LPGA announces four new tournaments for 2017

( Reuters) - The Ladies Professional Golf Association ( LPGA) on Wednesday announced its 2017 schedule including four new tournaments and an increase of $4.35 million in official prize money.

Joining the 35-event LPGA Tour schedule are events in the Green Bay, Wisconsin area, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and in Scotland and New Zealand, with a record $67.35 million in prize money on offer.

The first new LPGA stop comes from July 6-9 when the tour visits Oneida, Wisconsin for the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic.

Three weeks later, the LPGA travels across the Atlantic to play the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open from July 27-30 at Dundonald Links in Ayrshire.

In September, the tour makes a pit stop in Indianapolis for the Indy Women in Tech (IWIT) Championship from Sept. 7-10.

Following the season’s final major at The Evian Championship in France, the LPGA will skip a week before travelling to the home country of world number one Lydia Ko for the New Zealand Women’s Open from Sept. 28-Oct 1.

The event will be the first of seven consecutive tournaments in the Asia-Pacific region before the tour returns to Naples, Florida for the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.

(Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Ed Osmond)