INDIANAPOLIS -- The LPGA Tour is set to showcase a different kind of drive into the turns at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
A foursome of female golfers visited IMS on Tuesday to help launch the Indy Women in Tech Championship presented by Guggenheim. The $2 million event will debut Sept. 4-10, 2017, at the speedway's Brickyard Crossing golf course.
In an era when the LPGA has significantly broadened its international reach, the IWiT Championship represents a return to the American heartland.
"We've been working on this for six or seven months now, and I'm thrilled to be on this stage to share our little secret," LPGA Tour commissioner Mike Whan said. "The group here started talking about this vision of putting these things together -- business, Indianapolis, the Speedway -- bringing us back to the Midwest and letting the world see what can be possible.
"We're proud to be a delivery message for what they are going to deliver here in the years to come."
Brickyard Crossing hosted the PGA Senior Tour Comfort Classic from 1994 to 2000, and the Pete Dye design is expected to be a challenging track for the women.
An earlier iteration of the Speedway course hosted the PGA 500 Festival Open Invitational from 1960 to 1968, along with a one-off 500 Ladies Classic in 1968 that resulted in one of the last victories of Mickey Wright's legendary LPGA career.
Wright won $2,250 from a purse of $15,500.
In recent years, John Daly put Indianapolis back on the national golf map with his memorable triumph in the 1991 PGA Championship at Crooked Stick, which remains in the rotation of courses for the PGA Tour's BMW Championship.
Crooked Stick was also the venue for the 2005 Solheim Cup, the biennial competition between teams of female professional golfers from Europe and the United States.
"It didn't take us 30 seconds to decide we wanted to be a part of this," IMS president Doug Boles said. "It's about Indianapolis, and the community we care so much about, and having Indy Women in Tech fits with the brand the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has remained true to for the last 107 years.
"It's all about advancing technology and helping the community."
The original IMS golf course was built in 1929. It grew to encompass 27 holes until Dye led a comprehensive redesign in the early 1990s that consolidated the layout down to 18 holes, with four inside the famous 2.5-mile racetrack.
The LPGA tournament is the latest example of Speedway management's attempts to get as much use as possible out of the huge permanent facility. Until 1994, the month-long Indianapolis 500 was the only event IMS hosted.
In addition to the 500, the track now stages an annual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race and the largest vintage car racing meeting in America. This weekend, IMS hosts a round of the Red Bull Air Races for the first time.
"I don't know if we have another venue on tour that is iconic as the Speedway," said LPGA professional Morgan Pressel, who stroked several long drives down the Speedway's 5/8-mile-long main straightaway. "I think Indianapolis is a great market for us because it's a nice middle ground.
"The golf course looks really challenging, and hopefully we are here for the long term."