As Caddy Larry first reported on Sunday - and later reporting has seemingly confirmed - LPGA Tour Commissioner Carolyn Bivens may well be out of a job soon.

The Associated Press has confirmed that several prominent players have likely signed their names to a letter calling for Bivens' resignation.  The letter, obtained by Golfweek's Beth Ann Baldry (doing some great reporting on this rapidly-developing story), suggests that the economy cannot be the only factor in causing the severe sponsor problems facing the Tour.  It also suggests that a new leader could work to restore wounded relationships with longtime sponsors and create new ones.

I wholeheartedly agree with the assessment of these players.  I would also like to become LPGA Tour Commissioner.  Since that's not going to happen, though, let me put forth a plan that may well help save the LPGA Tour.

Saving the LPGA Tour requires a recognition by any Commissioner of several factors that limit the LPGA Tour.

First, a commissioner must note that the LPGA Tour is not in any position whatsoever to fight for wages even close to equal of their male counterparts.  Weekly purses topping $2 million or $2.5 million are simply not feasible.  No matter how you slice it, the numbers do not suggest that there is enough combined fan and sponsor support to buoy such purses - even in a stable economy.

Second, the LPGA Tour has to realize that it is not the PGA Tour.  Yes, the PGA Tour has lost one event that we know of, thus far.  That does not mean that the attrition rate for the LPGA Tour should or could even possibly be similar.  The sponsor base of the two tours is completely separate.  Wegmans is not Hewlett Packard.  Safeway is not AT&T.  The PGA Tour certainly has faced issues related to its financial and automotive sponsorships, but it has mobilized well in response to the challenge.  They've hushed problems with bankrupt companies and taken talks private.  They have been willing to work with their troubled sponsors in order to carefully plan a succession plan for sponsors or to offer companies additional time to get their act together.  With the dual exception of Ginn Companies, the LPGA and PGA Tours do not have similar sponsor sob stories.

To that end, point three is that the LPGA Tour has to model the PGA Tour's flexibility with sponsors.  Commissioner Carolyn Bivens has been steadfast - nay, stubborn - in her quest to achieve higher purses, better benefits, and a real pension plan for her players.  Unfortunately, that stubborn nature has never waivered in the face of tournament and sponsor push back, or even a slap in the face from the global economic meltdown.  Several sponsors that have withdrawn or are very likely to do so have noted that Commissioner Bivens' decision to increase sanctioning fees and administrative fees by five and tenfold have demonstrated a diminished commitment from Daytona Beach to the sponsors and tournaments that have been with the LPGA Tour through it all.  The end result is an event like Corning - operating for nearly four decades - shuttering because of new financial demands.

Finally - and this is a harsh reality - the LPGA Tour is arguably the most successful women's sports league in American history.  (The WTA doesn't count since it's global in nature.)  That means that the most successful women's sports league to date has achieved a one to four or five ratio in pay to their equivalent male counterparts.  The goal should still be as close to equal as possible, but a Commissioner has to realize that there are limits.  In other words, Ginn was too good to be true and should have been recognized as such.

All of that in mind, the LPGA Tour should be able to plan well for the future based upon what has worked in the recent past.

Arguably, the high point for the LPGA Tour came in the midst of the transition from former commissioner Ty Votaw to present one Carolyn Bivens.  The Tour schedule maintained a balanced mix of domestic and foreign events.  Any LPGA Tour official has to recognize that mid to small sized markets are really the hallmark of the Tour.  If the Tour opts to move the LPGA Championship to New York, it will not get nearly the same attention as it would were it moved to Salt Lake City.  Just saying.  Corning, Atlantic City, and other events were never to be discarded in favor of tournaments and sponsors peddling real estate investments.  Like a wise investor, golf tours benefit from a well-balanced and risk averse portfolio of tournaments and sponsors.

It's ok to follow the money sometimes, but it cannot be done at the cost of burning bridges.  Announcing a new television deal in Korea with the company that rivals the title sponsor of that week's event is a bad idea.  Canceling a popular event in Atlantic City in order to have an event that was not well supported in its market and sponsored by a fluke real estate investor is a bad idea.  These seem so obvious in retrospect, but the examples prove critical in going forward for the LPGA Tour.

In other words - skip a Dubai tournament.  It is more likely that there will be more abandoned cars at the Dubai airport than people who can afford to watch golf there.

A balanced portfolio does contain some tournaments with purses that do not cross the $1.5 million barrier.  These events are necessary to the Tour because of the community and community-based sponsor involvement.  They cannot be discarded.  The two separate nearly month long gaps in the LPGA Tour could have been filled with reliable, though less than specacular events.  What is wrong with Baltimore, Des Moines, or Indianapolis as a mid-level stop?  Nothing if the community supports the event and the players - and charity can win.

Relationships are absolutely crucial to the success of the LPGA Tour.  That includes relationships with tournament owners and sponsors.  Dictacting dramatically increased fees to tournaments while boasting about a television contract with Golf Channel that pays the Tour rights fees sends mixed and alienating messages.  These fee increases should have been phased in incrementally - not all at once. 

Perhaps increasing player benefits and maintaining chairtable giving are at odds, but they should both be goals of the LPGA Tour.  At this stage of the Tour's evolution, one cannot take noted precedence over the other.  Bivens certainly pursued a number of things that helped the Tour in increasing player benefits while having no impact on chairtable giving.  Photography fees, owning two tournaments, and other deals worked in the Tour's favor.  Unfortunately, they were not backed up very well.

The entire job of Commissioner of a golf tour is a balancing act between players, touranments, sponsors, and fans.  PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem is a master of striking this balance.  Sure, he can be long on words, but he is damn effective.  Just ask Wally Uihlein.  The LPGA Tour Commissioner has to do the same thing - be willing to bend, but never break, and always come out ahead.  Even if coming out ahead is going a little backward.

Do I think that I'm the next Theo Epstein?  No.  He led the Boston Red Sox to the end of a nine decade curse.  But I think that the practical application of a lot of the tried and true values from the LPGA Tour's past, the PGA Tour's present, and other sports can help the LPGA Tour to recover from its current backpedaling and move on from here.