Old LPGA Players Call Younger Generation Faceless, Boring, and Asian

by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 25, 2009 8:00 AM EST

The Legends Tour - the LPGA's answer to the Champions Tour - held their first major championship last weekend. Sherri Steinhauer won $50,000 by taking the tournament. Fanhouse's Mick Elliott (a Florida native) covered the tournament and filed a story about how the Legends Tour is looking to fill the void left by the LPGA Tour's 23 event schedule for 2010. Fine, whatever.

But the most interesting part were the quotes from the players and tournament officials basically laying into today's LPGA stars for being boring, not speaking English, or having no name recognition.

Here are some gems:

Nancy Scranton: "I don't want to bad-mouth the LPGA. But we are more recognizable. And fans can relate to us more."

Read: In my day, we got on network TV and we speak English.

Jan Stephenson: "I was in trouble then, but now everybody comes up and pats me on the back and says 'you saw it coming.'. I was just trying to help. It just came out badly."

Read: I was right! I was right! I use a non-seqitur to prove I'm right. Asians ARE killing the Tour!

Doug Schmidt, director of golf sales at the Innisbrook Resort: "If someone put a gun to your head and said, 'quick, name some women golfers,' there's a much better chance you would come up with these players. These are the names that golf fans know."

Read: Today's players are boring and indistinguishable. At least these old chicks have a Q-rating.

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Elliott is classic

Lets see how many shortcomings this hack has

He thinks Angela Park is South Korean.

He spells Brazil- Basil

It is very hard to take people like that seriously.

by Bill Jempty on Nov 25, 2009 9:01 AM EST reply actions

You may not like Mick (I’ve never met him), but can’t blame Mick for these quotes. That’s downright nasty as far as I see them.

Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.

by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 25, 2009 9:33 AM EST up reply actions

Wow – can you say “bitter old women” ? This is crazy. At least generations past of the men had some class.

“Meanwhile, as this was all taking place, the likes of Pat Bradley, Joanne Carner, Jan Stephenson, Betsy King and Patty Sheehan were at Tampa Bay’s Innisbrook Resort for the Legends Tour Open and a step back in time.

“If someone put a gun to your head and said, ‘quick, name some women golfers,’ there’s a much better chance you would come up with these players,” said Doug Schmidt, director of golf sales at the Innisbrook Resort, which also is site of the PGA Tour’s Transitions Championship played in March. “These are the names that golf fans know.”

Schmidt was just playing the promoter card, which is his job – but seriously – unless you were watching the LPGA 20 and 30 years ago, the ONLY name people are going to pull out of that tournament are Nancy Lopez (because she is still in the public eye) and Jan Stephenson…and not for her game, but for a picture of her in a tub of golf balls.

Stephenson tried to backtrack on her Korean statement when she was hallucinating about becoming the next commissioner.

Face it – sex doesn’t really sell the tour…it’s been tried. Sex sells sex and it works for a handful of players – not everybody. Unfortunately, great play barely sells the Tour because bigger numbers would rather watch the men.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Nov 25, 2009 9:35 AM EST reply actions

I think the exact target market for the Legends tour is the fan base that was watching the LPGA 20 years ago. I have been a fan of the LPGA for over 20 years and if an event like this was in my area I would definitely attend…these players do have name recognition to me.

I don’t know in what context Nancy Scranton’s answer was based on, but I happen to agree that for some long-time fans of the LPGA, they probably can and do relate more to these players than the new generation of players out there. There are many posts and discussions about the “relatability” of some of the LPGA players, especially the foreign contingent that has currently been dominating the leaderboard, and I think it all comes down to what level of interest you have in golf or what kind of connection you hope to gain from certain players.

I think you make a great point in that great play isn’t going to sell the Tour – don’t you think people become fans of something because they perceive or create some kind of connection? I’m missing where you think these players are bitter about something…can you explain?

Golfers who appreciate women’s golf may find events such as the women’s legends tour an acceptable substitute, especially if there are going to be limited opportunities to see the regular LPGA players at US events or at decent times on TV.

by red tees on Nov 25, 2009 2:46 PM EST up reply actions

I'm saving my critique for after Thanksgiving

…but thanks for the ammo!

by The Constructivist on Nov 25, 2009 1:51 PM EST reply actions

I think the womens tour (LPGA) or this new one is going to be a tough sell. Most “alpha males” are not going to watch, so viewership and sponsors will not be high enough to sustain this tour. I think the women are great golfers, but I personally don’t watch them. Just my “2 cents” worth.

by golftrainerguy on Nov 26, 2009 1:15 PM EST up reply actions