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The LPGA has modified its criteria to allow certain events to offer a sponsor exemption to the reigning U.S. Women's Amateur champion if an LPGA event is staged in her home state, officials have announced.

Next month's SBS Open at Turtle Bay and Fields Open in Hawaii, the first two official events of the 2007 LPGA Tour season, will be first events to benefit from this modification. Reigning U.S. Women's Amateur champion Kimberly Kim is from Hawaii.

This new U.S. Amateur exemption would be in addition to the events' contracted sponsor exemptions and would only be enacted if the U.S. Women's Amateur champion is still an amateur at the time of the LPGA event.

In addition, the exemption cannot be offered if it would decrease the playing opportunities for LPGA players. The two Hawaii events plan to expand their field sizes to 138 players from the previous level of 132 players, adding five more slots for LPGA players.

• The developmental Duramed Futures Tour will become the title sponsor of the National Golf Coaches Association All-American golf teams for NCAA Women's Divisions I, II and III, tour officials have announced. For the next two years, the Futures Tour will also grant each first-team Division I All-American three exemptions to compete in tournaments during the season.

The partnership will allow the Futures Tour to work closely with college coaches throughout the year to help prepare their senior players with the transition from amateur to professional golf, officials said.

• Three LPGA Tour rookies recently teamed up with new sponsors for the 2007 season. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke and Kristy McPherson will represent PeakVision Sports, while Song Hee Kim has signed a contract with FILA Korea that is said to be the largest endorsement contract for a Korean rookie since Se Ri Pak signed with CJ in 1998.

Kim, the Futures Tour 2006 Rookie of the Year, will wear FILA apparel and appear in advertisements for the duration of the two-year contract.

• The third annual Jameson Classic, held Jan. 20 in Boca Raton, Fla., raised nearly $50,000 for two LPGA Foundation programs, LPGA officials said. The LPGA Financial Assistance Fund and LPGA-USGA Girls Golf are the annual beneficiaries of the event, which has raised more than $100,000 in its three years.

The event, named in honor of LPGA co-founder Betty Jameson, teamed celebrities and amateurs along with 29 LPGA Tour players. Among them were JoAnne Carner, Heather Daly-Donofrio, Beth Daniel, Annette DeLuca, Jackie Gallagher-Smith, Leta Lindley, Michelle McGann, Morgan Pressel and Karrie Webb.

• The $1.4 million Sybase Classic is moving from Wykagyl Country Club in the New York suburbs of Manhattan to the Upper Montclair Country Club in northern New Jersey. Octagon Sports Marketing has signed a two-year contract with the Clifton-based club for the 72-hole LPGA Tour event.

There is an option for a third year, said Octagon executive Tim Erensen, adding that the extra year would depend on whether the club either finishes or delays planned construction.

Club President Richard Dolan said there are plans for several improvements over the next three years, including a new sprinkler system.

"We're very excited about having this tournament," he said. "We had the NFL tournament [the Cadillac NFL Classic on the Champions Tour] here for 10 years, and it's not beyond the realm of possibility that this one could be here as long."

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