Leading the LPGA Tour into golf prosperity will be a huge undertaking

Monday July 13, 2009 | 11:26:23 pm 365 words, 3516 views

So we got the formal announcement on Monday that Carolyn Bivens is out as the commissioner of the LPGA, and Marsha Evans, a retired Navy rear admiral, is in as interim commissioner.

Evans, who has also led the Girl Scouts of USA and the American Red Cross, sure seems well qualified and smart – so smart, in fact, that she has already said she does not want the job permanently.

At first glance, who would? After all the LPGA has lost seven tournaments since 2007, and American golf fans can’t even pronounce the names of many of the dominant players on the LPGA Tour.

Bivens recognized that, but drew up a disaster of a solution when she proposed an English-only policy, no doubt aimed at the South Korean players who keep winning over here but can’t or won’t communicate in English with the media.

Unfortunately, what’s lost is that there’s some pretty golf being played on the LPGA Tour. Sunday’s finish at the U.S. Women’s Open at Saucon Valley was great theater. Korean Eun-Hee Ji birdied three of her final six holes, including a money 20-footer on the final hole for birdie, to take the crown. Sadly, most golf fans don’t even know who she is, nor did they care.

The LPGA is definitely suffering an identify crisis. Choosing someone like Nancy Lopez would make sense in that regard. But as Evans said in an Associated Press story today, “I think we need someone with new energy who can bring passion and skills and experience.”

The LPGA also needs to do something drastically different. What, I don’t know, but what’s going on now certainly isn’t working in this economy.

Professional bowling, which was one of the highest rated sports on TV back in the 1960s and ’70s, nearly went away for good through its complacency until it was reinvented in the last decade. It’s not back to where it was, but it’s doing a lot better since the Professional Bowling Association started taking chances by making the game a lot more fan interactive.

Perhaps the LPGA could learn a little from that. It can’t follow the PGA Tour model and expect to survive on table scraps.

3 comments

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: T-Bone [Visitor]

Nice article, Mike, and you dared to touch what is likely the real problem -- Asian dominance. Yes, these are good players, but they don't draw fans and sponsors. Most just quietly and resolutely go about their business of playing great golf, collecting big checks and putting on no "show". I can't imagine paying big bucks to play in a pro-am and getting one of these players, while others get a Natalie Gulbis, Paula Creamer, etc. I would feel cheated, actually. I'm sure the sponsors are feeling so as well. Why is everyone really ignoring the elephant in the room on the LPGA? Why doesn't the LPGA escape the politically correct world and poll tournament fans, TV viewers and most of all, tournament sponsors to see what is the problem? I think they'll find the real problem is fan/sponsor relations due to the Asian dominance. Ms. Bivens didn't do it right, but she had the guts to at least try to address this issue and got skewered for it. Hopefully the next leader will find a way to deal with this, before the LPGA goes backward much more.

Permalink 07/14/09 @ 10:28

Comment from: Brian Chambers [Visitor] · http://www.golfdrivingtips.net

The problem is a flawed business strategy, not the pedigree of the players. If you can sell Yao Ming, you can sell Yani Tseng. The biggest point being missed is in the next decade, 26,000,000 golfers will emerge from China alone. Where do you think the future of the game will be then? By the way, the 26 million exceeds the number in the US or anywhere else. Bivens missed this almost completely.

Permalink 07/20/09 @ 10:52

Comment from: Randy Beckett [Visitor] · http://www.aboutjuniorgolf.com

Don't expect the Korean/Asian dominance of the LPGA tour to go away. You might as well get ready for it to be even bigger. Just look at who is dominating the junior tours.

I don't have a problem with it myself, good golf is good golf. However, I do understand the sponsors. They want to be able to take advantage of the stars that they are promoting and it just does not work as well with an interpreter in the middle whether your asian or any other non english speaking race. If Annika did not speak english it would have been the same effect.

Come check us out at http://www.aboutjuniorgolf.com

Permalink 07/21/09 @ 11:43

The Accidental Golfer

The Accidental Golfer (AKA Mike Bailey) has spent more than 15 years writing about the game that has brought him unbridled joy and temporary bouts of insanity. Now on staff at WorldGolf.com, Bailey is a former senior editor for PGA Magazine, senior writer for Golfweek's SuperNEWS and Turfnet magazines and past president of the Texas Golf Writers Association. He has covered every facet of golf, including the PGA and LPGA Tours, equipment and course architecture, as well as the bane of his golfing existence: instruction. The last has led to at least 30 different golf swings, which all feel different but appear to his playing companions to be the same.