Advise or rubber stamp?

The latest in the LPGA tour/Carolyn Bivens saga.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Commissioner Carolyn F. Bivens announced the reformation of the Commissioner's Advisory Council.

The new Commissioner's Advisory Council is comprised of 22 individuals from the corporate, academic, political, philanthropic and cultural arenas and is co-chaired by Bivens and Charles S. Mechem, Jr., commissioner emeritus of the LPGA. The Commissioner's Advisory Council convened for the first time in early September and will continue to meet periodically each year.

The role of the Commissioner's Advisory Council is to provide both expertise and guidance in all aspects of the LPGA's business, while also serving as a sounding board as the LPGA continues to grow and evolve. Members will offer expert counsel and insight in their respective areas and will assist Commissioner Bivens and her staff in optimizing opportunities for the LPGA's future growth and long-term success.

"The LPGA is enjoying one of its most successful times in its history, and I am pleased to welcome the members of the Commissioner's Advisory Council to the LPGA team,"said Bivens. "These individuals represent some of the most creative and accomplished leaders in business. I look forward to working with them as we capitalize on the great performances and personalities of our members and the excitement and interest in women's golf around the world."

Mechem, who led the LPGA from 1990-95, also convened a Commissioner's Advisory Council during his tenure.

Go to the link to see just who is on this Council.

Frequent readers of TFM know of my opinion on Ms. Bivens. She has made a long series of controversial and bad moves. Her statements have also shown an appalling lack of knowledge about the tour's past and present.

So will this advisory panel change anything? I'm skeptical based on Ms. Bivens not taking in the past. Blogger George Frost has no doubts whatsoever. He believes this is just Bivens latest move to take total control of the tour.

George may be right but I'll cut Bivens some slack for the moment. I don't think it will be long before we know just how well she takes advise from this group.

Linked to- Basil's Blog, Cao's Blog, Third World County,

First Female Commissioner of the LPGA

Kudos to Ms. Vesper-Bivens. She does not have an easy road ahead of her. The LPGA has many problems, some I've blogged about in earliers posts at TFM. What troubles me is Vesper-Bivens says this organization doesn't need to fixed. I think the absolute opposite, alot of work needs to be done to save the tour. I do wish her good luck.

The whole article can be found at Yahoo news.

LPGA Selects Bivens to Replace Votaw as Commissioner
Former Newspaper Executive Is LPGA's First Woman Leader
By DOUG FERGUSON, AP


PINEHURST, N.C. (June 15) - Carolyn Vesper Bivens was hired Wednesday as the first female commissioner in the 55-year history of the LPGA Tour, taking over a sport driven by the success of Annika Sorenstam and the potential of teenagers like Michelle Wie.

Bivens will replace Ty Votaw, who is stepping down after seven years.

For the last four years, Bivens was president and CEO of Initiative, a media planning and buying company. She previously was the associate publisher of USA Today, where she also had been senior vice president of advertising.

"My hope is to keep the momentum going," Bivens, 52, said in a telephone interview. "This is not an organization that needs to be fixed."

Bivens has a background in marketing and a love for golf, having been a member at Congressional Country Club for 22 years before moving to California.

She started at USA Today in circulation marketing and ended up in advertising until being chosen as associate publisher. All along, the running joke at the newspaper was that her dream job was to run the LPGA Tour.

"They roasted me with a sports page naming me commissioner of the Senior LPGA for my 40th birthday," Bivens said.

She left for Initiative to learn how to run a business and didn't think much about the LPGA job when Votaw announced in January that this would be his last year as commissioner. Votaw, 42, has not said what he plans to do next.

Another Carolyn Bivens Blunder

The LPGA tour Commissioner proves once again she can't run a Pro golf tour.

Carolyn Bivens, the new commissioner of the LPGA Tour, continues to generate controversy. Her most recent questionable action came when she denied a request by 17-year-old Kiran Matharu to attend the LPGA’s Q School, which starts on the 19th.

In her letter of denial, sent to Matharu via email on September 9th, Bivens wrote: “I do not believe your record in professional golf competitions demonstrates you can compete at the highest level of women’s professional golf at this time . . . I recommend you apply to qualify for the Duramed Futures Tour, ‘The Official Developmental Tour of the LPGA.’ “

Of all the Q School applicants this year, Matharu might actually be among the most qualified, and perhaps as importantly, the one with the most world-wide potential. She’s the reigning Ladies English Amateur champion, was a member of Great Britain and Ireland’s Curtis Cup team that competed last month at Bandon Dunes, and placed 15th in her first professional event. In addition, the young Englishwoman is a two-time Faldo Series Girls champion.

Yorkshire-born Matharu started golf at the age of 11 and has been an outstanding player ever since. She’s the only British Asian female golfer, has an engaging personality and been named twice as Leeds Sports Performer of the Year – in 2003 and 2004. Earlier this year she was named “Female Junior Sports Personality of the Year” at the Sony Entertainment Television Sports Personality of the Year awards for British Asians.

Of Matharu’s future, Nick Faldo said, “I’ve worked with Kiran for nearly three years now and in that time she has certainly proved that she has the potential to succeed on the big stage. Kiran combines a great game with a steady nerve and I’m confident that, with a little more experience, she will be in a position to challenge for the very highest honors that the ladies game has to offer.”

After the Curtis Cup, Matharu turned professional with a plus-4 handicap, the lowest of any female golfer in the UK. She made the cut and finished 15th in The Wales Ladies Championship, her first professional tournament.

I don't know what else Ms. Matharu has to prove that she is ready to play professionally. Matharu's amateur record is comprable to Morgan Pressel, who was approved one year ago to qualify for the LPGA tour. What is the difference here? Bivens once said Paula Creamer's 2005 rookie season was the best since Nancy Lopez's in 1978. That she failed to know that Juli Inkster(1984) and Se Ri Pak(1998) won as many or more times than Creamer in addition to winning a major(or majors in Se Ri's case) as a rookie, shows Bivens knows little about the tour past or present. Her latest decision is both arbitrary and wrong and the only grounds for it is either incompetence, stupidity or racism. Which one is it Ms. Bivens?

Commissionrer Bivens has been making a series of blunders the entire year.

Biven’s had a rocky time during her brief commissionership, which began a year ago this month. Here’s a list of some of her more controversial moves:

Requiring tournaments to pay for the electronic scoreboards that dot courses (currently, the Tour splits those costs – about $30,000 each – with the sites);

Dropping the popular LPGA-ShopRite Classic on the Jersey Shore for a more lucrative event (the ShopRite has generated $12 million in charitable donations, with more than $1.8 million going to charity last year - the highest of any LPGA event);

Creating chilly relations with many of the media that cover the LPGA, including Dottie Pepper, an early supporter;

Imposing a sanction fee of $500,000 on new tournaments that want to be added to the LPGA’s schedule;

Threatening to drop existing tournament sponsors, including McDonalds, a generous LPGA backer for 26 years, the last 13 as sponsor of the LPGA Championship, the Tour’s flagship event.

Even the LPGA’s unquestioned star player, Annika Sorenstam, has expressed dissatisfaction with the way the Tour’s new leader has performed. "I am quite concerned about some of the decisions and changes I have seen lately,” commented the usually stoic Swede. “I just wonder where we are headed."

I'm with Annika. The above decisions by Bivens and some others show her complete incompetence at running a ladies' professional golf tour. The LPGA needs to dump Bivens before she runs the tour into the ground.

Linked to- Right Wing Nation, Bright & Early,

Carolyn Bivens has to go

The LPGA Commissioner is well on the way to destroying the tour she was appointed to run. Here is the latest news.

CHARLESTON, S.C. - A $2.6 million LPGA event will be staged here next year, a week following the Senior PGA Championship at Kiawah Island's Ocean Course.

The event, the Ginn Tribute hosted by Annika Sorenstam, will be held May 31-June 3 at the RiverTowne Country Club in nearby Mount Pleasant.

"It's exciting news. It's a great event coming up on our schedule," Sorenstam told The (Charleston) Post and Courier. "We'll try to attract the best players and really make it a special event."

The purse for the tournament, which will be televised by NBC, is one of the richest payoffs of any LPGA event.

Isn't this wonderful news? A new tournament with a big purse? Not if you read this.

New dates may have the ShopRite Classic and LPGA heading to court

By Ron Sirak
Golf World July 14, 2006


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.

"We have a letter from the previous administration guaranteeing us that date in '07 and '08," Harrison told Golf World. "Our lawyers think we have a very strong position. We told [the LPGA] if they announce this date we will pursue legal action."

*****

Harrison says he was supposed to meet with LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens last week in Philadelphia, but she was unable to attend because of airline problems. The tour's chief legal officer, Libba Galloway, and its VP for business affairs, Mike Nichols, did make the meeting. Asked how the get-together went, Harrison said: "Not very well." Bivens also missed the HSBC Women's World Match Play last week which, like the ShopRite, is held in New Jersey.

According to Harrison, the ShopRite has given $12 million to charity since 1986--$1.8 million last year--and was offered three alternative dates by the LPGA: The week opposite the men's U.S. Open; the week of July 4th; and the week between tournaments in California and Mexico. None of those dates are acceptable to Harrison.

"We went up against the men's Open once before and it was a total disaster," he said. "No gallery, no press." July 4th weekend on the Jersey shore would be impossible because of the lack of reasonable hotel room rates for the players or casinos for the two parties during the event. "And what kind of field would I get if we were between stops in California and Mexico?" Harrison asked.

