LPGA Downplaying Wie's Debut As Card Carrying Rookie

I know her English isn't, you know, like perfect, but come on, she's the biggest thing to happen to women's golf since Annika.

Jon Show tries to figure out what the LPGA Tour could be thinking by handling her like every other rookie, minus the blog posts and other news that might actually draw in more fans.

Commissioner Carolyn Bivens, in an e-mail, wrote that Wie and other rookies will be promoted through “varied media outreach,” primarily consisting of stories in local print media.

Wie, by choice, is not taking part in the rookie editorial features at LPGA.com. Other players are participating in Q&As and writing blogs on the Web site.

Anna Rawson Does Her Part To Build LPGA Brand **

What was that I said about loving Anna Rawson's brutal honesty? Apparently she took it to heart and touted the progressive heterosexuality of the LPGA Tour and used the "d" word. Oh dear...

She came under fire for her poorly chosen comments aired by NOVA 5AA in Adelaide on Wednesday.

"The tour has got so much better with so many young stars and great players," Rawson told the radio station in an interview arranged by her father Jim.

"But the mentality unfortunately amongst the media and the industry hasn't changed.

"They still think we're at 25 years ago when the tour was full of, you know, a lot of dykes and unattractive females nobody wanted to watch."

The rest of the article reviews her previous remarks on "penis envy." She has that in common with Woody Allen.

Update on 2009-02-07 04:16 by Geoff

Patrick Smith pretty much says it all in criticizing Rawson:

It was an offensive remark showing little respect for the women who toiled here in Australia and internationally so the likes of Rawson could make a comfortable living playing the sport professionally.

And...

Asked whether she needed to apologise to the women who built the tour on which she now hoped to prosper, Rawson replied: "Well, it wasn't my opinion that I was talking about so I don't know. I was just referring to what society is. It wasn't my opinion. I don't believe that. I don't even know what it was." And thus Rawson took a pick axe to her own credibility.

She blamed the remark on the fact that her interviewers asked her questions, which is a little quirky. "Radio is fast and they were asking questions," she said. Later Rawson said she normally got her questions in advance. Not a bad idea.

"But she knows that’s simply not true for players like Lee, who had to leave the game to find out she loved it."

Beth Ann Baldry with an enjoyable look at LPGA rookie Jeehae Lee, a Yale grad who wisely gave up a career in banking to give the LPGA Tour a shot...and secured her card. Oh and her English is impeccable.

The economics major spent a summer working for Lehman Brothers in Hong Kong after her junior year. She accepted a job with Australia’s Macquarie Bank her senior year and planned to return to Hong Kong after graduation. Starting salary: $60,000, plus bonuses.

Then a new coach came to town, and convinced Lee to give it one more try for her last semester of school. She had a light class load and not much to worry about. Surprisingly, her game showed little rust.

To the shock of her family, and herself, Lee backed out of her bank job and joined the Futures Tour, where she and countless others, lost money.

There were many occasions when Lee stood in the middle of Nowhere, U.S.A. and said to herself, “I could be living so easy. What am I doing?”

"Drawing lines in the sand is not going to solve problems, it's going to create problems." **

I doubt anyone was surprised by the news Ginn was pulling out of its two LPGA and one Champions event since word of their bankruptcy hasn't exactly been a state secret. Wait, what was that Ty?

"We were involved in discussions to address whatever issues there may have been in their ability to perform their contract," Votaw said Thursday. "We were disappointed and surprised with the suddenness of the announcement without any forewarning."

Can you believe it? Problems are arising from the PGA Tour legal department's fantasy insistence that their "ironclad" contracts will carry the day even as a company is literally going up in smoke!

Steve Elling reports on Ginn pulling out, the PGA Tour's reaction and he talks to Ginn's man, Robert Gidel, who explains the crux of the problem:

"What gets frustrating at times is that people who are not at the epicenter of the financial and economic crisis lose sight of what's happening to everyone. We're all in the same soup.

"Drawing lines in the sand is not going to solve problems, it's going to create problems."

As reader Chris, who sent the Elling story in notes, it would appear that "Commission Finchem & Company have had the hammer for years, the other side of the table has it now." 

Update on 2009-01-30 15:19 by Geoff

** I posted the incorrect link above in referencing Ginn bankruptcies. Here it is.

"I played with so-and-so, and he said four words to us the entire round.'"

