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That is the only conclusion I can draw from this diatribe of his.
The LPGA, in yet another sideways bit of marketing savvy, elected to stage Evans’ press conference on Wednesday at the Sugar Land City Hall, off-campus from the site of its season finale. Maybe they hoped players wouldn’t notice the details of the schedule if they handed it out elsewhere.
Unless you’re dumb or a non-jealous LPGA fan living in a cave, you would know already that the LPGA schedule was given to players at a meeting on Tuesday night. That’s why it was reported by the likes of Ron Sirak, Beth Ann Baldry, and Associated Press on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Some LPGA players leaked the new schedule out to certain members of the media.
It sounds to me as if Elling wasn’t one of them and that’s why he wrote what he did.
I got a couple of other problems with what Elling wrote.
Setting aside the bombast and bluster, the LPGA season next year will likely consist of 24 tournaments, the fewest since 21 were staged in both 1970 and ‘71, a rollback spanning nearly four decades as the tour prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary next year.
More alarmingly, only 13 of the tournaments will be staged in the United States, the smallest number ever. If it wasn’t the LPGA, with that kind of minimalist American presence, they’d be calling it a mini-tour. A mini-tour with major underpinning issues.
*****
Out of sight, out of mind? Playing abroad means even less media attention in the States and mostly tape-delayed TV coverage as the Golf Channel becomes the tour’s primary broadcaster in 2010.
Before a golf writer complains about the tape delay coverage of the LPGA or its foreign based schedule, they out have something drummed into their heads. Firstly GC’s contract with the PGA Tour which includes Nationwide events. They get first placement on the broadcast schedule over the LPGA.
Secondly, and more pertinently to Elling’s remarks, of the 11 foreign LPGA tournaments four of them are still played in North American time zones. Yes Virginia, Canada and Mexico are on the same clock as the United States of America.
As for the other 7, the Women’s British Open is broadcast by ABC who puts it on tape delayed. Which I have repeatedly complained about in the past.What’s your solution Steve? Play the British Open in Newport RI or Portsmouth NH?
Of the last six events, if they aren’t on tape delay, look at the hours they would be broadcast. Three, Four a.m. in the morning. How many golf fans are going to rise for that? The 2003 Solheim Cup went on the air at 4 a.m. in the morning but since it was without Michelle Wie almost nobody in the golf media noticed.
The tour instead created a season-ending LPGA Championship, signed Stanford Financial as the title sponsor, made it a full-field event and moved it to Houston, where it will be played for the first time this week. Now the radioactive part.
Allen Stanford, who wanted the tournament played in Houston, where his company has a large corporate presence, was tossed in jail. No replacement has been found to foot the title sponsorship bill, the format of the tournament has been criticized, and the event is running opposite the European Tour’s big-money Race to Dubai finale. Nice timing.
The ADT has been played the same weekend in November going back to 2003.(At least. I didn’t check 2001 and 2002 because I’m in a hurry.) Which is the same weekend the 2009 Tour Championship is played. When do you suggest they play the tournament? Next weekend is Thanksgiving.
One last bit of Elling derangement.
Twelve months ago, Bivens announced that the popular ADT event outside Miami,
Steve, you’re from Florida. The City of West Palm Beach where the ADT was played is not considered outside of Miami. When you were working at the Orlando Sentinel, were your offices outside Daytona Beach or Ocala? Those are Florida cities closer to Orlando than West Palm Beach is to Miami.
Did anyone at LPGA HQ notice that the Champions Tour’s fifth major – the Jeld-Wen Tradition, played in Oregon – is being played the same weekend as the LPGA’s Safeway Classic at Pumpkin Ridge?
The Jeld-Wen Tradition is being played in Bend, Oregon.
Just up the road (or 186 miles away according to Mapquest), the Safeway Classic is being played in North Plains, Oregon.
Two tournaments in the same state that close together? Anyone think was a scheduling foul up? One problem I see right off the top of my head is finding pro-am partners sufficient for both tournaments.
A commenter at Waggleroom notes this isn’t the first time for such a scheduling conflict. Three years ago, The LPGA, Champions, and Nationwide Tours were all playing events in Georgia on the same weekend.
Here it is-
Feb. 18-21 — Honda LPGA Championship (Thailand)
Feb. 25-28 — HSBC Women’s Champions (Singapore)
March 25-28 — J Golf Classic (La Costa, Calif.)
