"The interim commissioner, Marsha Evans, logged about 45,000 air miles to clean up after Bivens and salvage next season."

Thanks to reader Rick for Karen Crouse's look at the hardship the new LPGA schedule inflicts on players down the money list, focusing on Reilly Rankin.

I couldn't help but notice this little jab:

The L.P.G.A. is a model of diversity and inclusion that has been at the forefront of globalization. And yet it is wobblier than it has been since its infancy in the early 1950s. In July, a player revolt led to the resignation of the commissioner, Carolyn Bivens, who had secured only nine contracts for 2010 events.

The interim commissioner, Marsha Evans, logged about 45,000 air miles to clean up after Bivens and salvage next season. Michael Whan was named the eighth commissioner in the organization’s 59-year history in October and will officially take the reins in January.

“I think that we should be commending Marty for making a difference in getting some relationships back on track,” Lorie Kane, a tour veteran, said of Evans.

Comments

[HTBATG]

I really hope the LPGA can pull through this rough patch. More stories like Reilly Rankin's should be conveyed. She ran out of money before that last three weeks of the tour and her uncle who owns a few restaurants in Myrtle Beach supported her for the final few weeks - and look what she did!

[David Mihm]

It's really a shame that there isn't a tighter relationship between the PGA and the LPGA Tours. I'm not talking about direct subsidies like w/ the NBA and WNBA but at some point shouldn't the Tours recognize that growth and interest in the game benefits ALL of them?

I realize that the TOUR may not be as flush with cash as the Commish would like to let on, but it would have been nice to see them step up and get at least the three big sponsors who backed out this year to renew their contracts on a one-off basis, pending the economy...

[court]

"The L.P.G.A. is a model of diversity and inclusion that has been at the forefront of globalization."

Politically Correct twaddle.

If the LPGA had the same positioning in the golf market that the PGA Tour has, they wouldn't be playing very far off of US soil either.

"Diversity and inclusion" ?? Horse-bleep. Just because the best players in the world want to come here doesn't mean that the Tour is going to other countries recruiting and inviting those players.

Just a side note, it is the LPGA , not the PGA Tour that is exclusionary. The LPGA excludes men specifically. The PGA Tour charter says that it is open for the best players in the world - no exclusions.

Give Marsha Evans the credit she deserves without all the PC garbage.

[The Constructivist]

Rankin has missed 7 cuts in 18 events and had a 72.77 scoring average heading into the LPGA Tour Championship. She's finished in the top 30 once all season (the top 10 Crouse mentioned). Unfortunately, she's gone +6 over her last 18 holes at the Tour Championship after putting herself in contention over the 1st 25. Hey, but she just birdied the 8th to get back to -2. If she can get her 2nd top 30 of the season today, she'll be able to get into any full-field event she wants to next season for sure. That's not too bad for someone who had such a bad season. Plus, there's Q-School if she wants to try to move up to the 80s on the priority status list, as there is for everyone who falls outside the top 100 on the '09 money list.

Everyone who cares about women's golf wishes there was more money in it for the golfers. But Bivens's push for higher purses backfired in a bad economy and now the players just want more chances to play. Maybe American players should start considering dual membership on other tours like their European and Asian counterparts. With the 3rd stage of JLPGA Q-School starting tomorrow, I'm surprised only Young Kim and Teresa Lu from #21 to #50 on last year's LPGA money list decided to give dual membership a go (lower-ranked LPGAers could have gotten in at the 2nd stage--only Na Ri Kim and Onnarin Sattayabanphot gave it a try and will be joining Kim and Lu). I guess nobody remembers the Patti Rizzo story.

[LPGAFAN]

I feel really bad for the LPGA players, however; they and the Executive Committee they elected bought totally into the Bivens BS of we deserve more - I will make the networks pay us to be on - sponsors should give us bigger purses and give less to the charities. Players knew exactly how Bivens were treating the long time sponsors - the sponsors told them - YET - for over four years they did NOTHING and let Bivens and her cronnies destroy the very framework of the best women's Tour in the world.

Players need to wake up and understand that THEY are the TOUR - it is their Tour - not the Commissioners to do with as they please. They need to go back 25 years and start rebuilding the LPGA just as they did then. They can do that - or have no Tour - it is strictly up to the players. JMO

[LPGA fannie]

Marty Evans should be golf Person of the Year for stepping in and stepping up like she did to salvage the 2010 sked and repair ruptured relations with sponsors....I am sure Bivens would have been bulleted long before had she not been the first female commish.

The LPGA will be better in future with new dynamo Whan at helm, I suspect they'll be back in high 20's with No. of tournaments in a couple of years. They could really use some more in USA, but that may not be where the $$ are.