If the Stanford Event Ends the LPGA Season...

by Ryan Ballengee on Oct 17, 2008 10:27 AM EDT Comment 8 comments

What format should it be? According to Beth Ann Baldry's report from Maui, this is what the Commissioner told players in a meeting:

Beginning in 2009, Bivens told players that Stanford International will take ADT’s place at the end of the schedule as a stroke-play tournament, doing away with its current pro-am format. The tour championship will take place in Houston and will consist of a 120-player field. Bivens did not disclose the course.

We had known for some time that the Stanford event was speculatively going to be the season finale. What is curious to me is the reports that Baldry and Ron Sirak have filed saying that the Stanford season finale will be an event with at least 100 players, maybe 120.

This seems like an awful idea. As Suzann Pettersen said the other day, she favors that the season ends with a limited-field event. I am inclined to agree. The season should culminate with a tournament that rewards players who have had good years.

So, then, what would be the rationale for having what is basically a full field event as the season finale?

0 recs | Comment 8 comments | Share

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

you said it!

The only benefit of a slightly-more-liberal field size than, say, this year’s Samsung or ADT is that you get to make the Stanford the climax of the race to get into the [insert name here] ex-ADT Championship at the beginning of the next season. Last chance to get into the race for the million-dollar winner’s check and all that. But how much bigger the field should be depends on how they set up their entry criteria for the playoff series thing we were bouncing around back in spring and early summer.

http://mlyhlss.blogspot.com/2008/06/whither-adt-championship.html

If, say, it’s going to be automatic entry into the ex-ADT Championship for winners of the 8 playoff events and the rest get in based on winnings in those events, then forcing the people “on the bubble” for the, say, 20th-32nd spots in the field to defend their position against their closest pursuers, then I’d say limit the field to 64 or 96 (on the principle that someone could, after all, come out of nowhere and win the thing). But over 100? No way!

Sorry if you addressed this on the show. So far behind on so many fronts no time to listen lately.

by The Constructivist on Oct 17, 2008 10:47 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

That's ok

I didn’t mention this topic on the show at all. It hadn’t all come out yet by the time I recorded yesterday. If the LPGA is going to pull off this 8 event series, then I can kind of understand the point of have a 80 or 90 player finale and then lead the season with the new ADT, which would basically be the all-star game.

If that happens, then the ADT money shouldn’t count for the money list. Like I said, it’d be like an all-star game for the LPGA Tour.

The real downside to kicking off the year with the ADT is that it models the European Tour schedule of the endless season. Unless it is clearly defined as just for kicks and a million bucks, that hurts the season from the start.

by Ryan Ballengee on Oct 17, 2008 10:58 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

or, as I've suggested...

…count it toward the previous season’s money list—the final event of last season grabs attention for the new season, or something like that…

by The Constructivist on Oct 17, 2008 1:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That'd work for me too

But it does create the concept of the two-year season that was kind of weird on the Euro Tour. That’s a minor thing, though.

by Ryan Ballengee on Oct 17, 2008 2:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

hmmm...

If I understand your proposal correctly, the 2009 full-field season, which would normally end in October will be extended to finish in January or February of 2010? If so, I disagree.

I’m guessing players like to be able to plan their schedule more than a week in advance. Having a couple of months between the end of one season and the beginning of the next, KNOWING WHERE THEY FIT ON THE MONEY LIST, will allow players to plan their schedule for the year in a leisurely fashion, rather than trying to cram it in during the next week’s tournament. A $1 million prize would dramatically alter the money list if not earned by one of the top players (think Julieta Granada).

by dianemarie on Oct 17, 2008 2:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

2009 season normally ends in November....

Right now only the top 50 or so get to participate in the Asian Swing. And only the top 32 get to play in the ADT Championship in late November. Eligibility status when it comes to determining top 80/100/125 ends after Kapalua, yes. But the final money list has reflected all results on the schedule for those who choose to play on the Asian Swing and who qualify for the ADT championship.

The only thing different I’m proposing would be that for the top 32 players, it ends in January or February, not late November. It’s just 1 event more with plenty of advance time to schedule it and plenty of incentive to play in it ($1M for the winner!)—at least for LPGAers, that is.

OK, so maybe a month- or two-month break is not exactly fair to the people hot and healthy in November. But the tour already has two places in its regular schedule—late/winter early spring and late summer—where it is entirely possible to take or be forced to take a 1-2 month break. If you think about it, everyone gets the off-season to rest, relax, work on their conditioning and their games, and come back refreshed and ready to go. The exclamation point on the old sets the stage for the new….

Now, if the LPGA doesn’t watch out, that HSBC Singapore Champions event could be the actual 1st tournament of the new season for the world’s best on every tour, and it would definitely be confusing/annoying to have the LPGA’s kickoff event—which completes the prior season money list race—come after it.

What I’d like to see is the new championship come in the states in late January on some dramatic risk/reward “known” course. Then the new season could kick off in Hawaii and then Singapore (playoff event #1) in February before returning to the Southwest/Mexican Swing in late February into March…make the runup to the Kraft Nabisco (playoff event #2) as dramatic and drawn out as possible by getting more tournaments in that early part of the season!

Sounds like a fun post to write in November: trying to anticipate the 2009 schedule announcement and point the way to what the tour should be shooting for for 2010….

by The Constructivist on Oct 17, 2008 4:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Maybe I got confused. I was attaching a 120 player field to the $1 million for the winner tournament. Change is good, but I think most of those involved would prefer to have a beginning and an end to a season within a calendar year with set time off for rest, conditioning and adding that power fade to the repertoire.

by dianemarie on Oct 17, 2008 7:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs