LPGA Tournament In Trouble

Filed in archive Golf News on March 26, 2008

There's an old expression in the Broadcast News business called "hurray-boo".

"Hurray-boo" happens when you have a good news story followed by a bad news story: the federal government abolishes income tax (hurray) but local government jacks up property taxes 90% (boo).

Hurray-boo also seems to summarize the LPGA Tour this season.

After launching 2008 with Lorena Ochoa stating that she intends to put in another dazzling season and LPGA commissioner Carolyn Blevins giving an upbeat state-of-the-union address, the Tour looked set for a great season.



It's rife with superb golfers and storylines. Annika will try to regain her world number one but she'll have to topple Ochoa to do it; Morgan Pressel, Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr, Suzann Pettersen and many others are wonderful players who could easily upset the plans of Sorenstam and Ochoa week after week.

And let's not overlook the Korean contingent, all of whom seem to have what it takes to win titles and majors.

But, suddenly this week, reality comes crashing down on the LPGA once again with the announcement from Safeway that it's pulling its sponsorship of one of the top events on tour - the Safeway International.

The company sponsors two events on tour - the International in the Phoenix area and the event in Portland.

Their president of marketing said both tournaments had grown so quickly that Safeway was forced to "consolidate".

Why does a company cut back its marketing efforts when it's succeeding? In short, it doesn't.

Safeway is cutting sponsorship because somewhere in its "food chain" it's losing money. It might very well have to do with the soaring cost of food, an issue that could become a global flashpoint very soon.

Who knows? But it ain't because of the success of the tournaments. Certainly, the Safeway events are hugely popular on the Tour as are a number of others that the women contest each season.

The problem for the LPGA is that just as it climbs to the top of the mountain, it gets knocked down again. Same old, same old.

Now Commissioner Blevins has to start making cold calls and try to find a replacement.
The more that happens, the more difficult it is to raise the financial bar on the LPGA Tour and increase prize money.

And it's a shame because the LPGA's players have a game that is more familiar to recreational golfers than the other-worldly golf that the PGA pros play.

You'd think sponsors would recognize that and flock to the LPGA waving sponsorship contracts in their hands.

But when the world's best female golfer doesn't even have an equipment contract, you have to wonder what's going on. Or what's going wrong.