Brownsville lures women's golf tournament

Four years after coming to McAllen, the Rio Grande Valley's only professional women's golf tournament will move to the Brownsville area in 2009.

The Historic Brownsville Open, as it will be called, will be held from April 20-26 at the Rancho Viejo Country Club. One-hundred and forty-four professional female golfers with the Duramed FUTURES Tour will play for a $110,000 purse.

"You're going to see the stars of tomorrow, and you're going to see them in your backyard," said Zayra F. Calderon, the tour's CEO at a press conference on Wednesday.

The event was called the Jalapeño Duramed Futures Golf Classic during its years in McAllen, but due to problems with sponsorship, Calderon was open to Brownsville's bid.

"We landed it and it's here," said Mariano "Bean" Ayala, president and CEO of the Brownsville Convention and Vistors Bureau.

Ayala said he hopes the tournament will be a part of a larger golf resurgence in Brownsville, where the tournament will remain until at least 2011. A pro-am tournament and a children's event will also be featured in April. Some of the profits will be donated to a charity, which has not yet been named.

The Duramed FUTURES Tour is the world's largest developmental tour, sending many players to the Ladies Professional Golf Association. Its top 10 money winners gain LPGA membership every year.