|
In only a few days two women’s professional golf tournaments in the USA have bit the dust. First, The Fields Open.
The Fields Corporation, title sponsor of the Fields Open in Hawaii, has announced it will not renew its title sponsorship for the LPGA tournament for 2009, leaving an early-season hole on the tour’s schedule for next year.
Fields officials said the Japanese entertainment company will concentrate its future marketing efforts primarily in Japan.
*****
“I hate to see our tournaments go,” veteran player Juli Inkster told Golfweek. “What’s going on with the economy, it’s tough. We’re just going to have to fight through it.”
Inkster, a member of the LPGA Player Executive Committee, said although the tour is worldwide, it’s still primarily American-based and needs more strong events in this country.
“I think our No. 1 objective is to get more U.S. tournaments (with) full fields,” Inkster said.
Ryan at GNN writes- “That seems to fly in the face of international expansion of the LPGA Tour.” That’s true, the LPGA appears to be pay little attention to shoring up its US based schedule. I have no problems with the LPGA playing events around the world, but understand where those tour players are coming from, when they say the increasing amount field of limited events isn’t necessarily a good thing.
If one plumetting sandbag aimed at Carolyn Bivens head wasn’t enough, then this news broke on Friday.
The organizers of the LPGA’s Ginn Tribute hosted by Annika Sorenstam announced Friday they couldn’t obtain the sponsorships needed to keep the tournament through 2010.
Ginn Companies chairman Bobby Ginn blamed a faltering economy and less corporate funds for the demise of the tournament at RiverTowne Country Club.
“The golf tournament business is primarily fueled by economic support,” Ginn said in a statement. “We did everything in our power to generate the sponsorship necessary to continue with the Ginn Tribute, but given the current market and corresponding cuts in corporate spending, it was an uphill battle.”
The Ginn Tribute’s demise was written about in this post almost two weeks ago. There were even rumors that Ginn tried to pull out of the 2008 event. I wonder how Seon Hwa Lee feels at this moment. Her first three tour victories coming in tournaments that went belly up immediately afterwards.
One of those wins was the Shoprite Classic. Let me remind my readers, why that tournament is not on the LPGA schedule anymore.
There is more turbulence on the LPGA Tour between its administration and tournament sponsors. This week’s dilemma: Will a new sponsor with deep pockets double its presence on the tour? Will the rookie commissioner turn her back on an event that has been loyal to women’s golf for 21 years and give its spot on the schedule to the rich new kid on the block? And will the spurned event strike back by taking legal action against the LPGA, further complicating what has already been an awkward transition in leadership? The answers, mostly, are “yes.”
According to sources familiar with the situation, the LPGA will announce next week a new event in South Carolina and sponsored by Ginn Clubs & Resorts, which debuted as a sponsor this year with a $2.5 million stop in Orlando. That’s the good news. The problem is the date discussed with the new tournament is the week before the McDonald’s LPGA Championship–a spot currently occupied by the ShopRite LPGA Classic, won this year by Seon Hwa Lee. Larry Harrison, general chairman of the Atlantic City event since its inception in 1986, says he’ll sue if his date is given away.
No lawsuit was filed. Carolyn Bivens gave the Ginn Tribute the Shoprite’s dates on the LPGA tournament schedule, and not long afterward that particular sponsor ended its association with the LPGA.
Now the Ginn Tribute is dead in addition to the Shoprite. I was highly critical of this maneuver by Bivens when it took place.
This is suicidal for a tour with money problems, decaying tournament scheduling and sponsor retention problems.
I don’t hit the bullseye too often but was I ever right about the Shoprite fiasco.
With the Ginn Tribute gone plus the Shoprite, LPGA players would be more than justified to begin calling for Carolyn Bivens head because of the outright managerial incompetence she has more than shown herself able to do. What I said two years ago, still applies today.
Carolyn Bivens has to go or the LPGA is sunk.
Further posts about Ms. Bivens blunders can be read here and here.
Commissioner Bivens looks more than ever like the fool considering she sacrificed the Atlantic City LPGA tour stop by giving their dates on the schedule to the Ginn Tribute. From Golf World-
EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — The Ginn Tribute which, along with the Ginn Open, has a $2.6 million purse, the richest of any U.S.-based LPGA event except the U.S. Women’s Open, will not return in 2009, multiple sources told Golf World. While neither the LPGA nor Ginn would confirm the demise of the Tribute, which is played at RiverTowne CC near Charleston, S.C., neither expressed optimism about its future.