So the LPGA has antagonized a long-time sponsor, gotten themselves in a potential lawsuit they can very well lose and probably scared other tournament sponsors. And what for? Bivens seems to be sending a message you're only as good as your last tournament. This is suicidal for a tour with money problems, decaying tournament scheduling and sponsor retention problems.

Then throw in the media credentials debacle from last spring, staff turnover and dissent at the LPGA HQ, and the LPGA Championship television rights controversy, little good news is coming out of Daytona Beach and several disasters are looming.

If you want to nitpick there are other Bivens gems like her saying there was nothing about the LPGA that needed to be fixed. Or when Bivens said Paula Creamer's 2005 season was the best
by a rookie since Nancy Lopez. The commissioner seems to have forgotten Juli Inkster's 1984 debut or Se Ri Pak's 1998 where they won multiple tournaments and at least one major championship. Paula is still looking for her first major.

So the LPGA Comissioner can't run a tour that she also appears to know little about. Michelle Wie could do wonders for the tour once she becomes a member. But will there be an LPGA for Michelle to star on? The message is clear, Carolyn Bivens has to go or the LPGA is sunk.

Open Post- Bullwinkle Blog, Basil's Blog,

The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is Carolyn Bivens the commissioner of the LPGA tour. She gets today's award for her repeated mishandling of relations between the pro golf tour she runs and the sponsors of tournaments. The latest debacle being the Wendy's Championship for Children, a 8-year-old event and sponsor on tour which told the LPGA the tournament was history. The reason given- a dispute over changed dates for the tournament.

Read this post of mine from two months ago. Bivens is picking unnecessary fights with tournament sponsors. There's even a dispute I didn't blog about, when Bivens snubbed a meeting of tournament sponsors. The woman is a menace and the LPGA which is shaky condition to start with, could be on the road to extinction. The players on tour need to take the LPGA away from this woman. For if they don't, there may not be a tour in five years.

For mismanaging the organization she was hired to run, Carolyn Bivens is today's Knucklehead of the day.

Note- The Columbus Dispatch article misspells Bivens name. If you want to check who is right and wrong, click here.

Linked to- Basil's Blog, Bright & Early, Cao's Blog, Jo's Cafe, Mark my Words, Right Wing Nation,

The LPGA Tour is leaving central Ohio after an eight-year run, the past six as the Wendy’s Championship for Children at Tartan Fields Golf Club in Dublin.

Wendy’s International, whose future as sponsor of the event already was in doubt, pulled the plug this week when the LPGA Tour notified the tournament that it no longer could take place in late August.

"We spent years of work (with previous commissioner Ty Votaw) to get this weekend from the LPGA," Wendy’s spokesman Denny Lynch said. "Now we hear that a new commissioner has given away those dates to another sponsor, or perhaps a new sponsor.

"We weren’t given any courtesy, no advance notice at all."

LPGA commissioner Carolyn Blevins was traveling yesterday and unavailable to comment, a spokesman said. But she said in a statement that Wendy’s and tournament organizer HNS was made aware of the possibility months ago.

"We understood in early June that HNS couldn’t commit to a date or renewal for 2007," the statement said. "At that time, HNS knew their regular date was no longer an option."

Tournament director Kip Eriksen, who works for HNS, strongly denied Blevins’ statement.

"Until last week, nobody flat-out stated that our date was moving," Eriksen said. "This came out of nowhere. We were waiting to find out if Wendy’s would be back as a sponsor, that is true. But we felt all along that our date was set."

The late August date is important because it guarantees the tournament a spot on one of ESPN’s networks, rather than The Golf Channel. Also, every other year, it serves as the final tournament in the points race that determines the U.S. field in the Solheim Cup, the LPGA equivalent to the Ryder Cup.

The LPGA hasn’t said what tournament will take over the last week of August, but it’s likely a tournament that will guarantee a larger purse.

The Wendy’s purse was $1.1 million, putting it in the lower third of the LPGA events.

Lynch said the Tour offered three other weekends on which to hold the event in the future.

"The first was Labor Day weekend, which, of course, is when the Buckeyes start playing (football)," Lynch said. "The next was Fourth of July weekend. Boy, that’s a great time to host a golf tournament."

The other was the third weekend of July, when most of the top players already have departed the United States to prepare for the Women’s British Open. It’s currently an open date on the LPGA calendar.

"None of those dates work," Lynch said. "Let’s be serious here."

Wendy’s, which is trying to cut $100 million from its annual costs, was meeting this week to determine whether it wanted to continue as sponsor, Lynch said. They’ve raised $3 million for Children’s Hospital but do not profit from the event, Lynch said.

"We hadn’t made a decision yet," Lynch said. "But once our date was gone, it made it a moot point. Six years as the title sponsor and this is how it ends up. We’re disappointed on all fronts. There’s no good news here."

Cup Time

From The Palm Beach Post-

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens said she has no knowledge of drug use among tour players. The tour still plans to start checking.

The LPGA Tour said Wednesday it will begin testing players for performance-enhancing drugs in 2008, a move that makes it the first major golf tour to announce a drug-testing program.

Specifics of the testing plan will be worked up over the next six to nine months, Bivens said. The tour plans to announce the program details, including testing methods and banned substances, in the second half of the 2007 season.

"While we have no evidence to date that any of our players are using performance-enhancing drugs, we need to have a very clear policy and a program in place," Bivens said. "We want to take a proactive role."

Players learned of the decision with Wednesday's announcement.

Annika Sorenstam, the top-ranked women's player, said she had no problem with the decision, yet called it "sad that we have to have testing."

"Golf is not like other sports," said Sorenstam, who was tested as a college player. "I believe in this sport. I believe in the people out here. ... I don't think you're going to see anything out here, so it might be a waste of time. But if it's peace of mind for people and if we need to prove that the LPGA's clean, then let's do it."

LPGA player Cristie Kerr said the testing would protect "the honor of the game."

"If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to worry about," Kerr said.

I'm sure a few players will have their feathers ruffled because of the new policy. Then Carolyn Bivens has a history of doing that with people etc etc.

TFM has no objection. After all most pro sports have some form of testing. That said, I don't look forward to blogging on golf's first drug scandal. If history teaches us anything, it will happen one day.

And I'll have a Knucklehead award to hand out when it does. LOL

Linked to- Adam's Blog, Pursuing Holiness, Random Yak,

LPGA + McDonald's + The Golf Channel= A 'Major' Disaster

Some news from Golf World-

When CBS and the McDonald’s LPGA Championship parted ways last month and the telecast of the women’s major championship landed on The Golf Channel, the assumption was that network officials were not interested in women’s golf. But Golf World has learned the truth might be the other way around: Sources say NBC would have jumped at the opportunity to air the event. But the Olympics network never got the opportunity.

Jon Miller, NBC’s senior vice president of sports, said when NBC learned CBS was giving up the McDonald’s (because tournament officials wouldn’t agree to the network’s request for a 3 p.m. Sunday finish), he called the LPGA and told commissioner Carolyn Bivens his network would like to take over the telecast. But Miller says Bivens told him McDonald’s officials had already decided to go with The Golf Channel; when Miller pressed her on it, Bivens told him the decision was “out of the LPGA’s hands.”

Why would any tournament, particularly a major, opt to give up broadcast network coverage? Money is the most obvious answer. A source familiar with the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said McDonald’s saved $1.2 million a year by going to The Golf Channel instead of a network. Unlike the PGA Tour, the LPGA buys network time for its tournament broadcasts, then sells the commercials itself to try to recoup its cost. The source told Golf World it would have cost $1.5 million to put the McDonald’s on CBS (or, presumably, NBC), but just $300,000 on The Golf Channel.

LPGA officials referred comment to McDonald’s officials. Tournament spokesman Frank Quinn said the decision to go with The Golf Channel had nothing to do with saving money, and everything to do with the enthusiasm and support The Golf Channel had shown in recent years. “This was not a financial move,” said Quinn. “[NBC] had not expressed interest in the past, and The Golf Channel expressed great interest. The Golf Channel is a growing force, and we went with them.”

A horrible decision has been made and the LPGA’s acquiescence in this matter doesn’t surprise me one bit.

The Golf Channel is not a good choice for broadcasting a Women’s major golf championship. The reasons-

1- The Golf Channel is not on all cable systems or if it is, it’s part of a sports package that costs extra money. The tournament therefore will have a much more limited viewing audience.

2- TGC has a contract requiring them to broadcast Nationwide events before any other US tournament broadcast. If both fall on the same weekend, TGC will have to show the LPGA Championship on tape delay.

If you want to see this feature of TGC’s programming, just look at when this week’s Corning Classic is on television.

3- Also there is TGC’s horrible coverage of women’s golf. It is rarely featured for more than a minute or two on their nightly Golf Central shows. The European and Senior tours get better coverage.

When there is an LPGA major, say the Nabisco Championship, TGC is out either previewing the Masters or has almost all its attention turned towards The Players Championship. They rather cover a major wannabe than a major championship.

The only way this makes common sense is from the $ standpoint. Sorry to say but the LPGA doesn’t look at the bigger picture. Namely their lack of exposure and this decision won’t be helping it one bit. Short-term the choice is financially ok, but it does nothing to improve the tour’s long-term outlook.