April 1-4 — Kraft Nabisco Championship
April 29-May 3 — Corona Championship (Mexico)
May 10-16 — Bell Micro LPGA Classic (Alabama)
June 10-13 — State Farrm Classic (Illinois)
June 17-20 — ShopRite Classic (Atlantic City)
June 24-27 — Wegman’s LPGA Championship
July 1-4 — Jamie Farr Owens Corning (Toledo)
July 8-11 — U.S. Women’s Open (Oakmont)
July 22-25 — Evian Masters (France)
July 29-Aug. 1 — Ricoh Women’s British Open (Royal Birkdale)
Aug. 20-22 — Safeway Classic (Pumpkin Ridge, Ore)
Aug. 26-29 — CN Canadian Women’s Open
Sept. 10-12 — P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship
Sept. 30-Oct. 3 — Acapulco LPGA Classic (Mexico)
Oct. 7-10 — Navistar LPGA Classic (Alabama)
Oct. 14-17 — CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge (California)
Oct. 28-31 — China
Nov. 4-7 — Japan
Nov. 11-14 — Lorena Ochoa Invitational (Mexico)
Nov. 18-21 — LPGA Tour Championship
South Korea TBD
Some quick comments-
China is back
South Korea takes place Oct 21-25 or it flips places with China
Wegman’s(In Rochester NY) is now the LPGA Championship. No chance it will be played at Oak Hill? We can dream, can’t we.
Tour Championship has no determined home for next year. Could we see it come back to Florida?
No Florida tournament for the second straight year
Phoenix isn’t on the schedule. Could a sponsor step forward at the last minute like happened a year ago?
That new tournament that may have sprung up in South Carolina must be dead or still on the drawing board.
The full 2010 schedule will be announced later this week. From AP-
The ShopRite LPGA Classic is back in business.
Tournament organizers, ShopRite and the LPGA announced Monday that the longtime Atlantic City-area fixture will return to the women’s schedule in June after a three-year absence.
The $1.5 million event will be held June 14-20 at the Seaview Resort in Galloway Township outside Atlantic City, coinciding with the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
Tournament executive director Tim Erensen said the parties signed a series of five one-year contracts that include opt-outs for all signees after each year.
This is without question good news for the LPGA and it would have never happened if Carolyn Bivens was still Commissioner. It was her decision to give Shoprite’s dates on the LPGA schedule to a new sponsor and tournament(Since departed Ginn Tribute) that caused the tournament to fold up its tent. At the time it happened I sharply criticized Bivens’ actions and said the course she was taking was potentially disastrous for the LPGA. I proved to be right, but few people other than myself was willing to say the truth about Bivens till 2008. She’s gone now and it is already looking like the LPGA is better off without her and can make a recovery from the mess she created.
Hat tip- Waggleroom
She edged Paula Creamer by two shots. Wie opened the final round tied for the lead with Cristie Kerr.
Wie birdied two of the first three holes and was never out of the lead. At some point during the final round, both Creamer and Kerr tied Wie for the lead but fell back. Creamer’s bogey at 17 was particularly critical.
Wie closed out her win with a birdie on 18.
Jiyai Shin after entering the weekend with a 3-shot lead, finished 74-71 and ended the tournament in a 3-way tie for 3rd with Kerr and Morgan Pressel.
Lorena Ochoa finished sixth. While Shin widened her lead for POY it is still a very much open race. Ochoa can still take the title and doesn’t necessarily need a win. Kerr can do it with a win if Ochoa and Shin both finish out of the top 10 in next week’s tour championship.
I won’t mention what Wie’s victory ended. The golf media has only been hammering it over our heads for the last few months. Then some members of the media and the American public look at Wie or Asians as lesser Americans. I won’t get into that stupid subject unless one of those culprits then make hay of Wie’s win as a American triumph.
The next few days are sure to see a deluge of articles about how big the win was for both Wie and the LPGA. Wie’s critics can’t separate the fact that the LPGA’s future success or even survival may be riding on this woman’s back. What other female golfer excites fans and brings them to tournaments? It ain’t Ochoa, Shin, or even Kerr and Creamer.
