hosted by singers

Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He played in a number of local bluegrass music, bluegrass bands in the 1970s, and from 1978 to 1982, he achieved his first mainstream attention after ta ...

and

Amy Grant Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She began her music career in contemporary Christian music (CCM) before crossing over to pop music in the mid-1980s. Grant has been referred to as "Honorific ...

in its final three years.

Winners

;Aerus Electrolux USA Championship Hosted by Vince Gill and Amy Grant *2002

Annika Sörenstam Annika Charlotta Sörenstam (; born 9 October 1970) is a Swedish professional golfer regarded as one of the best female golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she had won 96 international p ...

;Electrolux USA Championship Hosted by Vince Gill and Amy Grant *2001

Juli Inkster Juli Inkster (nee Simpson; born June 24, 1960) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. With a professional career spanning 29 years to date, Inkster's 31 wins rank her second in wins among all active players on the LPGA T ...

*2000

Pat Hurst Pat Hurst (born May 23, 1969) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. Hurst's mother is originally from Japan and her father is an American of German heritage. She was born in San Leandro, California, and raised in the ...

;Sara Lee Classic *1999

Meg Mallon Meg Mallon (born April 14, 1963) is an American professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1987 and won 18 LPGA Tour events, including four major championships, during her career. Mallon was inducted into the World Golf Hall o ...

*1998 Barb Mucha *1997

Terry-Jo Myers Terry-Jo Myers (born July 23, 1962) is an American professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour. Myers won three times on the LPGA Tour between 1988 and 1997. Myers suffered from interstitial cystitis Interstitial cystitis (IC), a type ...

*1996

*1995 Michelle McGann *1994

Laura Davies Dame Laura Jane Davies, (born 5 October 1963) is an English professional golfer. She has achieved the status of her nation's most accomplished female golfer of modern times, being the second non-American to finish at the top of the LPGA mone ...

*1993

*1992 Maggie Will *1991

Nancy Lopez Nancy Marie Lopez (born January 6, 1957) is an American former professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1977 LPGA Tour, 1977 and won 48 LPGA Tour events, including three women's major golf championships, major championships. ...

*1990 Ayako Okamoto *1989 Kathy Postlewait *1988 Patti Rizzo

Tournament highlights

*1988: The inaugural version of the tournament is decided in a sudden death playoff involving four players. Patti Rizzo birdies the fifth extra hole to defeat Sherri Turner after Tammie Green and Kim Williams had previously dropped out on the playoff's first hole. *1991:

, pregnant with her third child, wins by two shots over Kris Monaghan. *1995: Michelle McGann wins on the LPGA Tour for the first time. She finished one shot ahead of defending champion

. *2002:

wins the last edition of the tournament by shooting a final round 64 to finish one shot ahead of

. Hurst came to the tournament's final hole tied for the lead but hit a ball into the water leading to a bogey.

1992 fire

Three-time LPGA Tour winner Cathy Gerring suffered severe burns after finishing her second round of play in that year's Sara Lee Classic. Gerring was in a buffet line at a tournament hospitality tent when a catering employee Mike Singleton tried to restart a fire with denatured alcohol. Flames erupted, engulfing Gerring from the waist up. Gerring was immediately taken to a nearby burn unit. Gerring did not play pro golf again until 1996, but never recovered her form. Three years after the accident, Gerring settled a lawsuit she filed against the catering company whose employee caused the fire to happen.A Sad Fate: Seriously burned in 1992, Cathy Gerring longs to play competitive golf again
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References

External links

Tournament results (1988-99) at Golfobserver.comTournament results (2000-02) at Golfobserver.comHermitage Golf Course
{{Former LPGA Tour Events Former LPGA Tour events Golf tournaments in Tennessee Sports competitions in Nashville, Tennessee Women's sports in Tennessee Recurring sporting events established in 1988 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2002 1988 establishments in Tennessee 2002 disestablishments in Tennessee