“The [Ginn sur Mer] Classic [on the PGA Tour], the [Ginn] Championship [on the Champions Tour] and the Ginn Open are happening this year and next,” said Ginn spokesman Ryan Julison. “After we get past the Ginn Open we don’t know what the future holds.”
The Ginn Open is played in April and the Ginn Tribute comes after it, in May. Sources involved in broadcasting, tournament ownership and the LPGA said Ginn has pulled the plug on the Charleston event. The uncertainty expressed about the future after the Ginn Open also raises questions about the existence of all the Ginn tournaments after 2009.
“We have all those tournaments and no sponsors and in this economy it’s like a perfect storm,” Julison said. Ginn, which does its business in real estate, the hardest-hit sector in the downturn of the American economy, is said by insiders familiar with the cost of running tournaments to be on the hook for $25 million annually for the four events, one of the most ambitious investments by any company in tournament sponsorship. Late last summer, Robert Gidel, an expert operations man, was brought by investors to run the day-to-day business of the Ginn Company with Bobby Ginn remaining chairman and CEO.
“If I had to handicap the situation right now I would say that it is less than 50-50 that the Ginn Tribute will happen in 2009,” LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens told Golf World at the Evian Masters. “That said, we will have a tournament to replace it.”
Ginn has contractual obligations both to the LPGA and to NBC, which broadcasts the Ginn Tribute, for two more years. “We’re having ongoing conversations with the Ginn organization and we hope to work things out amicably,” Bivens said. “We also hope our broadcast partners, in this case NBC, are respected.”
Annika Sorenstam, who runs her Annika Golf Academy out of the Ginn Reunion Resort near Orlando, where the Ginn Open is played, hosts the Ginn Tribute. One possibility is the Ginn Open would become the Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika. Sorenstam said she was unaware of the future of the Ginn Tribute.
The news is unconfirmed, and Sirak has serious limitations as a LPGA commentator, but he is usually dead on target when reporting straight news. Like his reporting a new LPGA tour stop in China months before it was officially announced.
There were rumors in April that Ginn tried to buy their way out of the 2008 event. I’m betting the rumors were true.
Update- Just thought of this. Seon Hwa Lee won the last Shoprite in 2006 and in 2008 she also won what appears to be the last Ginn, the tournament that replaced the Shoprite. Seon Hwa is quite a tournament wrecker, the HSBC Matchplay is also defunct. Will the NW Arkansas tournament be around in 2009?
The same thing used to be said about Lou Graham over 30 years ago. His first two wins on the PGA Tour were defunct already when Lou took home the 1975 US Open.
The tour event’s sponsor filed for bankruptcy earlier this week. From AP-
OKLAHOMA CITY — After the title sponsor of an LPGA tournament in suburban Tulsa declared bankruptcy earlier this week, tournament officials say efforts are under way to preserve the eight-year-old event.
The SemGroup Championship has been played in May at Cedar Ridge Country Club in Broken Arrow, but it seems likely a new title sponsor for the event will be needed, as Tulsa-based SemGroup LP filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday after losing a reported $2.4 billion in hedged trading on the oil futures markets.
Doug Eibling of Octagon, a sports management and marketing company that owns the LPGA event, said Friday a search has started to replace SemGroup as the title sponsor. Eibling, the tournament’s director, said that as SemGroup’s troubles became public knowledge this week, Octagon received calls from three potential title sponsors, which he declined to name.
Paula Creamer won this year’s tournament in a playoff over Juli Inkster. Next year’s tournament is scheduled for May 28-31.
The LPGA will hold the tournament’s spot on the schedule in hope another sponsor is found. I find the 2009 date interesting, The LPGA schedule is usually not announced till November.
Will the LPGA find a new sponsor? I really don’t know, but with the US in a economic downturn, you have to suppose it won’t be an easy task. The Phoenix LPGA event is also looking for a new sponsor, and is finding it difficult even though the tournament has strong backing from the community and tour players.
Then throw in the problems revolving around the Ginn tournaments, plus other shaky tournaments, pro ladies golf in the US is on potentially shaky footing. The day the LPGA plays more events outside the US than in may not be that far off.