Chapter 11 of the South Koreans dominate the LPGA in 2009. From AP-
South Korea’s Bo Bae Song won the Mizuno Classic for her first LPGA Tour title, closing with a 4-under 68 on Sunday for a three-stroke victory over Lorena Ochoa, Brittany Lang and Hee Young Park.
Song finished with a 15-under 201 total at Kintetsu Kashikojima and earned $210,000 in the event co-sanctioned by the Japan LPGA.
The top-ranked Ochoa shot a 64, and Lang and Park had 68s.
Jiyai Shin, the 2008 winner who is trying to hold off Ochoa in the player of the year points race, closed with a 69 to tie for fifth with Yani Tseng (67), Mi-Jeong Jeon (69) and Inbee Park (69) at 11 under.
Song had six birdies and a bogey — on the par-4 14th — in the final round.
Song is a member of the JLPGA Tour. Her victory gives her the ability to play the LPGA now. Will she? With the LPGA losing tournaments, the JLPGA or KLPGA look like a much safer bet right now. So much so, some LPGA golfers are going to JLPGA qualifying school.
Lorena Ochoa’s second place finish puts her just four points(147-143) behind Ji Yai Shin in the Player of the Year race. The next closest golfers are Cristie Kerr at 118, Ai Miyazato at 111, and Yani Tseng and Suzann Pettersen who are tied with 110. Barring a late miracle, I think Ochoa or Shin will come out on top.
Shin’s lead on the money list is much more secure. She has $240,000 more dollars than Ai Miyazato. Unless Shin doesn’t make the cut the final two events of the year, or the same golfer wins both, she will be both leading money winner and Rookie of the Year.
Also blogging about the Mizuno Classic- The Constructivist at Mostly Harmless. TC makes not of Ochoa having the lowest scoring average this year and with that the ability to win 2 of the 3 major year ending LPGA awards.
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ROK Drop linked with Bo Bae Song wins Mizuno Classic
He won’t be allowed to play in a PGA or Nationwide event for one year. From ESPN-
Doug Barron became the first PGA Tour player to be suspended for violating its performance-enhancing drug policy.
Barron, 40, a veteran who played just four times this year on the developmental Nationwide Tour and once on the PGA Tour and failed to make a cut, will begin his suspension immediately — although his status was in limbo because he was playing the Nationwide Tour this year on a medical exemption.
“I would like to apologize for any negative perception of the tour or its players resulting from my suspension,” Barron said in a statement released by the PGA Tour. “I want my fellow tour members and the fans to know that I did not intend to gain an unfair competitive advantage or enhance my performance while on tour.”
It is unclear what substance Barron took or what he did to produce a positive drug test. The tour said it would have no further comment on the matter.
Barron has never finished better than 3rd at the 2005 EDS Byron Nelson Championship. More recently he has struggled on the Nationwide tour. In 2008 he only made 5 cuts in 17 tries. The drug use certainly didn’t help Barron’s play.
Jason Sobel at ESPN writes-
That said, let’s hold off on the witch hunt for the time being. In a twisted way, it’s actually a good thing that Barron got caught, as it proves the PGA Tour’s ongoing efforts toward wiping out any potential PED use weren’t fruitless nor a waste of time and money. It also discredits the theory that Tim Finchem and the folks at the Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., headquarters would cover up any positive tests to keep suspicions to a minimum.
I’m not naive enough to believe no PGA pro would ever use PEDs. I will be surprised if one of the sport’s better known players get caught. A former winner who has fallen on hard times but not to the extent of Barron has is the type of player who may get caught.
She wasn’t disqualified however.
And in another development round one co-leader NOCERA, GWLADYS was penalised two strokes for reporting two minutes late to the starting tee on Friday’s opening round. Naturally, Nocera was fuming mad and did not even speak to her flight-mates CHUTICHAI, PORANI of Thailand and China’s YE, LI YING, while playing the second round today.
Nocera’s negative attitude raised eyebrows from her flight-mates and officials, when she even refused to talk to the Press and officials after completing her round. Nocera even questioned her round one marker Chutichai and asked her if it was she who complained to the officials about her late appearance to the tee box to start the first round.
“We never spoke at all after I had told her that I did not make the complaint when she questioned me. All I know is that she was late but I never made a complaint thinking that the officials there would have handled it,” said Thailand’s Chutichai Porani.
