I almost drove off the road over the weekend laughing at that story. The Biv has to be losing support from the players with nonsense like this popping up again and again. It’s hard to stay on her side when her words are on tape and she denies them. She has turned into more of a politician than a commissioner – and that isn’t a good thing.

Sorry to say – it may be time for the LPGA to look for a leader to replace the politician.

I need to improve my google search skills, or maybe they’re OK, but they can always be better. :)

But yeah, yikes. Can anyone say foot in mouth?

When I first read the presser a few weeks ago, I remember thinking that it’d be a tad distracting. Even as a spectator at Sybase, I found it distracting when I was tweeting on the course. While I was following Paige Mackenzie and Christina Kim in the final round, I attempted to tweet about their shots and how they were playing. It got old after about two holes. I actually wanted to watch them and I had trouble focusing. I found it difficult to go back and forth between pulling out my phone and following their shots. Not to mention, I thought it might be bothersome to the players if they happened to see me on my phone constantly. There was something wrong about the picture.

I get where Bivens was coming from – new media is an important tool to use – just not on the golf course. In her defense, people get misquoted ALL the time. trust me, been there and done that. it’s not fun, but lessons have been learned. In her position, it’s going to happen more than once or twice – she’s a public figure and in many ways, if you’re the commissioner of a large organization like the LPGA, you have no choice other than to be a politician. I guess word choice should be advised. Anyhow, it’s bad publicity for the LPGA so I think we should stop talking about it – but I suppose many believe all publicity is good publicity. ;)

Buteau has a very solid reputation for documenting his sources and quotes. He’s very sharp. I kind of doubt he “misquoted” The Biv.

Aren’t you all forgetting Commissioner Bivens double talk in a couple of interviews last Septembe? Click here and here and when she contradicts herself in separate interviews.

GW: If that’s the case, then why did you change the policy?
CB: It isn’t a policy. It’s a program. What we did was rescind the playing suspension.

Golfweek: Can you take me through last week and how you went from Tuesday’s memo to Friday’s memo?
Carolyn Bivens: What we said in the policy was that we listened to the feedback.

It isn’t a policy, it is a policy. Get me some dramamine, I’m feeling seasick!

Then there were these gems.

GW: Looking back on it now, do you wish you have discussed the penalty portion with more sponsors or . . .
CB: Sponsors never want to be part of these decisions.

and what she said to a Alabama newspaper.

She said the meeting was meant to address those issues, as well as issues that would assist players in marketing, communication and competition, but what was highlighted "was about 10 percent" of what was discussed. "We were addressing sponsors’ needs and requirements."

 Then read my take on it. I do recall it got talked about here at Waggleroom at the time.

Carolyn Bivens is the only sports league commissioner to get their own tag at OTB Sports. She doesn’t need any help from the media to give misleading information. She contradicts herself!

By commenting on my own comments. But I had to include this link to Ryan’s post on all the above from Bivens last year.

I’m not quite sure I understand all the backlash. Forget for a moment the debate about whether there would be a rules issue. Let’s pretend for a moment that it’s completely within the Rules of Golf and the rules of the tour.

Paula Creamer stated she won’t twitter during a round. OK, understood. She doesn’t want it to interfere with her concentration or whatever. But why should she or anyone else care if someone else wants to? It’s not like in the original Bivens quote she indicated that players would be required to do it or anything.

So if some other player wanted to do it, why does Creamer care? As I said in the first go-around of this story, I have tweeted on the golf course (when I’m by myself and when it won’t delay play) and I personally find that it doesn’t impede my concentration because I have a long walk between certain shots and I like to have emptied my mind of the previous shot before I take the next one.

Does that work for everyone? No, but I would be annoyed if people tried to tell me not to do it just because they didn’t want to do it themselves. Now, the rules are the rules and they should be respected, but much of this debate doesn’t seem to be centered there.

She stated she won’t, offered an opinion that no one else should, and appeared to be speaking to some sort of consensus the players had already reached about whether to do it. I didn’t see her laying down the law for anyone. Am I missing something?