The July 4th Knucklehead Marathon Part Eleven

Our eleventh winner today is Palm Beach Post sportswriter Alan Tays. He gets the award for the following.

The 2007 schedule includes 13 tournaments that didn't exist in 2001. But gone are some familiar events, including the entire Florida winter swing that in 2001 included Orlando, Naples and Miami. Remember the Welch's Circle K, and the Standard Register Ping, both played in Arizona? Both are gone, and the state is left only with the Safeway International.

The new tournaments have brought in big money. Developer Bobby Ginn has purses of $2.6 million, among the tour's biggest, in his two events. But the biggest splash, money-wise, is made by the season-ending ADT Championship held at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. The purse - $1.55 million - isn't the biggest, but the first prize of $1 million, won last year by Julieta Granada, is the largest in the women's game.

Korean influence

In 2001, there were 12 Korean players on the LPGA Tour. This year there are 45, including 38 who joined after 2001. They all owe a debt of gratitude to Pak, who in 1998 became the first Korean to join the tour and its first Korean superstar.

Mr. Tays' shows his ignorance of Ladies Professional golf.

1- The Standard Register Ping is today's Safeway International. It is the same tournament, the sponsor has changed only. The complete laziness and stupidity of Tays golfwriting is confirmed also at the LPGA's website.
How hard would it have been to checked this?

Also note, The Honda Classic played here in Palm Beach Gardens, has been played under six different names in the tournament's history dating back to 1971. Why didn't Tays notice the similarity between the Honda and the LPGA's long-time Arizona tour stop?

Again- Stupidity and laziness in golf reporting. Associated Press employs a Knucklehead to report the sport, most local newspapers seem to follow that example.

2- Ok Hee Ku won the present day Safeway Intl in 1988, she also played the LPGA full-time from 1987 to 1992, appearing in 15 or more events each of those years. She was the first Korean to both play the LPGA Tour full-time and to win a tournament, not Se Ri Pak.

For careless and stupid golf writing, Alan Tays is today's eleventh Knucklehead of the Day.

Linked to- Blue Star, Maggie, Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson,