Some of the world's best women golfers are in Portland this week for the Standard Portland Classic, a tournament that carries a distinction few Pacific Northwest sporting events can claim: it is the LPGA Tour's only stop in the region. Wednesday's pro-am at Columbia Edgewater Country Club gave fans an early look at a field packed with major international talent ahead of four days of competition running August 13 through 16.
Fox 12 photojournalist Devin Eskew covered the pro-am Wednesday for an event preview, capturing the buildup before tournament play begins, according to KPTV. This year's edition marks the 54th playing of the tournament, making it the longest-running non-major event on the LPGA Tour schedule since it was founded in 1972, according to the LPGA. The tournament is, notably, older than three of the five major championships in women's golf.
A Deep Field Chasing $2 Million
The 2026 field includes 144 players, among them 10 of the top 25 golfers in the Rolex World Rankings, headlined by World No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul and World No. 3 Haeran Ryu. The tournament notes that 21 LPGA Tour rookies and seven of this season's tournament winners are also in the field. Total prize money stands at $2 million, with $300,000 and 500 CME Globe points going to the winner across the 72-hole stroke-play event, figures that have held steady since a title sponsorship agreement signed in late 2024.
That sponsorship comes from Portland-based financial services firm The Standard, which became the tournament's title sponsor in November 2024 under a three-year agreement running through 2027, according to Oregon Golf Beat's reporting cited by the tournament's own historical account. It marked the local firm's first title sponsorship of a professional golf event.
Defending Champion Returns to the Course That Made Her
Defending champion Akie Iwai of Japan is back after claiming her first LPGA Tour victory at Columbia Edgewater last year with a 24-under-par total of 264. Iwai enters this year's tournament ranked World No. 19 with four top-10 finishes already this season, positioning her as a central storyline in the title defense.
Columbia Edgewater has developed a reputation for launching first-time winners, having crowned new LPGA Tour champions in three of the past four editions — Andrea Lee in 2022, Chanettee Wannasaen in 2023, and Iwai in 2025. Wannasaen's 2023 win came as a Monday qualifier, and she set the tournament scoring record at 26-under par in the process.
A Hall of Famer Returns, and a Century-Old Course
Also in the field is World Golf Hall of Fame member Juli Inkster, 65, who is playing the tournament 27 years after winning it in 1999 by six strokes. Inkster is using the week as preparation for the U.S. Senior Women's Open and is one of seven former Portland champions competing in 2026.
The host venue, Columbia Edgewater Country Club, was designed by A.V. Macan and opened in 1925. This marks the club's 38th time hosting the tournament across its 54-year history. The course also hosted the PGA Tour's Portland Open Invitational four times during the 1960s.
Local Roots and a Statewide Push for Women's Golf
The Portland Classic is owned and operated by the Tournament Golf Foundation, a Portland-area non-profit created in 1972 that has raised more than $19 million for local children's charities. It remains the only event on the LPGA Tour owned and managed by an all-volunteer non-profit foundation.
In June, tournament organizers announced a partnership with the Wildhorse Resort & Casino in Pendleton to schedule Oregon's only two professional women's golf events — the LPGA Portland Classic and the Epson Tour's Wildhorse Ladies Golf Classic — on back-to-back August weekends, allowing select golfers to compete in both Northwest events consecutively.