Another clueless idiot writing about golf. In an article about Michelle Wie playing in next week’s Reno-Tahoe Open, Hoggard exclaims-
If Reno officials wanted to be real creative, they could have offered the spot to Annika Sorenstam who made history a few years back at Colonial. She has a resume that would justify the offer, the respect of the other players in the field and even a vacation home close to Montreux.
Instead, with apologies to Wie, they went with the bearded lady.
Comparing Wie to a circus freak is really beneath most of Wie’s detractors. The real freaks are Hoggard and his employer Golfweek. If either had three brain cells working, they’d know Annika Sorenstam is only playing in a major championship the same time as the Reno tournament. The Women’s British Open. She is unavailable to play in Nevada.
If Hoggard answers the page, I’ll recommend he see a good proctologist. That in order to get his head out of his ass.
For leaving the scoring area after Friday’s round without signing her scorecard. From ESPN-
Michelle Wie finished the third round of the State Farm Classic alone in second on Saturday — then was disqualified for failing to immediately sign her scorecard a day earlier.
Wie was playing her best golf of the year, finishing off a 5-under 67 to get to 17 under for the tournament, one stroke back of Yani Tseng.
That’s when Wie was disqualified by LPGA officials, who said they’d learned during play Saturday from tournament volunteers about the 18-year-old’s mistake.
It is reported Wie was crying after the news. I would be too. She was one shot out of the lead, with a win and LPGA Tour card within her grasp tomorrow.
Here’s the rule
According to a statement released Saturday by the LPGA, Wie’s failure to sign her scorecard was a violation of Rule 6-6b, according to The Rules of Golf and confirmed by the USGA.
The rule states: “After completion of the round, the competitor should check his score for each hole and settle any doubtful points with the Committee. He must ensure that the marker or markers have signed the score card, sign the score card himself and return it to the Committee as soon as possible.”
Wie said that after she finished her round on Friday, she left the tent where players sign their scorecards and was chased down by some of the tournament volunteers working in the tent who pointed out she hadn’t signed.
Wie returned to the tent and signed the card.
Which isn’t allowed, and why Wie was disqualified. She made an honest mistake but one with huge reprucussions for her golf career at this point, and maybe even mentally. Can Michelle even buy a break right now? She was playing great golf in Illinois.
I also want to mention Hee Won Han’s 3rd round 61 which puts her three strokes behind Tseng. Hee Won, who teed off Number 10 to begin play today, was 10 under for the round through 12 holes! Han is a very consistent golfer, but seldom flashy. I saw how her round was going and despite my attention being mostly focused on the British Open, kept tabs on the State Farm. All Han had to do was play the last six holes in 3 under to shoot a record 59. It wasn’t to be, Han only made one birdie coming in.
Yani Tseng continues to have an incredible year. She won the LPGA Championship last month, Two second place finishes, 6th on the money list but a win tomorrow would move her to 4th, and is running away with Rookie of the Year. There is a new force on tour.
Also commenting on Michelle Wie’s disaster today- Mulligan Stu, Hound Dog, and The Constructivist. Stu and TC feel sorry for Michelle. I do too.
Kim missed winning last year’s affair by one shot in one of the year’s most exciting finishes. From AP-
Christina Kim shot a four-under 68 on Friday to take a one-shot lead over four players midway through the State Farm Classic.
Kim, who fired a 63 on Thursday to also hold the first-round lead, stood at 13-under 131 after two rounds at Panther Creek Country Club.
Christina is one of the most exuberant players on tour. This has been known to rub some people the wrong way, but I think Ladies golf could use a few more players like her. If Christina wins this weekend it will be her first victory since 2005.
Not too many people are paying attention to the golf being played in Springfield Illinois this weekend. That could be subject to change. This because of one of the golfers one shot behind Kim.
Michelle Wie was among the four players tied for second place behind Kim following a round of seven-under 65, which matched her lowest score on the LPGA Tour.
Sherri Turner, Ji Young Oh and LPGA Championship winner Yani Tseng all posted rounds of 66 on Friday to join Wie at 12-under 132, while Sun Young Yoo shot a 69 to stand alone in sixth place at 11-under 133.
Overall, there were 19 players within five shots of Kim’s lead heading to the weekend.