The LPGA’s decision isn’t surprising considering-

1- Their poor television deals. Like allowing ABC to broadcast the Women’s British Open on tape delay.
2- Last year’s decision to eliminate their online message boards and abandoning thousands of fans who used them. This was done without warning, leaving fans to scramble for themselves.
3- Tournamens only selling high priced season passes instead of daily tickets.
4- Revolving door tournament sponsors and tournaments with long histories going belly up. Leaving local and loay golf fans without a venue.
5- A recent dustup with the news media over who has the ownership of stories about the tour and photos of its players. AP, two Hawaiian newspapers and Golf World magazine all stopped covering the tour for varying lengths of time in reply to the LPGA’s new policy which was later reversed.

I know Carolyn Bivens has been commissioner for barely six months, but all signs I'm seeing so far aren’t good. The LPGA is on the verge of a crisis stage if it isn’t in one already. Organized Women’s Professional Golf in the US could be a thing of the past if things don’t change and fast.

Open Post- Third World County,, Bright & Early, Adam's Blog,

US Open Sunday and some golf notes

From AP-

MAMARONECK, N.Y. - The yardage book Phil Mickelson keeps in his pocket is filled with copious notes from nearly a dozen practice rounds at Winged Foot that have prepared him for this U.S. Open.

The way he surged into a share of the lead Saturday, it looked like he borrowed a page from Tiger Woods, the man he's trying to catch in the record book.

One by one, the leaders collapsed in a series of miscues that sent them tumbling down the leaderboard. Mickelson marched along with his best golf of the tournament, hitting the last five fairways and giving himself a birdie putt on the last eight holes.

And when a torturous day at Winged Foot was in the books, Mickelson shot a 1-under 69 and was on the verge of joining Woods in a small chapter of golf history as the only players to win three straight majors on the schedule.

All that stands in the way is 18 holes and an unheralded Englishman, Kenneth Ferrie, whose three-putt bogey from the fringe on the 18th hole gave him a 71 and dropped him into a tie with Mickelson at 2-over 212, the seventh time in the last 11 rounds at a major that Lefty was atop the leaderboard.

*****

Mickelson sat next to the U.S. Open trophy in a television interview. It was close enough to touch, but he kept his hands to himself.

"I've got one round to go, 18 holes, and there's a lot of guys right there, a lot of good players that are making pars and fighting, just like I'm trying to do," Mickelson said. "I'm not thinking about those past tournaments. I'm trying to just play one more good round."

It was the first time the 54-hole lead was over par at the U.S. Open since 1974, known as the "Massacre of Winged Foot," when Tom Watson led at 3-over 213 and Hale Irwin wound up winning at 7-over 287. That was the year Winged Foot got its reputation as one wicked test of golf, and it sure lived up its reputation on this steamy Saturday.

*****

As for the challengers on the course?

Ferrie is a 37-year-old playing only his fourth major, and his first U.S. Open. He was surprisingly steady except for a flew blips on the back nine, when he took bogey from the bunker on the par-3 13th and ran his birdie putt from the fringe on the 18th some 6 feet past the hole, missing the par attempt badly.

*****

Geoff Ogilvy of Australia, who won the Accenture Match Play Championship in February, made two straight bogeys on the back to wreck an otherwise solid round, finishing with a 2-over 72 that left him one shot out of the lead.

The group at 5-over 215 all had their moments, good and bad.

• Three-time major winner Vijay Singh had to scramble for bogey on the 13th and holed a 30-foot par putt late to secure a 70.

• Ian Poulter of England had a chip roll back to his feet from short of the 18th, making bogey to spoil his round of 70. He only has three shots to make up, far less daunting than last year's British Open, when he started the last round nine shots behind Woods and made up only one.

*****

• Steve Stricker held on to his tenuous lead for eight holes until he started missing fairways and limped home to a 76.

• Colin Montgomerie dropped five shots on his first four holes, then steadied himself for a 75 that kept alive faint hopes of a first major championship.

"That was a disaster," Monty said of his start. "Five over to finish was a hell of an effort. I pat myself on the back tonight. The last 14 holes were good."

The last hole was awful for Padraig Harrington.

The Irishman needed a birdie to catch Mickelson, but made a mess of it. He barely made contact out of the deep rough, moving the ball only about 15 yards into the fairway. Once he got out of a greenside bunker, he three-putted for a triple bogey that sent him spiraling down the leaderboard with a 74, in the group at 6-over 216 with Mike Weir (71) and Jim Furyk (74).

Weir hit what he thought was his best shot on the 18th, only to see it roll off the green and into a bunker. From there, he blasted over the green and couldn't get up and down, ending with a double bogey

My observations

1- Mickelson is the person to beat. He'll have to drive better than he did yesterday though.

If Mickelson wins he will have won the last 3 major championships and would go to the British Open with a chance to become the champion of all four professional majors at once. Something only Tiger Woods has done when Tiger won the 2001 Masters.

Warning- Mickelson's record at the British Open is poor. He has never been a serious factor in that tournament.

2- I don't think we'll see as bas as scoring at Winged Foot as seen in the 1974 Open. Still I think 284 will be the winning score and 283 the lowest we could see.

3- Grant Ogilvy and Ian Poulter I think are the people most likely to challenge Mickelson today. If you want my honest prediction, I think Ogilvy will be the winner.

4- Vijay Singh, Colin Montgomerie, Steve Stricker and Padrig Harrington could still contend.

5- Does the USGA ever learn or are they staffed by sadists? The 18th hole yesterday was ridiculous in how the pin was set up. US Opens in 2004, 2002 and 1998 have seen similar debacles. They should think when setting up the course for what happened to Harrington and others on 18 weren't the breaks of golf but the breaks of the USGA.

Other golf notes

*- Golf World continues to be the joke of golf MSM. Was Se Ri Pak the LPGA Champ the feature photo on this week's cover? No she wasn't! It was LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens. The Bivens story could have waited. If Annika or Michelle Wie won would they have not made the cover? Not very likely!

The stupidity shown at GW, and by people like "I don't know who the newsmaker of the week" Brian Wacker, "If they're Asian and aren't Michelle Wie or Christina Kim, they can't be born in the US" Ron Sirak, "Lets see how many errors you can put in one weekly column" Matthew Rudy, and others just testifies to how big a joke much of those reporting on golf are. I'm sure there are good people covering the sport, but none are at Golf World and AP isn't any better with knucklehead Doug Ferguson doing much of their coverage.

*- Talking about Bivens, go read the article. What is going on at LPGA HQ in Daytona Beach is troubling in the very least, and possibly disastorous for the LPGA at worst. I think Bivens is more likely to run the organization into the ground than help the LPGA become better managed and more financially viable. This is one prediction I hope to be wrong about.

Open Post- Bullwinkle Blog, TMH's Bacon Bits, Adam's Blog

Another One bites the dust

Maybe that Queen song should be the new LPGA Theme Song. From Golfweek-

Speculation turned into fact Dec. 20 when it was decided that the LPGA's annual stop in Nashville will be canceled.

Sources with the tournament confirmed that the 18-year-old event will not be played in 2007, citing a lack of a title sponsor. Those same sources also said they were unaware of the tournament's future beyond that.

"Nashville has been a wonderful host community for the LPGA for 18 years and more recently, the Franklin American Mortgage Championship has showcased some of the LPGA's top stars," LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens said in a statement. "Given the lack of a title sponsor at this time, it is unlikely the LPGA will sanction an event in Nashville in April 2007. The Nashville community and the wonderful fans have been terrific throughout the years and the LPGA will look forward to returning to the Nashville market in the future."

The cancellation comes less than a month after Franklin American Mortgage opted not to return as title sponsor following a three-year run. The company made clear its desire to remain involved with the event in a smaller role, with tournament officials hoping to secure a replacement at title sponsor. Neither the tournament's organizers nor the LPGA were successful.

The Nashville event – won by Cristie Kerr in 2006 – was to be played April 19-22 with a $1.4 million purse, has already been removed from the tour's online schedule. It's the fifth tournament to fold during Carolyn Biven's first year as LPGA commissioner, joining events in Las Vegas, Atlanta, Galloway Township, N.J., and Columbus, Ohio.

Three new events will debut next year, though the loss of the Nashville tournament leaves another hole in the spring portion of the LPGA schedule. Nothing has been locked down for the week of May 17-20, a date likely reserved for the Sybase Classic, which was based in New York but is in negotiations for a new venue in New Jersey.

While Commissioner Bivens actions had nothing to do with this tournament's demise, it does re-inforce my strongly held belief that the LPGA needs to dump this woman. When you have many tournaments and sponsors in danger, you don't antagonize or dump ones who still want to associate with your organization. The LPGA has to fire Bivens within the year, or the tour may not survive another ten years.

Linked to- Stop the ACLU, Bright & Early, Is it just me?,

The Ginn Open is dead

Another hole has been blown in the 2009 US Women's professional golf schedule. From the Orlando Sentinel-

The recession has claimed another victim: the Ginn Open, the LPGA Tour's lone event in Central Florida.

Ginn Sports Entertainment and Ginn Development Company announced Wednesday afternoon that they will no longer host, produce or sponsor professional golf tournaments, including the Ginn Open at Reunion Resort and the Champions Tour Ginn Championship in Palm Coast.

"The economy is rough, and it's no surprise," Ginn Open Tournament Director Linda Chen said.

This year's Ginn Open had been slated for April 16-19, and it is unclear whether the LPGA Tour can find a replacement tournament for that point on the schedule.

The chances of a replacement being found between now and April rank up there with my winning the Florida lottery in any given drawing. It isn't going to happen.

No one from the LPGA has commented on this latest tournament debacle. AP reports that VP of LPGA communications Connie Wilson as saying because of travel and schedules the tour would have no immediate comment.

Which might be true. Or Carolyn Bivens and other officials are in a bunker somewhere just like they were when their horrendous LPGA English policy was announced not by the tour, but by a member of the golf media. You mean there isn't one person available on the cell phone right now? I find that hard to believe.

LPGA blogger Hound dog writes-

Despite the reality of the current economic situation, I am pissed off about this announcement. Thanks for waiting until only 11 weeks before your event to pull out, fellas. Thanks for giving the Tour absolutely no chance to replace your over-speculated asses. Thanks for shooting yet another hole in our schedule and removing one of its largest purses to boot. Thanks for giving our Commissioner a reason to alienate and then kick out one of the Tour's longest-running sponsorships three years ago - since most folks are still buying groceries these days, I imagine the ShopRite people would already be preparing to host their '09 tournament if you guys hadn't come barging in.

Hound Dog is right, it would have nice if the company didn't wait so long to announce the inevitable. The demise of the Ginn Open comes as little surprise to people and blogger knowledgeable about the LPGA considering how the Ginn Tribute folded.


I wrote about the Shoprite debacle two years ago. To make way for Ginn, the LPGA gave the shaft to Shoprite who rather than take crappy dates on the schedule, pulled the plug on their Atlantic City event. It was an outrageous way to treat a long-time LPGA sponsor that earned Carolyn Bivens a Knucklehead award a few months later when she gave the shaft to another LPGA tournament sponsor, Wendy's. Don't forget ADT pulled their sponsorship of the year ending West Palm Beach tournament last year because of tournament pricing, not a change in marketing as the LPGA claims.

I wonder how LPGA headquarters will spin the Ginn Story? Some how I imagine a official speaking with the song 'Don't worry, be happy.' playing in the background.

The LPGA will need luck to survive in the US over the next few years. In the meantime, I will repeat what I been saying multiple times for over two years. Carolyn Bivens has to go or the LPGA Tour is cooked.

A few extra notes-

There is no Florida tournament on the 2009 LPGA schedule now. The ADT is defunct, and the Stanford International which was played in the Miami area last year, has since moved to Texas.

The Ginn Open trophy was named after Kelly Jo Dowd, the mother of Dakoda Dowd a amateur who played in the inaugural tournament. Mrs Dowd died less than two years ago.

Her husband, Dakoda's father, Mike Dowd was quoted as saying-

"It would have been phenomenal to have Kelly Jo's name on that trophy for years to come, We got one year."

One year is better than none. God bless the Dowd family. Mike Dowd also said-

"There's going to be a lot of sad folks over this," Mike Dowd said.

I'm betting there are a great many angry LPGA golfers because of this too.

Another step on the road to disaster

From Golf World-

The ShopRite Classic, a fixture on the LPGA schedule for 21 years, has ended its ties with the tour in a dispute over when the tournament would be played. In a strongly worded statement released Wednesday that never mentioned LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens by name, tournament chairman Larry Harrison accused the tour of ignoring a commitment ShopRite Classic organizers say they had from previous tour leadership guaranteeing its date through 2008. The decision apparently ends an event that was one of the most popular among players because of its proximity to the Jersey Shore and the casinos of Atlantic City.

The standoff turned nasty in July when the tour slotted a new tournament in South Carolina -- the Ginn Tribute -- for June 1-3, one week before the McDonald's LPGA Championship for 2007. Harrison says that week was promised to him. The tour disputes that claim and offered several other dates, none of which were acceptable to the ShopRite organizers. Last month, the LPGA discussed the 2007 schedule at a players' meeting at the Long Drugs Challenge. On that draft schedule was an event listed only as "Atlantic City" slated for Labor Day weekend.

"In effect, there has been no true negotiation with the Tour, and no direct communication with the Tour commissioner or her staff throughout this process," Harrison said in his statement. "Rather, the tour, through its outside legal counsel, has simply offered a few undesirable and/or unworkable dates, of which only one was even remotely acceptable."

In a tersely worded statement Wednesday night, the LPGA challenged the accuracy of Harrison's version of events and hinted at legal action. "Harrison's statement is full of falsehoods and incorrect accounts," the LPGA statement said. "We've directed our legal counsel to contact Mr. Harrison's attorney and have him rescind the statement."

*****

"We went up against the men's Open once before and it was a total disaster," he said. "No gallery, no press." July 4th weekend on the Jersey shore would be impossible because of the lack of reasonable hotel room rates for the players and the lack of availability of casinos for the two parties during the event. "And what kind of field would I get if we were between stops in California and Mexico?" Harrison asked.

The ShopRite Clasic is the second LPGA event to break its ties with the tour in a dispute over scheduling dates. The Wendy's Championship for Children near Columbus, Ohio, an event since 1999, pulled out when its late-August date was given to the Safeway Classic in Portland, Ore. The tour has also lost stops in Atlanta and Las Vegas this year, while adding the South Carolina event as well as stops in Alabama, Arkansas and Thailand.

"Putting together a schedule is like trying to solve a Rubik's Cube, when you think you have one side solved you turn it over and see that another piece is out of place," LPGA chief operating officer Chris Higgs told Golf World when Wendy's left the tour. "We have to consider what's best for the tour overall and those decisions are not always going to make everyone happy. We don't want to lose events, but we do need a certain level of cooperation."

This is an utter fiasco but I wasn't surprised by this news. It is just the latest in a long series of incidents involving tournament sponsors and LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens since she took over running the tour in 2005. Click here, here, here, and here for previous examples of this woman's incompetence. The LPGA players need to see to Ms Bivens firing and soon. If not, there may not be a US Ladies pro golf tour in 5 or 10 years.

Linked to- Right Wing Nation, Blue Star, TMH's Bacon Bits,

Shoprite II- SBS no longer a LPGA sponsor

In another supposed money grab, the LPGA has given a long-time sponsor the shaft. From Ron Sirak at Golf World-

That the LPGA came into the 2009 season with only three fewer tournaments than last year was probably a small victory given the state of the global economy. Not expected was that it would lose another event last month--the Ginn Open--before it was to be played in April, a victim of the real-estate collapse that also claimed the Ginn Championship on the Champions Tour. Now, the LPGA is taking a calculated risk for the 2010 schedule by signing a lucrative new deal for the Korean television rights to LPGA events with J Golf, a subsidiary of Joongang Daily News. The new partner means severing a 15-year relationship with the Seoul Broadcasting System, and losing the SBS Open after the season-opening tournament at the Turtle Bay Resort in Hawaii.

While the matter of Korean television rights for LPGA events might seem like a minor issue, it is not. The income from those rights is the tour's largest single revenue stream.

I prefer to follow the play of the tours than the economics, but I'm well aware of how big a part the television contracts with Japan and South are so far as LPGA revenue sources go. The LPGA has to buy air time in the United States for most of their tournaments and then sell advertising to recoup their costs.

Here's the stinking part of this whole deal.

The contract with J Golf, which has yet to be announced by the tour or the network, but details of which were obtained by Golf World, is a multiyear deal likely worth in excess of $4 million annually, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. That is up significantly from the $2.25 million SBS says it paid to broadcast 30 events in Korea this year. Asked if his company would continue to sponsor the SBS Open when coverage moves to J Golf next year, Sang Y. Chun, president and CEO of SBS International, said: "Absolutely not."

Chun, who said he was "disappointed, upset really" at losing the contract, said his feelings were "not about the money [but] about the way we were treated."

In Asian society, saving face is important. It looks like to me the LPGA has really stomped on these people, otherwise Chun wouldn't have said the words he did.

So what has that meanace Carolyn Bivens done? Alienate and lose a long-time LPGA sponsor for a slightly better deal with a company with no track record of backing women's golf. We all know what happened when the tour gave the Shoprite Atlantic City tour stop the finger and replaced it with tournaments sponsored by Ginn Resorts. A little over two years later there are two holes in the schedule after Ginn pulled out of these events and Shoprite is gone too. The deal with J Golf isn't for another tournament, but the effect is two fold. First the SBS Open is gone in 2010 when the LPGA already has 1/3 of its tournaments up for renewal at the same time an economic downturn is happening. Perhaps more importantly, the latest actions of the LPGA could make current sponsors re-think their relationship with the LPGA. For they can be dispensed with by this crazy commissioner who chases dollars at the same time she kicks sponsors in the pants.

Hound dog writes-

As I mentioned last night on Inside The LPGA, the increase in rights fees (approximately $2 million per year, almost double the previous amount) from the new deal is significantly offset by the loss of the $1.2 million purse from the SBS Open. If this event isn't replaced on the 2010 schedule, the deal isn't nearly as impressive.

If what Sirak wrote above is true, the difference between the deals was only a million. To me the LPGA came out a loser, 4 million from J Golf compared to 3 million from SBS plus the 1.2 million tournament purse. That's a net 200,000 loss to me. Can Carolyn Bivens add?

Ryan at Waggleroom has a differing opinion-

On the surface, it's easy to recall the situation with Ginn that led to the demise of the ShopRite event in Atlantic City. The LPGA Tour took the allure of big money from an organization with not nearly as sure footed as ShopRite. And now it is paying dearly. Still, given that the LPGA Tour is losing significant revenue by losing several tournaments this year, this may have been a forced move.

I don't see anything forced at all in the changeover from SBS to J golf. All I see is another step on the road to disaster for the LPGA Tour if they allow their present commissioner to keep making these decisions.

I'll say it again. Fire Carolyn Bivens now!

