A Sobering Preview of the 2010 LPGA Tour Schedule

A couple of days ago, we found out that the LPGA Tour's Kapalua LPGA Classic tournament will not be held this year after the resort was unable to find a title sponsor.  The tournament was held last year (and signed through 2012) under the pretenses that Kapalua would be able to find a title sponsor this season.

Further, last week's Tour stop - the Wegmans LPGA up in Rochester, NY - is not certain that they will return next season.  Given the increased tournament fees that the LPGA Tour is imposing upon all of its tournaments, Wegmans is only willing to continue as a sponsor if they are able to maintain the same level of charitable giving it has done for the better part of four decades now.

Rochester could become just another addition to the list of tournaments pronounced deceased on the LPGA Tour schedule since 2007.  Beth Ann Baldry has the numbers in her piece on the end of the Kapalua event.

Since 2007, the LPGA has lost seven tournaments. Six more are sponsorless, including this year’s China LPGA, an IMG-run event scheduled for the week after the now-defunct Kapalua.

Baldry's piece calls into question the negotiating strategy of the Tour.  She indicates that Wegmans LPGA officials only began serious negotiations with the LPGA Tour this past week. 

"We’ve had all year to talk about this," said Tournament Director Linda Hamilton. "We wanted to run the event and not be distracted. We just said we’re not going to do it (now). And we didn’t."

It is almost as though the sense of urgency is absent from the Tour.

Mission 2010 - Commissioner Carolyn Bivens' gamble to have many tournament contracts expire simultaneously - is blowing up in her face as we speak.  It seems that on a weekly basis that new rumors surface about the demise of another LPGA Tour event.

Rumors persist that several Tour players are looking to get cards on other LPGA Tours around the globe - including in Japan and Korea.  Getting cards for those Tours will secure more playing opportunities next season. 

Paula Creamer already skipped out on one of the few domestic LPGA Tour stops in 2009 to take part in a JLPGA tour major championship.  Perhaps that was a sign that Creamer would be willing to commit more time there next season.  Given how the shoes keep dropping for the LPGA Tour, it may also be a sign of acquiesence.  Creamer will need the JLPGA Tour next season.

Consider the 2009 events that have either been pronounced dead, moved to next season for economic issues, in peril, or operating already without sponsors.

Dead: SBS Open at Turtle Bay, LPGA Corning Classic

Without Sponsors: Phoenix LPGA International, China LPGA, LPGA Tour Championship

In Peril: Michelob Ultra Open, Wegmans LPGA, Jamie Farr event in Toledo

Moved: Bell Micro LPGA Classic

Then, consider that the Tour's signature event - the LPGA Championship - has no host course or presenting sponsor.

All told, there will be 28 events played on the LPGA Tour this season.  The number of events next season is guaranteed to go down by at least one for 2010.  In the worst case scenario from the information above, there could be another four casualties and reduce the schedule to 23 events.  Consider that there are several other events which are looking at renegotiation for next season and the armageddon scenario for Commissioner Bivens is a Tour that presents a schedule with a number of events in the teens.

Not too long ago - under the guidance of then Commissioner Ty Votaw - the LPGA Tour schedule featured nearly 50 events.  Votaw co-opted the scheduling to concentrate the number of events into the thirties and eliminate tournaments in very small markets.  Events like Rochester and Corning were long standing events that survived that cut.  Corning will not survive this next round of imposition.  Rochester may not want to survive.

The increasing number of LPGA Tour events outside of the United States suggests that the Tour is interested in expanding globally.  They are looking to follow corporate title sponsors that want to invest in the LPGA Tour, but on their terms.  The LPGA Tour has never been in a position of strength to dictate where and when tournaments are held.  They have been forced to follow the money around the world.

Now, their players may well have to do the same.  For all of the talk about LPGA Tour events in India and the ravaged Dubai, the players may have to chase international playing opportunities outside of the LPGA Tour schedule.  The notion of a global LPGA Tour may well become a reality, but not on the terms that Daytona Beach was hoping to have the power to define.  After all, among the events most in peril, only one of those is not a domestic event.

In a time when women's golf has a deeper talent pool than ever, the domestic Tour that showcases it may well have never been in more peril.  Women's golf may well become a more global enterprise than men's golf.  But, it may do so because of scarcity of opportunity - not an abundance of it.