Following her best round in a long time, Wie’s name is the most recognizable among them.
*****
It has taken Wie — now 18 and entering her second year at Stanford — almost two years to get back to the form she displayed in the 2006 season when she posted six top-10 finishes, including three consecutive top-threes in major championships.
Since then, she has posted more rounds in the 80s (five) than in the 60s (four). Those numbers include her 67-65 start at this tournament.
Wie holed out from the fairway for an eagle at her first hole on Friday, then made five birdies the rest of the way, including one at her last hole to join the logjam in second place.
I still think Michelle has a world of talent if her wrist injuries ever become healed. Can she win this weekend? I see no reason why not. It won’t be a given, the State Farm is known for low scoring and dramatic moves on the leaderboard. Boy do I have a great deal of golf to watch this weekend.
 Second year player Inbee Park made the US Open her first win on the tour. Inbee winning by four shots.
In Bee, who is a few weeks short of her 20th birthday, is the youngest US Women’s Open Champ ever. The youngest winner of the US Open before today was South Korea’s Se Ri Pak. Pak winning the 1998 US Open. In Bee like so many of the other players from the ROK say Se Ri Pak and her success on the LPGA was what inspired them to play pro golf.
In Bee made it look pretty simple today. Two birdies to start off the round, and after double bogeys by Stacy Lewis and Paula Creamer on the Par five 2nd, all of a sudden Park was up by two shots.
It did get interesting for a while. Especially after In Bee made bogeys on holes 6 and 8 to bring her back to a tie for the lead. The turning point was a par saving from 15 or 20 feet on the difficult 9th. After that Inbee soon regained the lead and was never in serious danger again. Helen Alfredsson of Sweden finished in solo second four shots behind Park. In a tie for 3rd one shot further back were Lewis, In-Kyung Kim and Angela Park.
Other news, thoughts, observations,
*- Annika Sorenstam holed her approach on 18 for what COULD BE her final shot in US Open history. She hitting a 6-iron into the cup from 199 yards. What a way to go out if Sorenstam doesn’t play in the Open again.
*- Stacy Lewis shot a final round 78 today. To be honest, I don’t think she lost the tournament. Lewis played play as bad as her score says because the conditions today were tough. Winds blowing at times 20-30 MPH. I’m predicting Lewis will be back in contention for a LPGA victory within a year.
*- Lewis’ winnings today won’t count towards the sum she needs to gain a spot on the LPGA Tour. See the tour doesn’t count money at the US Open when determining if a player exceeded the amount required.
Which really makes no sense to me. The Open is the toughest test of golf on tour. So the money is worth more for a 3rd there, than say a 3rd in Rochester. Therefore I think its a better indicator of whether a player should get a card or not.
When asked who set this policy, an NBC announcer(I think Dottie Pepper) said ‘no comment’.
*- There’s another LPGA policy I’m going to question in a post tomorrow or later this week. Should a Naturalized US citizen(Angela Park) be allowed to compete for a Solheim Cup spot? LPGA policy at this time doesn’t allow it. The screwball thing is, a Naturalized citizen can qualify for the Curtis Cup(and has at least once) and the Junior Solheim Cup! If they can play for the Junior, why not the professional then? I’ll address this and the reasons given for the policy.
*- Paula Creamer collapsed today. I’m not going to speculate on why she can’t bring home a major yet. Stu at The Waggleroom compared Paula’s collapse to Greg Norman’s at the 1996 Masters and Michelle Wie at the 2005 Women’s US Open.
I think I got a better comparison. Gary Player’s final round 77 at the 1978 US Open. Why do I say this?
A- Paula entered the final round one shot out of the lead. So did Player. Norman and Wie entered the final rounds of their tournaments either in the lead by themselves or tied.
B- Creamer and Player both finished tied for 6th in the tournaments I’m comparing. Norman finished 2nd, Wie out of the top 10.
C- Player and Creamer were under great amounts of pressure. Gary Player because he was the 1978 Masters Champ and therefore the only player with a chance for a grand slam. Creamer because she has been anointed the best player on tour without a major by most of the press.
Norman had won majors before the 96 Masters. Wie hadn’t won tour, major or otherwise. I think Player in 78 is a better analogy to Creamer today than either Wie or Norman.