Na On Min

Could an eighteen-year-old win a second consecutive LPGA Major this year? Little known Na On Min will try to do just that this afternoon.

HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. - The first surprise at blustery Bulle Rock was that someone could make eight birdies and shoot 65. That gave way to a greater mystery Saturday at the LPGA Championship. Just who is Na On Min?

She is an 18-year-old playing in only her sixth tournament as a pro, and her first major championship. She idolizes Se Ri Pak, typical of most young golfers from South Korea, but her lasting memory is seeing a tan line around Pak's ankles when she took off her shoes to hit a shot out of the water in a U.S. Women's Open playoff 10 years ago.

And if she keeps playing like this, Min won't need too many more introductions.

With four birdies over the last seven holes, Min shot a 7-under 65 in testing conditions — by two shots the best score at Bulle Rock — to give herself a one-shot lead over Suzann Pettersen and a chance to become the youngest major champion in LPGA history.

"I'm just really excited," said Min, who was at 10-under 206. "This is my first major. I'll do my best to keep focus on each shot."

She will play in the final group with Pettersen, who recovered from two trips into the high grass that cost her three strokes and her torturously slow play — it took more than 4 1/2 hours as a twosome — to shoot 71.

Karrie Webb stayed in the mix with a 10-foot par save on the 17th hole and shot 71. She was two shots behind at 208, along with Angela Park (68), another 18-year-old rookie.

Pressel, bidding for the second leg of the Grand Slam, shot 70 and was only three shots behind.

*****

But the score sure got her attention. Wind that brushed off overnight rain stuck around Bulle Rock and made it play as tough as it has all week. Min wasn't the least bit bothered, overcoming a bogey on the par-5 second hole by keeping the ball in play, and close to the hole.

Pettersen finished her roller-coaster round with an 8-foot birdie on the 17th hole and was pleased to be in the final group of a major for the second time this year. Ten weeks ago, she had a three-shot lead at the Kraft Nabisco until a meltdown on the closing holes.

*****

Michelle Wie was anything but that. The 17-year-old from Hawaii finished before the leaders even arrived at Bulle Rock, and left unanswered was whether she would return.

She shot 83, her highest score against men or women since she was in the ninth grade, and was in last place among 84 players. Her left wrist, which she broke during a fall in late January, clearly bothered her and Wie wrapped it in ice after signing her card.

*****

She went to South Africa at age 12 to spend two years learning to play golf and speak English, played on the South Korean amateur team and then went to LPGA Q-school as an amateur. She missed her card by two shots and was given non-exempt status.

Min tried Monday qualifying without much luck, and finally made her pro debut in Mexico, where she tied for fifth. Min did well enough at the Sybase Classic and Corning Classic to earn a spot in the McDonald's LPGA Championship.

I'm a fan of the South Korean golfers but knew next to nothing about Min going into this week.(That ultimate source on ROK Golfers, Seoul Sisters.com, even has only sketchy info on Min.) She has the lead but has plenty of competition to fight off. While not as exciting a setup as last year's LPGA was going into the final round, this year's tournament has all the makings for an excellent finish.

Other notes- Wie may really have a wrist injury. If you read this article, Wie has some serious issues on and off the course at present.

I will say one thing, Annika Sorenstam's criticism of Wie is justified, but it can also be shown to be a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Annika has little regard for both the rules of golf and LPGA rules.

Nabisco champ Morgan Pressel is three shots back going into today's final round. Who is younger, she or Na on?

Se Ri Pak officially became a Hall of Famer this week.

HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. -- When Se Ri Pak's final putt on the 18th hole dropped and signaled the completion of her first round at the LPGA Championship, she officially qualified for entrance into the LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame.

Pak will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame at the annual induction ceremony at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Fla., on Nov. 12.

"This is the best moment of my life and I'm happy to be an LPGA member joining the Hall of Fame. This is my biggest dream and basically dreams do come true," Pak said. "This is one of the things that I’ve dreamed about and finally I've made it."



For Pak, this marks the end of more than a three-year wait, as she earned the requisite 27 points needed to qualify for membership into the Hall with her win at the 2004 Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill. However, Pak had to wait for Thursday to complete the final requirement -- completing 10 seasons as an active member of the LPGA Tour.

When Pak burst onto the LPGA scene in 1998, she recorded one of the best rookie seasons in Tour history. During that season, Pak captured two major victories, including her first of three LPGA Championship wins with a wire-to-wire victory. A mere month later, Pak became the youngest winner in U.S. Women's Open history after winning a 20-hole playoff against amateur Jenny Chuasiriporn, making that tournament -- at 92 holes in length -- the longest tournament ever in women’s professional golf.

With two majors under her belt, Pak joined Juli Inkster as the only LPGA players to capture two modern major championships in her rookie year. Overall in 1998, Pak accumulated $872,170 in season earnings -- ranking second on the LPGA official season money list behind Annika Sorenstam -- notched four tour victories and ran away with Rookie of the Year honor.

During her following nine years on Tour, Pak continued to reign as a dominant figure at each tour stop. Pak posted four additional wins in her sophomore season, and five each in 2001 and 2002.

"The LPGA Tour and the World Golf Halls of Fame is one of the hardest in all of sports to qualify for, and Se Ri has accomplished a feat that only 22 LPGA members have done before her," said LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens. "The entire LPGA family is so proud of her achieving this wonderful accomplishment."

Nice words from Bivens. Who also seems to have a remarkable increase in memory now. Two years ago Bivens said Paula Creamer had the most impressive rookie year(2005) since Nancy Lopez's debut in 1978. Four wins and two majors by Pak beats 2 wins and no majors by the Pink Panther any day.

Congratulations Se Ri. I think she has had more influence on professional golf today, than anyone else, that includes Tiger Woods. At a press conference earlier this week, many of the over 40 South Korean born golfers appeared to support and congratulate Se Ri on her acoomplishment. I think that was an acknowledgment of how much of a trailblazer Se Ri Pak has been to her fellow countrywomen.

Nine years after winning the LPGA herself at twenty-years-old, another ROK rookie looks to make a major championship their first tour win. Wouldn't that be a tribute to Se Ri Pak's influence.

Linked to- Adam, Cao, The World According to Carl,

Top golf newsmakers 2006

Golf World magazine has come out with their top 25 list.

1- Tiger Woods. No argument there.

2- Phil Mickelson. I've always felt GW's editors have a secret homosexual crush on Phil. No other reason could account for all the covers he gets even when he wasn't the biggest golf story of the week. Karrie Webb wins a major, Phil is on the cover. Geoff Ogilvy wins the US Open but Phil is again the subject of GW's cover.

Mickelson is an excellent choice, but I'd rank a few other golf stories ahead of him.

3- The 72nd hole at Winged Foot. No argument.

4- Fedex Cup I'm no fan of this gimmick but yes its newsworthy.

5- LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens

Excellent choice but not necessarily top 5 material. I strongly disagree with GW's assertion that she performed better as the year progressed. Bivens' blunders were spread out the length of 2006. This being the most recent example.

6- Euphoric Euros

and

7- Damned Yanks

The Ryder Cup gets no argument from me other than I would have made it one newsmaker not two.

8- Michelle Wie

The sad derailment and exploitation of this young lady is definitely newsworthy.

9- Underwhelming Teens.

Here's where GW starts to lose it. The story of the LPGA's youth movement was one of the most overdone golf stories of the last few years. It was hyped so much that a let down had to be expected.

An instantly iconic photo from 2005 had 5-foot-5 Morgan Pressel alongside Michelle Wie, who towered seven inches above her. Their eyes were locked and their expressions indicated an exchange of chummy text messages was not likely. Pressel, 17 months older than Wie and possessing a 3-and-2 victory over the Hawaiian in the third round of the 2003 U.S. Girls’ Junior as well as the title from the 2005 U.S. Women’s Amateur, an event Wie skipped, openly resents that her taller adversary gets more attention. Throw in the stunning rookie year Paula Creamer had in 2005 -- two LPGA victories and four total -- and the anticipation for the three-teen rivalry made the 2006 season the tour’s most eagerly awaited in recent memory.

Reality, however, never matched the hype. While the talented teens (Creamer turned 20 in August) had what most their age would consider successful seasons, none won or even went head-to-head with a tournament on the line. Throw in Natalie Gulbis, 23, whose winless streak in LPGA events ran to 132 in 2006, and the tour clearly failed to deliver the young American star power needed to capture fans. The reality is that a sensational year by Lorena Ochoa and a stirring comeback season by Karrie Webb could not compensate for the fact the top two rookies on tour were Seon-Hwa Lee and Julieta Granada, 20-year-old international 
players who entered the season without the accolades afforded Pressel or Japanese star Ai Miyazato.

1- These same golf writing hacks who hyped Wie, Pressel and Miyazato are still blind to Seon Hwa Lee. Lee didn't come out of nowhere, she finished first on the the Futures Tour money list in 2005. Its what I call a case of having golf blinders on.

2- Natalie Gulbis is an example of golf writers being driven by their male egos rather than the facts. Ms. Gulbis is a talented golfer, and certainly not the 2000's version of Jill McGill, but she will never be one of the tour's top 5 players. Top 10 maybe, but with Annika Sorenstam, Se Ri Pak, Karrie Webb, Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie when she gets her game back together, Christie Kerr to beat, I never see Gulbis as a top 5. That doesn't even include other South Korean stalwarts like Jeong Jang, Hee Won Han, Mi Hyun Kim and Grace Park if she returns from her back and injury woes. Jang, Han and Grace will always outshine Ms. Gulbis when all of them, Ms. Gulbis included, are playing their best. As for Kim, aka Peanut vs Gulbis, I think her win at the Jamie Farr over Gulbis in a playoff says all that needs being said.