The L.A. Daily News is down to five sports writers but they still let Jill Painter file a golf column from time to time, so you can imagine my joy when I got around to my copy last night and read this from new LPGA Tour card holder Anna Rawson, who draws attention for her looks but more importantly, provides interesting fodder with her occasional blog posts at Yahoo and honest assessments like this:

"I was out at Sherwood, and I was disgusted with how the PGA Tour players acted toward fans," Rawson said. "They didn't sign autographs or they'd sign four and walk off. I watched Paula Creamer sign autographs for two hours in Korea.

"Some (PGA) players walked straight past (fans). I couldn't believe it."

And...

Rawson is a model on the side, and if her game continues to flourish, she might be standing for hours signing photographs, autographs and programs, as well as mingling with sponsors at cocktail parties and chatting up pro-am partners more often.

"God, they make so much money (on the PGA Tour). It's disgusting how much more they make than us," said Rawson, who played at USC. "I've heard countless times from people that played in a PGA Tour pro-am and they said, `Wow, you're going to have a conversation? I played with so-and-so, and he said four words to us the entire round."'

"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.

Gulbis Joins Twitter To Share Her Most Profound Promotional Tidbits

Noam Cohen looks at the sports stars Twittering or Tweeting or whatever you call the Twitter.com social networking tool that allows people to offer short messages on your whereabouts or, if you are an LPGA Tour star with a sordid history of really bad marketing ideas, your carefully cultivated branding messages.

First, though, there had to be a meeting between her media consultant, Kathleen Hessert, and other advisers.

“I had to talk her management team into it,” recalls Ms. Hessert, whose company, Sports Media Challenge, represents athletes and professional teams.

Deciding to join a service devoted to spontaneous, often spectacularly mundane updates throughout the day apparently was something to be thought out carefully. Ms. Gulbis and her team were concerned about who would be reading what she writes on Twitter and what they would do with the information.

“There is a risk,” Ms. Hessert conceded. “Whenever you open yourself to the public there is risk. The way I convinced her to do it, is to say that people see you one way and there is so much more.”

Ms. Gulbis agreed to use Twitter, but she said she wasn’t simply following Ms. Hessert’s lead. “When I decided to do Twitter, I had a plan — there is information I wanted to get out,” she said in a telephone interview last week from a yacht in the Caribbean. And she established clear parameters. “I don’t think I would ever Twitter about my personal life, who I was dating, who I was going out with. That is something I would be very protective of,” she said.

Instead, Ms. Gulbis’s tweets thus far tend to be circumscribed and have a clear point to make, whether it relates to her work on behalf of the Boys and Girls Clubs, or a sponsor, TaylorMade, or even the broad outlines of her oceangoing vacation. 

Lucky us!

"I've kind of had the door shut on me a couple of time. But they can't do it anymore."

Eric Soderstrom talking to David Leadbetter about Michelle Wie qualifying for the LPGA Tour:

“She needs the LPGA; I think the LPGA needs her,” Leadbetter said. “I think you can see by these crowds here. I don’t think that would have been the case if she wasn’t playing.

“So I think it’s wonderful for all concerned.”

Steve Elling on the final day scene:

LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens watched a few holes from her electric cart, no doubt deliriously happy that Wie and fellow American Stacy Lewis, who was the medalist by three strokes at 18 under, were earning their cards. Page Thompson, the head honcho at the Golf Channel, drove up from Orlando to watch Wie's final round. Media on hand included the New York Times, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, both weekly golf magazines and a slew of writers from various sports websites.

"You ask whether the LPGA needs Michelle?" Leadbetter said. "Look around here."

Ron Sirak offers this about medalist and all-around amazing story Stacey Lewis:

While not as extensive as Wie's run-ins with the LPGA, Lewis, a scrappy 23-year-old who endured a nearly decade-long battle with scoliosis, has had a couple odd brushes of her own. In 2006, she led an LPGA tournament in Arkansas that was washed out after one round and was erased from the record books. A victory that wasn?t.

Then this year she earned enough money by finishing third in the U.S. Women?s Open to have secured her card for next year off the money list, but the tour has a rule saying U.S. Open money does not count because the purse is so much larger than normal LPGA tournaments. Thus she had to come to Q school.

"I've kind of had the door shut on me a couple of time," Lewis said. "But they can't do it anymore."

In less positive news, Elspeth Burnside reports on Vikki Laing's DQ:

Laing had posted a 76 on day three and was tied for 56th place on one-over par, but she signed for a six instead of a seven at the 14th hole. The error was only discovered after she had left the scorer's hut. Laing, who held non-exempt status for the LPGA Tour in 2004 and 2005, had been hoping to gain one of the fully exempt cards for the 2009 circuit. But she now faces another season on the secondary US Futures Tour. 