However, it was the other professional in the group ? China’s Ye Liying, who told Nocera that it was she who made the complaint.
“We play to competition rules. This is a tournament and all players should abide by the rules,” Ye said.- Ladies Asian Golf Tour
Pro golfers are supposed to know the rules and if they violate one, are supposed to take the appropriate action which can include penalizing themselves. It is also the duty of the players in a group to make sure everyone is following the rules.
For example- Three years ago Karrie Webb called out Annika Sorenstam at the 2006 LPGA for improperly repairing a divot. Go here if you would like to see video.
Note how Nocera wanted to know who reported her. I’d also point out that Annika was less than pleased with her being called out by another player in 2006.
“The Committee made a mistake by not imposing the penalty in round one but they can still correct the mistake before the start of round two. It would not result in disqualification because the player was unaware of the mistake and she was not informed at any time that she was late on the tee therefore we have corrected the score for round one and the Nocera’s 4-under 68 score becomes 2-under 70.”- Ladies Asian Golf Tour
Nocera should have been disqualified. I’m not saying this because of her reported rotten afterwards but because players are supposed to know the rules. Also there is more than ample precedent for players being disqualifed a day or two later, not just assessed a two-stroke penalty.
Craig Stadler at 1987 San Diego Open was ruled to have improperly built a stance when playing a shot during Saturday’s 3rd round. He wasn’t disqualified till 4th round play was complete and Stadler finished 2nd that particular week.
In 2005, Esteban Toledo and Brandel Chamblee were both disqualified for not penalizing themselves for taking improper drops and then signing their cards incorrectly by not showing the penalty strokes. This was a bit controversial because in both instances, the same PGA Tour player ratted them out told officials about the improper drops sometime after play was finished and all scorecards were signed.
There’s plenty of other cases I can cite as proof the officials in China didn’t rule correctly. Nocera didn’t put the penalty on her scorecard, therefore she signed a wrong scorecard and should have been disqualified as soon as this was discovered.
Hat tip- Waggleroom
He was playing in a tournament when symptoms first presented themselves. From AP-
Joey Sindelar remained hospitalized Sunday after having a pulmonary embolism during the third round of the Charles Schwab Cup Championships.
The Champions Tour said Sindelar’s condition had improved but doctors at Sonoma Valley Hospital wanted to keep the 51-year-old for further observation.
Sindelar withdrew Saturday and was taken to the hospital for dizziness and shortness of breath after playing the 204-yard, par-3 fourth hole. Sindelar rested in between holes and tried to play the fifth before withdrawing.
Sindelar was a two-time winner of my all-time favorite PGA Tour tournament, the now defunct B.C. Open. I wish him a speedy recovery.
In 2005 I almost died from a PE. In my case, I was struck by a saddle emboli which has a high mortality rate. By some miracle I pulled through, but only after spending 10 days in the hospital.
It was her second win of 2009. From ChannelnewsAsia-
South Korea’s Choi Na-Yeon fired a final round 67 to win the USLPGA Hana Bank Kolon Championship on Sunday by a stroke from Taiwan’s Yani Tseng and Sweden’s Maria Hjorth.
Choi, runner-up to Tseng as Rookie of the Year in 2008, closed it out to take the 255,000 US dollars winners’ cheque, sinking five birdies for her first win on the LPGA Tour since joining.
Fellow Korean Ran HongThe was four shots back in third while Kim Song-Hee was fourth and Shin Jiyai fifth.
Tseng and Choi finished respectively 1-2 in the 2008 LPGA Rookie of the Year race. Tseng won twice on tour before Choi got her first victory. Which was the Samsung Championship in September. Now Choi and Tseng are even victory wise.
Choi’s win was the tenth by a South Korean golfer this year on the LPGA.
The article doesn’t mention Choi having to birdie 18 to win by one shot. Tseng also birdied 18 but Hjorth could only make a par 5 on the finishing hole.
With her fifth place finish, Ji Yai Shin solidified her lead for both Player of the Year and leading money winner for 2009. She holds a 10 point lead in the first and an almost $200,000 lead in the later. Shin is the defending champion of next week’s LPGA Mizuno Classic.
Sorry for the hurried post. I have plans for today that will keep away from the computer almost all day.
The Constructivist is also blogging about Na Yeon Choi’s victory.
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