The Golf MSM mistakes physical attractiveness for golfing ability. That's actually one of the least of its many problems.

c- GW said about Creamer-

"Creamer played solidly, never missing a cut, but may still be adjusting to tour life. She has more than a half dozen endorsement deals -- all of which require time commitments -- and played three non-LPGA events in Japan, where her Pink Panther persona is enormously popular. Cashing in on her impressive rookie season in 2005 may have created time and travel demands off the course that (coupled with a lingering wrist injury) impacted her performance. The drop-off, however, was not enough to be a concern."

I think Paula will be better but she needs to take control of her schedule. Travelling halfway around the world to play golf can lead to burnout. Look what happened to Bill Rogers. This isn't adjusting to tour life as GW says but managing one's career instead of letting others do it for you.

10- The Bomb n Gouge Squad. Huh? Bubba Watson, J.B. Holmes and Camilo Villegas were all golf stories for a week or two each early in the year. Top 25 newsmaker maybe, but certainly not a top 10.

The rest of GW's top 25 with a little added commentary.

11- Camilo Villegas. See my #10 comments. Why does this player rank two listings?
12- Defense mechanisms- Overrated
13- Lorena Ochoa- She should be in the top 5 newsmakers for 2006.
14- The new TV pact. Good pick.
15- Nick Faldo. I don't understand this pick either. Faldo's playing days are over and he only makes the news through his work as a broadcaster.

As for his selection to be Ryder Cup Captain, that doesn't pass the muster for a top 25 pick.

16- Byron Nelson. His passing away should have ranked much higher.

17- Dearly departed aka the passing away of Heather Clarke, Earl Woods and Norma DiMarco. An iffy choice for the top 25.

18- John Daly. So what? Daly had a horrendous year on tour, so did about 200-300 other professional golfers. Again a very overrated story.

19- Geoff Ogilvy. His win in the US Open should rank higher than this.

Of the rest of GW's top 25, only #23 Drug testing, #22 Super Seniors, and maybe #25 China's growing presence, should be listed among golf's missing newsmakers.

What dope was GW smoking when they missed these stories?

* The return of Karrie Webb, in particular her win at the Kraft Nabisco
* The return of Se Ri Pak from oblivion with her win at the LPGA Championship. Also the back 9 of that tournament on Sunday may have been the most dramatic of any tournament all year. With Pak, Karrie Webb, Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa, Michelle Wie, Pat Hurst, Mi Hyun Kim, Ai Miyazato and a few others all having legitimate chances to win the event.
* The passing away of LPGA great Patty Berg
* Arnold Palmer retiring from competitive golf.
* The recordbook rounds of Loren Roberts at the Senior Open and Corey Pavin at the US Bank in Milwaukee.
* The off year had by Annika Sorenstam. Plus her trouble with both ignoring and or breaking of LPGA rules a and therules of golf.
* The off year had by Vijay Singh.

Omitting Webb, Pak, Sorenstam and Palmer just shows you how dumb this golf publication is. Then it shouldn't have surprised me, GW passed up Webb and Pak for the magazine's cover the week after their victories. Annika missing the cut one week was noteworthy enough to make the magazine's cover. Enough said, right?

My choices

1- Tiger
2- The 72nd hole of the US Open
3- Lorena Ochoa
4- Phil Mickelson
5- Carolyn Bivens
6- Fedex Cup
7- Michelle Wie
8- The 2006 Ryder Cup
9- Byron Nelson RIP
10- The return of Karrie Webb
11- Arnold Palmer retires
12- Drug testing
13- The return of Se Ri Pak and the dramatic 2006 LPGA Championship
14- The struggles and rule breaking of Annika Sorenstam
15- Geoff Ogilvy win at the US Open and the the Aussies big year on the PGA Tour
16- The new television deal
17- Patty Berg RIP
18- Record rounds by Corey Pavin and Loren Roberts
19- Where is Vijay?
20- Super Seniors
21- The overrating of youth on the LPGA tour
22- Giving new meaning to the term 'golf hazard'
23- Dearly departed
24- The growth of golf in China
25- Can anyone in golf do 5th grade math?

Linked to- Right Wing Nation, Basil's Blog, Adam's Blog,

How will the LPGA be affected by the current financial crisis?

Ron Sirak writes-

All indications are the LPGA will be down at least two tournaments in 2009, but with about one-third of its sponsor contracts (along with its TV deals with ESPN and Golf Channel) expiring after next season, and its sanctioning fees increasing as much as tenfold, insiders believe the real challenge for the women's tour will be the 2010 schedule.

The Fields Open in Hawaii and the Ginn Tribute in South Carolina are gone for 2009. Safeway is out as the sponsor of the Phoenix tournament, choosing to focus on its event in Portland, Ore., instead, but sources say the LPGA will fund a Phoenix tournament. And the ADT Championship -- the 32-player season-ending event with a $1 million first prize -- won't be played in 2009.

Tournament officials are pointing to a 2010 return, ideally as a February event to kick off the season, but so far lack a sponsor (ADT bows out after this year). The Stanford International Pro-Am will move from the Miami area to Houston (where Stanford is based) and become the new season-ending tournament, beginning next year.

That means the LPGA won't even have a tournament left in South Florida. No more golf watching or blogging for me.

Good question- Why was the Stanford played in Aventura this year only to be moved after one year? Is there some golf real estate that needs to be sold in Houston?

Neither scheduling proposal is sitting well with a significant faction of players, who feel starting the year with a $1 million first prize will skew the chase for the money title and that ending the season with a tournament with a 120-player field is odd since only the top 80 on the money list retain cards for the next year (in other words, non-exempt players for 2010 will be in the 2009 field).

Some how I think the LPGA is still thinking out what these tournaments will and will not be. If the LPGA gets enough bad input from its players, they should make appropriate adjustments.

"The best-case and worst-case scenarios are that we will be plus or minus two or three events next year," LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens told Golf World.

The best case is the loss of two to three tournaments. What is the worst?

"The next [few weeks are] a critical time." Bivens said she expects the tour's 2009 schedule will be released at this year's ADT Championship, which begins Nov. 20. She warned, however, that "in this economy, until you have a signed contract, nothing is buttoned up."

And in this economy, it is difficult to see adding tournaments. One addition for 2009 is a return of the stop in Thailand.

The tournament is just being resumed after a change of dates from the Fall to the Spring. I do agree with Sirak, the LPGA is unlikely to be adding any tournaments with the US economy as it stands now.

The LPGA in South Korea or where in the world is Carolyn Bivens?

For their once a year tour stop, The Hana Bank Kolon Championship. It will be played October 31-November 2nd at The Sky 72 Golf Club, Ocean Course in Incheon. The tournament dates back to 2001, when the inaugeral event was canceled after 9-11 occured.

This is a limited field event, with just 69 players. 12 of whom are KLPGA players, including this year's British Open champ and Rolex#8 player in the world, Ji-Yai Shin. While Lorena Ochoa, Annika Sorenstam, and Yani Tseng aren't playing, the field is still pretty strong. Defending champ Suzann Pettersen, Paula Creamer, and likely 2008 Comeback Player of the Year Helen Alfredsson are in the field.

Suzann Pettersen won last year's event by one shot over Eun-Hi-Ji. The tournament was called after 36 holes due to bad weather.

Last year's event was notable for a few things.

1- Pettersen was the first non-Korean winner of the tournament. Past winners include LPGA major champs Se Ri Pak and Grace Park, plus first time winners Shi Hyun 'Cinderella' Ahn, Jee Young 'Jelly' Lee, and Jin Jong Hong. Ahn, Lee, and Hong were all non-LPGA players at the time, and their wins earned them LPGA Tour cards. Could a KLPGA player do the same in 2008? Here's one name to look out for, Sun Ju Ahn.

2- After the Sunday final round was canceled, some golf fans got upset. In a season ending post on the good, bad, and just bizarre for 2007 on the LPGA tour, I gave these protesters my 'Pitchforks and Torches' award. Who says LPGA golf fans aren't enthusiastic.

A picture of Se Ri Pak(center) and company. Many of the golfers behind Se Ri publicly state that they took up the sport after seeing the Hall of Famer excel at the LPGA Tour starting in 1998.

It has been an excellent year for the South Korean ladies after the off 2007 where only four of them won on tour, and none took home a major Championship. After a ten month victory drought, Seon Hwa Lee, Eun Hi Ji, In-Bee Park, Ji Young Oh, Ji Yai Shin, and In-Kyung Kim all took home titles. Lee actually winning two times. Seven tournament wins, including two major championships. Shin at the British Open, and In-bee Park at the US Open. Three players from South Korea rank in the top 10 money winners, eight in the top 20*.

This tournament is important for players wanting to make the tour ending ADT Championship. The ADT has a one million dollar purse for the golfer who wins it. At present, Eight South Korean players have qualified for the field. At least Another five would qualify if the current points standing holds.

As of yet, no Carolyn Bivens sighting this week . Would she show her face in South Korea after the 'English language policy' debacle of two months ago?

There is no North America television coverage of the tournament. The LPGA is off the air for 3 weeks as the tour travels through Asia.(China last week, Japan next week)

LPGA bloggers Hound Dog and The Constructivist have their own previews up.