"In terms of the bigger picture, she had little to offer, a state of affairs that will have to change when she ventures out into the wider world."

John Huggan is not very bullish on Annika's ANNIKA's post golf course career:

Showing admirable understatement, McGee acknowledges that his partner's marketing income will "go down slightly" after her public profile plunges. That assessment, however, may turn out to be more than a little optimistic. If the quietly spoken Sorenstam's efforts in the world of commerce are anything like her admirably machine-like but ultimately dull style of play, the credit crunch will before long have another victim. Her qualifications for entry into the esoteric world of course design, for example, remain something of a mystery to me.

And let's not get into the fact that, throughout her distinguished career, the long-time world No.1 only rarely, if ever, said anything remotely interesting (an accusation that can also legitimately be made against Tiger Woods). Anything Sorenstam ever did for the growth of women's golf and the tour she played on resulted from the quality of her golf rather than her rhetoric. In terms of the bigger picture, she had little to offer, a state of affairs that will have to change when she ventures out into the wider world.

“Me too, but I try.”

Watching the ADT today I couldn't help but think what a great event it must be for the LPGAers. You get a week in sunny and warm Florida, The Donald throws a swank party for you to give out some awards and then you play a wild format with a very unique pairings event on Saturday afternoon that shows off player personalities and adds a fun twist to the whole affair.

So glad we're getting rid of that!

Well the finale was exciting and the winner can put the money to good use, which just makes it that much more satisfying for a fan. Beth Ann Baldry writing for Golfweek about winner Ji-Yai Shin and her lucky looper:

Shin’s caddie for the year, Dean Herden, decided he didn’t want to make the trip from his home in Australia to West Palm Beach. (He must be kicking himself.)

Herden got the job earlier this year thanks to Rick Kropf. The longtime looper worked for Shin five times last year, but when Shin asked him to caddie in 2008, he had already made a commitment to Louise Friberg. Kropf recommended Herden to Shin, and this week, “Dean was nice enough to pay back the favor.”

Kropf, a local resident, told Herden that if Shin won this week he’d buy dinner – in Australia. After this ADT paycheck, easily the biggest of his life, consider Kropf’s bags packed.

As for Shin, she’ll use a good chunk of her earnings to buy a house in the U.S. The smiley Shin should get along fine wherever she chooses to live. Her English has improved immensely with Herden on her bag, so much so that she didn’t even use an interpreter in the press room.

“Many Korean players worry – (they) speak good English – but worry (about) mistakes,” Shin said. “Me too, but I try.”

And Then There Were Eight...One Last Time

Greg Stoda reports on Paula Creamer's gutsy effort and the eight players remaining for Sunday's last-ever ADT chase for $1 million. (That's right, I have no hope that it'll be resurrected as part of a season opening event.)

One day, eight players, $1 million. Not as simple to explain as the FedEx Cup, of course. But it'll do.

Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa - the ADT's main attractions - were cut after two rounds.

"That's the danger of the format," said an LPGA Tour official.

The field includes Suzann Pettersen (68), Angela Stanford (69), Creamer and Seon Hwa Lee (70s), Ji-Yai Shin and Joeng Jang (71s) and Karrie Webb and Eun-Hee Ji (72s). Webb and Ji pushed into the final round by getting through a playoff when Sun Young Yoo three-putted to bogey the first extra hole.

Creamer long since had become the big news of the day.

"I didn't know if I was going to get out of bed Friday morning," she said. "I think the last two days, my warmup has been about 30 minutes, which is normally about an hour-and-a-half. I've cut down trying to conserve energy."

Seriously, how many fewer people will watch tomorrow because Annika and Lorena are not there?

Annika: Don't Let The Drug Testing Trailer Door Hit You On The Way To Retirement

Beth Ann Baldry sums up Annika Sorenstam's surreal LPGA farewell:

It will be impossible for those in attendance Friday to forget how one of the LPGA’s greatest players ended her career. It was disappointing that several seats behind the 18th green were empty when she doffed her cap. It was emotional when she talked about how the urge to cry sat in her throat all week long. It was both comical and crazy to hear her spend several minutes of her final interview talking about an upcoming drug test.

Steve Elling explains what happened and offers this on the need to test the retiree two weeks after another test.

"I have no idea, but they're not going to let me go," she said, forcing a laugh. "Yeah, I guess you get tested every other week now."

Another 20 minutes later, she hadn't cooled off. As she packed up her SUV for the drive home, she pointed at the portable testing center and said with a dismissing wave, "I sat in that beautiful trailer."

