Hello? Hello? Is the LPGA Tour Around?
by Ryan Ballengee on Apr 17, 2009 5:52 PM EDT
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PrintWhen the LPGA Tour schedule for this season was released last fall, we talked about the quirks of the schedule that included two long stretches of inactivity for the Tour. Compared to the PGA Tour, the LPGA Tour goes dark much more often.
The sad part is that the LPGA Tour went dark after a series of fantastic tournament play, including arguably the most dramatic finish in the history of the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
Larry Bohannan of the Desert Sun takes a look at the impact that going dark has on the Tour's momentum.
Consider that in the four weeks immediately after the Kraft Nabisco, the tour has only one tournament, and that event will be played next week in Mexico without any television to the United States.
Larry rightly talks about how the Masters is one part of the four week blackout. Everyone goes dark that week. But, also the Ginn debacle caused two weeks of the gap in the schedule. It's disappointing for a Tour that had built serious buzz.
Meanwhile, Hound Dog and The Constructivist aren't sitting still while the Tour is. Hound Dog has a great piece on LPGA statistics. Also, the Constructivist has his rendition of hot, cold, and lukewarm for the JLPGA Tour.
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I am a huge PGA fan and I play a LOT
of golf. I also hang out with people similiar in those aspects.
I don’t know a single person that watches or cares about the LPGA. Not one…including women.
I don’t particularly care about that stat, so we’re even.
by Ryan Ballengee on Apr 19, 2009 10:55 PM EDT up reply actions
It’s an interesting string of facts and figures – but is there a point ?
The LPGA had no chance to move tournaments and dates around to fill these holes. They start the season in a remote location, then have to wait. Nobody saw Ginn going under the way they did, then Stanford.
I didn’t see any mention of calls to the LPGA offices to see if the tour stops would be condensed for 2010. He just left the uninformed readers thinking that these women would just be out shopping or renting movies and eating cookie dough for most of a month. They couldn’t possibly be practicing.
There was no mention of a call to xxx Golf Channel offices to gauge the costs of taking an entire crew to Mexico – not the safest or most secure country.
It’s nice to wish upon a star for a trip to the Wonka Chocolate Factory where all your dreams come true – but reality has a way of showing up and making us deal with things as they really are. Right now, the LPGA doesn’t have the luxury of filling dates at the drop of a hat. They will do the best they can with what they have.
And yes, Larry, they will be wherever they are – practicing for the next tournament. And when the TV cameras are around, we’ll get to watch. (well – not AC – but that’s ok – someone has to watch that Tiger guy) :-)
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Ginn definitely exhibited a lot of symptoms of a bubble company. But, they kept feeding money to the Tour. They had been trying to sell the title sponsorship at the Ginn Open since the event started. They just wanted the real estate attention. Knowing that, I think the criticism leveled against the Tour has some merit.
The LPGA took a calculated gamble called “Mission 2010” (no joke) in the hopes that they would be able to get a network and cable TV deal done and go for bigger sponsors and events. They didn’t predict the toppling of the economy and they’re now in a tough spot. You can’t expect a golf organization to predict the economy.
by Ryan Ballengee on Apr 19, 2009 10:59 PM EDT up reply actions
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