*- 2007 LPGA Rookie of the Year Angela Park was born in Brazil, but has lived in the United States since age 8. She recently became a naturalized US citizen and has two brothers at present serving in the American armed forces. Some members of the media can't keep it straight that Angela isn't from South Korea. She's never lived in the country. Park is currently #3 in points in order to qualify for the ADT Championship.

LPGA founder Patty Berg dead at 88

From AP-

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Patty Berg, the golf pioneer who won an LPGA Tour-record 15 major titles and was one of the 13 founding members of the tour in 1950, died Sunday. She was 88.

*****

Berg was the LPGA Tour's first president from 1950-52 and was the tour's money leader in 1954, '55 and '57. She ended her career with 60 victories and is a member of the LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame.

"Patty was a wonderfully talented woman who was dedicated to golf, to growing the game and to making the sport fun for golfers of all ages," LPGA Tour commissioner Carolyn Bivens said. "She was a pioneer, an athlete, a mentor, a friend and an entertainer. She had a sense of humor that sparked a smile in all who met her."

Berg won the 1938 U.S. Women's Amateur and swept the 1937-39 Titleholders as an amateur for her first three major victories. After turning pro, she won the 1946 U.S. Women's Open, four more Titleholders and was a seven-time winner of the Women's Western Open.

"As a founder of the LPGA, Patty took the LPGA to new heights, and it was the work, passion and dedication that she and her fellow co-founders exhibited that has allowed the LPGA to grow and prosper for so many years," Bivens said. "I, along with the entire LPGA family, mourn Patty's passing, but we will forever celebrate her legacy."

Berg was The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in 1938, '43 and '55. She was a top all-around athlete before turning to golf in her teens. She even quarterbacked a sandlot football squad called the "50th Street Tigers" that featured former Oklahoma coach Bud Wilkinson, a neighbor and longtime friend. Berg served three years in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II.

A three time AP female athlete of the year is an amazing accomplishment. Today's LPGA golfers owe much to Patty Berg. RIP.

Linked to- Adam's Blog, Basil's Blog,

Golf World vs The LPGA and the Nabisco Championship

Despite being a big fan of women's golf, I've been highly critical of the LPGA which runs the women's tour in the US. Its a badly managed organization, click here and here for a few examples.

This year the LPGA did another of their seemingly never ending blunders. A dispute over press credentials, and whether photos and articles done by news organizations belonged to the press or the LPGA.

It's safe to say the last full week of February 2006 won't be commemorated by the LPGA Tour and Carolyn Bivens, who encountered the biggest hurdle of her nascent tenure as commissioner. Any grumbling over the new Rolex Women's World Ranking seemingly grew fainter when the LPGA and various media outlets found themselves trying to work out differences regarding the tour's revised credential regulations.

The issue was precipitated by the LPGA's inclusion of new language governing use of stories and photos at its events. It came to a head when the Associated Press, Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Honolulu Advertiser did not cover Thursday's first round of the Fields Open in Hawaii after being denied media credentials for declining to agree to the new stipulations. The AP and LPGA reached a compromise regarding editorial usage Friday, and the AP resumed normal coverage along with the two local papers through the tournament's conclusion.

I side with the media. They do the work, the photos and stories belong to them, not the LPGA. This is such a dumb issue, that I got bad feelings already about Ms. Bivens and her reign at the LPGA. If the organization continues like this, I fear Professional Women's golf could die in the United States.

While the LPGA resolved the dispute with some media outlets, Golf World was not one of them. I subscribe to this weekly golf magazine.

Golf World statement on the credential issue

The LPGA imposed new photography requirements last week that made demands well beyond the accepted standards of the PGA Tour and the ruling bodies of other sports. As a result, the only coverage of the LPGA's Fields Open in this issue is the scoreboard on page 40. Golf World -- along with its sister publications, Golf Digest and Golf For Women, owned by Condé Nast Publications -- are in negotiations with the LPGA and remain hopeful that coverage will resume in coming weeks.

Its sad that a major golf magazine had to ignore one of the world's golf tours for approximately a month. However I agree with GW, they had to stand up to the LPGA.

With the Kraft Nabisco Championship being played this weekend, I began to wonder if the dispute would continue through that event. Yesterday I emailed Brian Wacker, Editor of Golf World. He was kind enough to email back, Golf World has re-commenced its coverage of Women's golf. Some kind of settlement was agreed to with the LPGA.

Today Ron Sirak wrote a kind of preview of the Nabisco. While Annika Sorrenstam is the favorite, Sirak notes correctly the many other contenders for this major championship. Paula Creamer, Christie Kerr, Michelle Wie, Meena Lee and others.

Golf for Women writer Stina Sternberg has begun a blog that mostly talks about women's professional golf. Stina seems to think Annika is a lock this weekend. I think Ms. Sternberg has a case of idol worship, no one is certain lock to win a professional sports event.

We'll just have to watch and wait this weekend. I took Annika in the Pakpicker. You can't argue with her record.

Open Post- Outside the Beltway, Bright & Early, Adam's Blog,

LPGA Tour reverses course on 'English policy'

Let me note two things before getting to the topic-

1- This is my first time to write on this controversial subject. On August 13th I had heart valve surgery and only came home from the hospital on August 29th. In addition I have suffered from numbness in one hand since being operated on. While I started blogging again earlier this week, I didn't comment on the LPGA policy. Complicated and long posts are difficult for me to do at this time.

2- My wife is Asian, Leonita born in the Philippines. I've lived in the Philippines, and have visited Japan, South Korea, Macau, China(Hong Kong) and Singapore at some time in my life. You may want to weigh this when considering what I write below.

The policy reversal comes after a week of heated criticism from the media, elected officials, and tournament sponsors. From LPGA.com-

The LPGA has received valuable feedback from a variety of constituents regarding the recently announced penalties attached to our effective communications policy. We have decided to rescind those penalty provisions.

After hearing the concerns, we believe there are other ways to achieve our shared objective of supporting and enhancing the business opportunities for every Tour player. In that spirit, we will continue communicating with our diverse Tour players to develop a better alternative. The LPGA will announce a revised approach, absent playing penalties, by the end of 2008.

The policy the LPGA is revising was broken by Golfweek a little over a week ago.

PORTLAND, Ore. - For the past several years, the LPGA has impressed upon its membership the importance of communicating effectively in English. As the game's dominance shifts to the East, the LPGA has strengthened its stance. Learning English no longer is a tour suggestion; it's a requirement.

At a mandatory South Korean player meeting Aug. 20 at the Safeway Classic, the tour informed its largest international contingent that beginning in 2009, all players who have been on tour for two years must pass an oral evaluation of their English skills. Failure would result in a suspended membership.

When I first read this, I was deeply troubled. Did the LPGA Tour realize the PR and legal nightmare they were possibly stepping into? The moment a player was suspended, a discrimination lawsuit was likely to follow. One that even if the tour won, would be financially costly in addition to be destructive on a public relations level. Asia based companies are sponsors of LPGA tournaments, plus the tour gets large broadcast fees from South Korea and Japan. The LPGA seemed to be self-inflicting a wound on itself.

Also when Hall of Famer Se Ri Pak joined the LPGA, her English skills were very poor and she was shy to do interviews. If such a policy was in state in 1998, would the tour have been graced by one of its greatest players ever?

Pak's English has improved greatly. As could be seen after her 2006 LPGA Championship win. Pak remains shy to some extent, but not because she has trouble communicating in English.

There are non-golf gestures by Asian players that have been appreciated by the public. Like when Mi Hyun Kim donated $100,000 US dollars to Kansas tornado victims in 2007.

Ron Sirak at Golf World wrote that the final straw as to non-English speaking players came when Eun Hi Ji did her winner's acceptance speech at Rochester in June only through a translator. How true this was is open to conjecture.

Ji explained herself and took some blame in this article-

"At the time, I spoke Korean in the interview. I experienced pricks of conscience as I felt if the latest decision targets me. I'll pay more attention to improving my English."

There have been rumblings about the Asian players for some time. Dating back at least to Jan Stephenson's magazine interview in 2003 where the Australian born golfer said Asians were ruining the US based tour. A golf writer Craig Dolch who I highly respect also seemed overwhelmed by the amount of Asian players qualifying for this year's ADT Championship.(I'd supply a link, but Craig's golf blog was taken down after he stopped working for the Palm Beach Post in August.) If the field was set today, over half the field will have been born in Asia(Mostly South Korea, but one player from Japan and Taiwan also) compared to only 4 native born Americans making the field. I haven't scrutunized the list thoroughly, American born Jane Park and Brazilian born but naturalized US citizen Angela Park may be getting counted in these lists. Both players are of South Korean heritage.

Also note 2008 saw Asian born golfers win three of the LPGA's four major championships. In fact all the majors were won by players whose first language isn't English. Lorena Ochoa taking home the Nabisco in addition to Inbee Park winning at the US Open, Yani Tseng at the LPGA Championship, and Ji-Yai Shin at the British Open. This and the lack of success of US players has caused a lot of grumbling from the media and some fans.

Is it nationalism or thinly veiled racism? I'm both a fan of the LPGA, and been a credentialed member of the media who covers the tournaments. While doing the later, I've seen one or two members of the media mocking the English proficiency of some tour players. So honestly I think a little bit of racism is at play.