Jill Pilgrim, the LPGA administrator who handles the testing, said the organization has no choice but to screen any player whose number comes up -- otherwise the whole process becomes tainted if exceptions are granted.

"At the end of the day, if the LPGA does not follow the protocol, and we are brought into litigation or arbitration, we will be liable for not following the protocol," she said. "We follow the protocol because we want to keep everything fair for every player.

"That's the way you keep it fair. The procedures don't vary because of any particular set of circumstances."

Even for an organization known for making head-shaking decisions over the years, this ranks at the bottom of the latrine in terms of asinine, idiotic developments. After 15 memorable seasons in which she often carried the tour on her capable back, Sorenstam isn't playing next year, making the whole testing issue decidedly moot.

Ron Sirak writes:

Still, it's hard to imagine any LPGA player would have complained if Sorenstam had been allowed to slide in her last event. What were they going to do is she failed? Suspend her retirement?

And if you choose to remember her career in a more positive light, Larry Dorman files a lovely career send off for the New York Times. And GolfDigest.com offers this shrine to the great one's epic career.

Working Around The NFL: A Good Idea?

A couple of items posted today remind us just how determined the PGA and LPGA Tour's are to work around the NFL season. And looking at the FedEx Cup after two years and the latest LPGA plans, it seems that the desire to work around the NFL has led the tours in a negative direction.

Consider this from Steve Elling, writing about the LPGA's disastrous dismantling of the ADT Championship and desire to move the $1 million first prize event to the season opening slot, all because it's running up against the NFL.

If there is a silver lining, a sliver of hope, it's that there are no plans to overhaul the whacky format, Bivens said. She even has a dream time frame in mind, if it can be negotiated with TV and the new title sponsor.

"Ideally, I like that weekend between the (NFL) league championship games and the Super Bowl," Bivens said.

That certain sports gorilla with the oblong ball is one reason she wants the ADT relocated to a less-congested part of the year. Even given its increasing momentum, Bivens felt the tournament was underappreciated and overshadowed. The PGA Tour season is over, and there's no competition for viewing eyeballs on that front, but still.

"The NFL is the property and you cannot compete," Bivens said.

Golf doesn't compete with many major sports in the ratings department anyway, so why dismantle an event that had a quality sponsor, unique season ending format and solid host course with a supportive host in Donald Trump?

Okay, I understand that the LPGA is tired of underwriting television production costs and all that good stuff about equity for the players, but is this really the time to be taking such risks with one of your proven events?

The more nuanced dilemma involves the PGA Tour and the decision to create the FedEx Cup so that the season ended earlier and gets out of the way of football. Nearly every observer now concedes that Tim Finchem's vision was well-intentioned but severely blurred, because golf's "playoffs" run up against season-opening college and NFL games when optimism and interest is highest. Instead of say, now when the mid-season blues are kicking in.

Check out Cameron Morfit's Q&A with Steve Flesch on the FedEx Cup. Morfit clearly isn't buying the direction the tour is headed and neither is Flesch, though as a PAC member he half-heartedly tries to defend the idea of a points system and that all-important, buzz-killing obsession of the tour to "protect" the season points leaders at the expense of a true playoff. But even more interesting was Flesch's stance on the FedEx Cup schedule and the playoff dates failure to deliver audiences.

People are starved for football that time of year, whether it's college or pro. The Tour moved it up to accommodate Tiger and Phil, who wanted the year to end earlier, but now we see that they're taking the chance to go abroad and collect appearance fees in Europe and Asia and wherever. So we're like, did we really achieve what we wanted here? Because now they're just going abroad and playing, so they're really not shutting down their year like they said they were going to. Last year Tiger played six of seven weeks in a row including his tournament right before Christmas, whereas during the year, during the regular Tour, he never plays more than two [straight weeks]. Then we threw the off-week in this year, which I don't think was very popular except with people playing in the Ryder Cup.

And Flesch offers this wise solution, which would seem to counter one of Tim Finchem's main rationale's behind the cup structure (and therefore, makes it dead on arrival).

SF: I think if you don't see Tiger or Phil for a couple weeks after the PGA, you let football start and run its course for a couple weeks. God help me I'm a Bengals fan, living in Cincinnati, and I'm jacked up to watch 'em play the first couple weeks. But when they're 0-3 and 0-4 I'm back to watching golf in October or early November. So August, September, you let the hype of pro and college football die down. That's our big problem and I don't know why we battle that.

Neither do I.