NZ puts back hosting of LPGA tournament

New Zealand will go another year without staging an LPGA Tour event after organisers failed to secure a major sponsor.

Brooke Henderson won't be able to defend her 2017 New Zealand Women's Golf Open title until 2020. (AAP)

The New Zealand Women's Golf Open has been delayed another year after losing its major sponsor.

The tournament was scheduled to return to the LPGA schedule in February next year but has been put back to 2020 at the earliest.

New Zealand hosted its first LPGA sanctioned tournament in 2017 near Auckland, where Canadian Brooke Henderson emerged victorious.

It wasn't staged this year as organisers sought to move the tournament to a different part of the Tour's calendar.

Organisers have been unable to land a global naming sponsor after the inaugural backers pulled out.

NZ Golf chief executive Dean Murphy remained committed to hosting the world's premier women's players.

"Bringing the LPGA Tour to New Zealand is a huge undertaking which requires significant commercial support from tournament sponsors," he said.

"While the 2017 event was an unqualified success, we need to make prudent and financially sensible decisions for future events."

Senior LPGA official Ricki Lasky said staging a tournament in New Zealand remained a priority.