"I’d love it if players Twittered during the middle of a round"

Naturally I had to be traveling when Bloomberg's Michael Buteau and Mason Levinson revealed that LPGA Commish Carolyn Bivens blabbed that she'd like to...oh I can't type, it's too funny even though it's not really a surprise.

“I’d love it if players Twittered during the middle of a round,” Bivens said in an interview today in New York.

“The new media is very important to the growth of golf and we view it as a positive, and a tool to be used.”

Uh, the problem.

Bivens said the LPGA was awaiting word from the U.S. Golf Association on whether the use of handheld devices for Tweeting during competitive play is within the rules. The USGA oversees the sport in the U.S. and Mexico, with the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrew’s, Scotland, governing the rest of the world.

An e-mail to the USGA seeking comment about using smart phones, such as Research in Motion Ltd.’s Blackberry and Apple Inc.’s iPhone, for social-media purposes during a round wasn’t immediately returned.

The USGA’s 2008 Rules of Golf make no mention of the use of handheld devices such as mobile telephones.

Rule 14-3 -- “Artificial Devices, Unusual Equipment and Unusual Use of Equipment” -- states that a player may not use any equipment “that might assist him in making a stroke or in his play; or for the purpose of gauging or measuring distance or conditions that might affect his play.” The penalty for violation of Rule 14-3 is disqualification.

Not mentioned here is that on Twitter, followers can respond to posts. And do it immediately.

So say player L had had trouble all week on 17 with club selection, she could send out a Tweet asking what the followers think of her outfit today, which could actually be code for, what are the others using on 17? Or her instructor could be watching on television and notice a swing fault and Tweet the player.

Actually, the list of potential pitfalls is quite long and I'm sure the person in LPGA headquarters who suggested this was either ignored, or was fired already. You know, those golfy people.

Brand Lady Rolls Up Her Donna Karan Sleeves To Pitch In For Charity

While Tim Finchem basks in the glory of The Players, Commissioner Bivens went all Jimmy Carter on us and joined in the LPGA's Habitat for Humanity photo-op.

Here she is with Jiyai Shin.

IM'ing With The Commissioners, PLAYERS Edition

My friends at the NSA didn't waste much time passing along the latest chat between PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem and LPGA Commish Carolyn Bivens on the eve of the Players Championship.

Click on the image to enlarge:

Goodell Takes Voluntary Pay Cut, Will Any Of Golf Execs Do The Same?

Of course when you are making $11 million, it's a totally different pay grade than a measly $4.8 million.

IM'ing With The Commissioners, AT&T Pro-Am Edition

The NSA is really humming these days, offering up another insteant message exchange between Tim Finchem and Carolyn Bivens, our faithful PGA Tour and LPGA Tour Commissioners. Click on the image to read...

Wie Does Not Win; LPGA Still Reinforces Its Price Value

I'm sure I wasn't the only one who recorded the LPGA event Saturday and watched it, albeit flipping through the same four promos the Golf Channel runs. The Brand Lady, who made a brief appearance during the telecast and talked about the great "price value" her tour delivers, can point to the many fans who otherwise would not be watching. All thanks to Michelle Wie.

Here's the AP story on Angela Stanford's impressive win in the rain and wind at Turtle Bay. Granted, Wie hasn't won since she was 13, but her swing looks great and overall game appears closer to greatness than ever before.

By the way, does anyone else think that the LPGA should end more events on a Saturday to avoid competing with the regular tour? I thought it was nice to see a winner crowned tonight.

"And while we're on a roll, how about losing the cryptic jargon."

Bad day for the Brand Lady Carolyn Bivens as Ron Sirak reveals the name she gave her project to shed the LPGA Tour of all those pesky longtime sponsors in favor of new ones who spoke her language: "Vision 2010."

And in this week's SI, Dottie Pepper all but explains how the Commish has messed up. Somehow the vision of Paula Creamer picking up the phone to try and repair the ADT relationship may just mark an all-time low for Bivens:

The LPGA players are a tremendous asset when it comes to drumming up new business and trying to save sponsor relationships. Paula Creamer, for example, called ADT when it was announced that the company would no longer sponsor the year-ending tour championship. She did it because she had a personal connection with company executives and wanted to do whatever she could do to save the business relationship. The tour needs to use players in this manner and be thankful for their commitment.

And while we're on a roll, how about losing the cryptic jargon. For example, the LPGA's announcement said that it hoped to create "economic empowerment opportunities" and "to establish executional excellence as standard." How about "provide our members with as many business opportunities as possible" and "do the very best job we can"? Putting a human touch on the sport starts with the way you talk about it.

Brand Lady Does What She Does Best: Layoffs!

Beth Ann Baldry reports and includes this quote from the LPGA Commish Carolyn Bivens on the "realignment":

Commissioner Carolyn Bivens, speaking with Golfweek in response to the tour’s Jan. 7 news release announcing the changes, would only confirm that chief operating officer Chris Higgs was among those who were let go.

“I don’t want to pretend for a second that the economy didn’t impact (the decision); it certainly did,” Bivens said. “(But) it was not the motivating factor for the realignment.”

 For a refresher on some past firings, you can go here and here.

Update on 2009-01-08 03:32 by Geoff

Jon Show at Sports Business Daily offers more details on how the "realignment" will play out.

Brand Lady Takes Pay Dip Just Like Finchem...

Of course, he lost $400k on a salary that peaked at a ridiculous $5.2 million, whereas CB dropped to only raking in six-figures. Let the weeping begin!

Jon Show reports:

Carolyn Bivens took home $500,000 as commissioner of the LPGA in 2007, a decrease of 28 percent from the previous year despite having what most consider to be her best year on the job.

Bivens was paid $690,000 for a full year of work in 2006 and $238,782 in 2005, when she joined the LPGA midway through the year. Earlier this year, Bivens received a three-year extension that concludes in 2011, but she was still working under her original three-year contract in 2007.

All figures are listed on the IRS form that the tour is required to file as a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization. The only other executive salary listed on the form is that of Deputy Commissioner Libba Galloway, whose compensation increased from $204,720 to $228,912.

Brand Lady Rakes In More Than Some Of Us Thought

Okay, it's not Finchem money, but based on reporting that I thought she was languishing at $500,000 a year. Nope.

From Doug Ferguson's weekly notes column:

According to the most recent IRS forms available for the LPGA Tour, commissioner Carolyn Bivens earned $710,812 in salary and benefits in 2006. Two years earlier, in his final full year as LPGA commissioner, Votaw was paid $478,897.

With all of the great stuff she's done since 2006, I would hope she's reached the $1 million mark by now. Heck, she might even be making more more than the PGA Tour's EVP of Market Deliverables and Bandwidth Disintermediation.