*- With their third win in the last four LPGA events, I think we can safely say the South Korean slump is over on the LPGA Tour.
*- For the first time, I saw why Paula Creamer has been teapot by some members of the media. After a bad or indifferent shot on the back nine today, Paula put her hands on her hips. The teapot pose as somebody called it.
*- I don’t recall Johnny Miller making any insulting comments today but he did make a clueless comment. Towards the end of the round Miller saying women’s golf is more popular in South Korean than men’s golf. It’s been that way since Se Ri Pak won the LPGA Championship in 1998 at least. Where has Johnny Miller been the last ten years?
To close I’ll quote what AP’s Doug Ferguson said in the concluding paragraphs of his coverage of today’s final round.
There were so many possibility for great story lines going into the final round — Lewis and her remarkable recovery from back surgery that almost ended her career before she got to college; Creamer, looking poised to finally get a major to go with her marketing campaign; Alfredsson, who blew a six-shot lead at the Women’s Open in 1994, now with a chance for redemption at 43.
Instead, it was Park who stole the show by simply playing the best golf.
There were many potential story lines today but Inbee certainly did steal the show. She was a deserving US Open champ and she will be in the winner’s circle again.
After two rounds of play, Angela Park is leading the Women’s US Open by one shot. Park, who is of Korean heritage but born in Brazil and grew up in California, was last year’s Rookie of the Year.
One of the golfers one shot back is Minea Blomqvist. Minea had more than a few interesting things to say at a press conference yesterday.
The 23-year-old from Finland was hilarious during her interview, although there’s some Swedes that won’t be laughing when they see her comment. She was asked that Swedes say Finns talk funny, so does she think Swedes talk funny?
“I always tell a story that why Swedes are so good in the golf (is) because in golf you need empty mind, and there’s nothing going on in their heads,” she said, smiling. “So that’s why they play good.”
Blomqvist also had people cracking up when she mentioned her boyfriend, Roope Kakko, is a fellow pro golfer from Finland. But there’s a problem with his surname.
“Kakko means (feces) in Finnish,” she said. “So I’m not very happy about that if we’re going to stay together.”
If I was Minea, I’d get a new boyfriend or have the present one change his last name. Either that or to avoid a Scandinavian civil war, marry a Swede. Preferably one whose head isn’t empty or have a last name meaning shit.
Who said pro golfers aren’t colorful?
The Golf World editor and writer doesn’t make a mistake this week as much as an error of ommision. In an article about Yani Tseng’s win at the LPGA Championship last weekend, Sirak writes-
The closest any player from Taiwan had come to winning a major was T.C. Chen in the 1985 U.S. Open at Oakland Hills. He had a four-stroke lead in the final round then unraveled after a double-hit on a chip shot. Tseng saw the shot on TV the week before the McDonald’s and marveled because “that’s not really a hard shot,” she laughed, blaming the double-hit on poor technique. “But don’t tell him that,” she said, laughing more.
True Chen lost by only one shot, but he isn’t the only Taiwanese golfer to come that close to a golf major.
May I present Lu Liang Huan.
1971 – Lee Trevino wins his first Open(British) as little-known Taiwanese player Lu Liang-Huan – affectionately known as “Mr Lu” – comes within a stroke of an incredible victory.
So in fact Chen and Mr. Lu came equally close. If Mr. Sirak answers my page I’ll suggest he take some remedial lessons in golf history.
When Michelle tees it up on June 26th, it will be her fourth LPGA event of 2008. From AP-
ROCKVILLE, MD — Despite playing 36 holes on a humid day with temperatures nearly reaching triple digits, Michelle Wie was still able to flash a big smile as she sat down with the media.
Qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open will do that.
Playing on two different courses, Wie carded rounds of 70 and 67 and her 137 total was the second-best score on the day and more than enough to qualify her for the 2008 Open, to be played later this month at the Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minn.
“I think I did pretty well. It feels good to be playing good again,” said Wie, who has struggled with her game for much of the last year. “There were a lot of shots that I left out there today with the putting and a couple of errant tee shots in the middle, but other than that I’m pretty pleased with my round and I’m really happy to be playing at the U.S. Open.”
Wie’s strong finish in Germany is encouraging so far as a sign the teen’s golf game is returning. I still believe more evidence is needed before saying conclusively Michelle Wie is back.
|