Back to the LPGA's policy. As recently as Monday, LPGA Tour Commissioner Carolyn Bivens defended the new policy to both Golfweek and Golf World magazines. Saying players being fluent in English was needed as part of the Tour's business model. Lisa Mickey explaining-

Sponsors and pro-am participants pay money for personal encounters with professionals on the golf course. For sponsors, golf tournaments are an advertising tool and a corporate entertainment tool. The LPGA's Kraft Nabisco Championship, for example, is a well-established way for food and grocery vendors to network against the backdrop of a professional golf tournament alongside top women golf pros.

Plenty of corporate sponsors align themselves with the NBA and NFL, but that doesn't necessarily mean they will go one-on-one with Kobe or run downfield for a bomb from Brett Favre. Golf is unique and personal and when people are spending money in this environment, they do it for the chance to spend five or so hours on a golf course with a real playing professional. At the end of the day, if that pro hasn't been able to utter a single "Nice shot," then the odds are pretty high that the amateur spending substantial dollars won't be back next year. Too much of that hurts the tournament. Enough of that hurts the tour.

The LPGA certainly has embraced its global membership and its global membership has made it a much more interesting tour, but while professional golf may be fun and games to the public, it is still, at the end of the day, a business. And, as mentioned before, this business depends solely on the personal satisfaction of check writers based on their experiences with the pros. If the pros can't communicate, the experience is not a valid return on investment for those individuals sponsoring events and playing in pro-ams. Pro-ams and sponsorships secure tournament purses. Without the purses, there are no tournaments. And without tournaments, there are no tours.

While I don't agree with some of what Ms. Mickey writes, I still recomend you read all of her column.

Pro-Am day is arguably my favorite day to attend a tournament when I'm not covering one. Players are more laid back, and the atmosphere is more fun than serious in nature.

Players communicating with their playing partners is important, no doubt about it. These people are paying money to spend time with LPGA pros. But is English proficiency needed for it? Helping an amateur golfer with their swing, putting stroke, or other golf course techniques whether done verbally in English or non-verbally in English but by other means of communication would seem equally valuable.

I attended the 2005 ADT Pro-Am where West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel played with South Korea's Soo Young Kang. Kang's English ability is fair at best, but her playing partners enjoyed playing with 'The Fashion Model of the Fairways'. So much so, Frankel came back to watch Kang play on Saturday and Sunday.

After the new policy was reported in the news, criticism was fast in coming. The New York Times, golf writers, newspaper columnists of both the generic and golf variety chiming in saying this was a bad idea or saying the policy was clumsily announced or both. The list is long, and I will give a brief sampling.

The New York Times-

Here is a thought-experiment for the executives at the Ladies Professional Golf Association. What would American sports look like if all the major sports associations required athletes prove that they are conversant in English? That is essentially what the L.P.G.A. has mandated with a new rule that will require all golfers who have been on tour for two years to pass a test of their spoken English, beginning in 2009.

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Women have been fighting against discrimination in golf for decades, as Augusta National Golf Club -- home of the Masters Tournament and still lacking a single female member -- shamefully demonstrates. For the L.P.G.A. to impose discriminatory rules on its own members is not only offensive, it's self-destructive.

The LPGA blogger known as Hound Dog said-

My opinion? I am sad that America's isolationist (or is it elitist?) tendencies have backed the LPGA into this corner. The Tour is stuck between its home society which insists that the other 90% of the world conform to its words and rules, and a remote one which delivers a large portion of its product and revenue. I am a little surprised that the Tour sided with the former in this case - what happened to "money talks"?

Randall Mell of the Sun-Sentinel wrote-

LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens makes it harder on herself, I think.

Her heart is often in the right place, in being a champion for her players, in fighting hard to get them a better position in the sports marketplace and a more secure future, but her tactics so often confuse, baffle and stream roll.

For a former newspaper executive, she doesn't really seem to understand the value of PR, or communicating her goals effectively.

There's no massage in her messages, which hit us too often like blindside hammers. That's been a staple in her three-year reign. We get focused on the wrong things when clumsiness overwhelms direction. We get caught up debating her tactics so much that we fail to see the good that's intended.

This new mandate to force foreign players to speak proficient English or face suspension from the tour is another example. It promises to mostly affect Koreans, with 45 of them on the LPGA Tour.

Really, it's a good idea that Koreans become proficient at English. It's good for them and the tour.

I agree with Randall that the way the policy was made public was very badly handled. Ryan at GNN agrees. I think the threat of suspensions was discriminatory, but felt the Asian players do need to learn better English. A well thought out plan by the LPGA to facilitate this would have been far wiser, and would have avoided the PR nightmare of the last ten days.

Some people did defend the policy, and I feel none were being racist in doing so. Christine Brennan at USA Today, like Lisa Mickey, defending Carolyn Bivens and the policy-

Lawyers weighed in. PGA Tour players, who rarely if ever give the LPGA the time of day, added their two cents. It can safely be said that nearly everyone was aghast.

If only all those people had taken a moment to think -- had stepped away from their shot, to use a golf analogy -- they might have decided to go after this news with their pitching wedge rather than a sledgehammer.

If they had done that, it would have been noted that the LPGA and the PGA Tour have almost nothing in common, except for the word golf. While the PGA Tour is swimming in cash, most LPGA events live and die by selling the opportunity to play with the pros in weekly pro-ams. It's an experience unique to golf, akin to an NBA star having to play a basketball game every week with sponsors in different cities or a major league baseball player having to spend hours helping the owner learn the basics of playing shortstop.

This is not an idle exercise for an LPGA player. She is expected to interact, offer advice and tell stories with her foursome, which is filled with sponsors or their customers paying anywhere from $4,000 to $12,000 per person for the experience. If those sponsors can't converse with the player (65% of LPGA events are in the USA), the tournament often hears about it. And if the tournament doesn't do something about it, the sponsor might decide not to come back next year, especially in these tough economic times.

Overall reaction was negative. Lawyers saying the policy was discriminatory and even some legislators in California voicing their objections. Truthfully I think politicians who worry about sports have better things to do with their time.

#1 Player in the world, Lorena Ochoa, called the policy 'drastic'.

The LPGA probably rethought this policy after protests from two prominent tour sponsors became public. Michael Bush at Adage reporting-

Saying it was "flabbergasted" by the Ladies Professional Golf Association's new policy requiring "effective communication in English on the part of all of our Tour members," State Farm is urging the group to reconsider -- or the insurer may reconsider its sponsorship.
State Farm is both a general sponsor of the LPGA as well as the sponsor of the State Farm Classic Tournament.

"It's something we are dumfounded by," said Kip Diggs, media-relations specialist at the insurer, which is a general sponsor of the league as well as of the State Farm Classic Tournament in Springfield, Ill. "We don't understand this and don't know why they have done it, and we have strongly encouraged them to take another look at this."

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Mr. Diggs, however, said State Farm was unaware that the LPGA was contemplating any such policy. While he would not disclose the value of State Farm's LPGA sponsorship, which runs through next year, he said the policy was something that the company would take into consideration when deciding whether to continue its relationship with the league when its contract expires.

What Mr. Diggs said contradicts the claims from LPGA headquarters that sponsors were consulted before the new policy was made. State Farm is one of the tour's biggest sponsors.

State Farm isn't the only sponsor taking note. David Peikin, senior director-corporate communications at Choice Hotels International, said, "We have a great deal of interest in the intentions of the LPGA on this subject. Based on our understanding, this policy is currently under review by the LPGA, and a final decision and any related details will be determined over the next four months. Until that time, we will be closely monitoring LPGA news and announcements."

It comes as no surprise that the LPGA reversed itself only a short time after these protests were made. The Tour can't afford to antagonize sponsors they have now when the tour is in danger of losing tournaments, or lost ones already.

Ron Sirak wrote today-

Given that all the Europeans on tour speak English, as well as the handful of players from Latin America, the policy clearly was aimed at the Koreans. And to offend the Korean community was not only wrong, it was bad business. The tour's single biggest revenue stream is Korean TV money. What is to be gained by offending that community?

The ultimate silliness about this entire situation is the small number of players it really affected. A well-placed source within the LPGA hierarchy said there were "perhaps a dozen" Korean players on tour who did not possess the English skills the LPGA desired. A caddie who works for a Korean player placed the number at "about five to seven."

Then what the hell was this all about?

Lost in the entire issue has been one that strikes at the heart of the matter, and at the heart of women's golf -- if not at golf itself. The large contingent of Asian players -- primarily Korean -- on the LPGA Tour would be absorbed more easily if the Americans just played better. The language situation was not as much of an issue last year when Americans were winning.

In 2007, nine Americans won LPGA events, and, for the most part, they were the right nine: Morgan Pressel, Cristie Kerr, Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis, Brittany Lincicome, Stacy Prammanasudh, Meaghan Francella, Nicole Castrale and Sherri Steinhauer.

This year, the only Americans to win are Creamer (twice) and Leta Lindley. The majors were won by Lorena Ochoa (Mexico), Yani Tseng (Taiwan), Inbee Park (Korea) and Ji-Yai Shin (Korea). Of those four, only Shin struggles with English. It is no coincidence, I'm guessing, that this policy was imposed in a down year for American players.

Ouch and I thought I was critical of LPGA HQ. Sirak concludes by saying- "This was a black eye that could have been avoided. The LPGA was hit by a sucker punch -- and it was the sucker."

We'll have to wait some time before knowing if the wrong headed policy will cause damage to the LPGA Tour. What has happened in the last ten days reinforces what I been loudly saying for over two years. Commissioner Carolyn Bivens has to go before she ruins the LPGA Tour. That said, it is time to rest those three numb fingers of mine.