"MARKETING IS THE BOSS"

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Via ESPN.com's E60, we learn Anna Rawson's prescriptions for healing the LPGA Tour. These almost make you feel sorry for Carolyn Bivens. Almost:

Every player should tee off to her favorite song at the beginning of the tournament and have it played again when she approaches the 18th green. Major League Baseball teams play music as batters approach the plate and it's great. Fans connect with players for their music and it builds anticipation. I don't think our golfers would have a problem with this because nowadays who doesn't practice with their iPod on?

Exactly. Your ipod is on and only you can hear it. Just the way most of us like it.

Plus, it would help me on the tee; the forced quiet is nerve-racking, so hearing music will help break the tension.

Well at least she's thinking big picture here and not about herself.

For each tournament, I would have a fashion designer create a piece of clothing or accessory for the trophy ceremony. For the LPGA Championship, we could have a jacket specially made by Donna Karan. For the Kraft Nabisco, a gown designed by Vera Wang. For the P&G Northwest Arkansas Championship, CoverGirl could give the winner a makeover before the presentation. Whether the designer item is a gown, jacket, skirt or piece of jewelry, after signing her scorecard the winner would be taken to hair and makeup (cover that white forehead!) and fitted by a tailor for the ceremony (with the last six groups in the final round pre-fitted the night before so the size would be ready).

Okay that's not so bad actually. But I think we may be aiming high with Vera and Donna. May have to settle for Marty Hackel or the Golfweek blonds.

4. MARKETING IS THE BOSS

Oh boy....

Until further notice, all decisions should be made from a marketing perspective. That idea might sound crazy to some, but I say let's have that discussion when LPGA players reach the point where they can be accused of being over-marketed, overpaid or over-exposed.

I thought they just fired the last Commissioner in part for emphasizing marketing over golf?

5. READY FOR OUR CLOSE-UP

Every group should be miked up and followed by its own camera crew, not a hard or expensive thing to do in this era of cheap, portable devices that can send images and audio around the globe in an instant.

No problema! The networks will agree that's not hard nor expensive. It's merely impossible!

"The two tours can even do co-ed events. Golf needs to think outside the box on things like this, find new ways to market itself."

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A few stories on the official resignation of Carolyn Bivens and the naming of Marsha Evans as interim LPGA chief, starting with Ron Sirak who writes about Evans and the search for a Bivens replacement:

In 2005 she stepped down as CEO of the American Red Cross after a battle with the board of governors over what it called her "command-and-control" management style, according to the Washington Post. A search committee comprised of board members Leslie Gries, Juli Inkster, Helen Alfredsson and Bill Morton will work with the search firm Spencer Stuart to find a full-time replacement.

This little buried item was interesting:

Among the ideas being kicked around by some players is taking on a business partner with deep pockets to manage the LPGA, such as the PGA Tour. The two tours could coordinate schedules and have LPGA events end at 3 p.m. on Sunday, for example, before the PGA Tour television coverage begins. Or the LPGA could end on Saturday -- marketing it as Championship Saturday.

"It's a no-brainer," one agent said. "The two tours can even do co-ed events. Golf needs to think outside the box on things like this, find new ways to market itself."

Michael Buteau also looks at Evans and her past while Gene Yasuda notes that LPGA board member Dawn Hudson spent most of the announcement praising Carolyn Bivens and explains where the tour goes from here. There was also this item lost in much of the day's coverage:

It appointed Annika Sorenstam as advisor to the LPGA Board of Directors, and promoted Zayra Calderon, the tour’s senior vice president of worldwide sales, to executive vice president, tournament development and worldwide sales. Known as an engaging relationship-builder, Calderon will oversee all tournament business affairs and is charged with, arguably, the tour’s top priority: Working with tournament owners and title sponsors to secure renewals, and landing new business partners.

And finally, an unbylined AP story features this quote from Juli Inkster:

"Carolyn did a lot of great things. She tried to stand up for the LPGA, which no one has done in a long time,'' said Juli Inkster, a tour veteran and member of the board. "I just think her delivery on the whole thing was not the best.''

Rear Admiral's Reign Off To A Rip-Roaring Start

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Let's review.

- The LPGA sends out an announcement and then amends it to remind everyone that it is embargoed. The announcement release says that a 1 p.m. EST press conference will be held on the Golf Channel. But since it's embargoed, no one can write even a Tweet or blog post suggesting LPGA fans could tune in to The Golf Channel to find out what the event is about.

- The LPGA allows no media (other than Golf Channel) present at this "announcement" to ask questions. We did have Christina Kim present and Annika Sorenstam on a phone line that died almost as soon as she started talking.

- Carolyn Bivens is present at the announcement of her resignation and is shown on television, but she does not speak. Cynics will presume that her presence indicates she received a substantial buyout. And why will cynics presume this?

- Marsha Evans is named the interim commissioner. A Bivens selected board member, Evans is a specialist in bouncing around boards and other executive jobs. She was on the Lehman Brothers board and we know how that turned out. She received a $780,000 buyout after resigning as head of the Red Cross just days before a likely humiliating Hurricane Katrina congressional hearing.

- She's got a husband and he likes golf! Marty DeVine in an extensive profile detailing her career, her campaigning for McCain/Palin and other information, includes this: "Nonprofits have tapped her talents as well and she serves on the boards of the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation, which raises money to support education of midshipmen beyond what the federal budget provides, and the Ladies Professional Golf Association. An avid golfer, her husband Jerry particularly enjoys the LPGA board meetings in prime golfing sites."

- The in-studio analysis job from Kelly Tilghman, Laura Baugh and Charlie Rymer with most of the conversation sounding like an LPGA infomercial and Baugh seeming to imply that the non-English speaking players were part of the Bivens downfall. Oy.

- But hey, Bivens is gone and that's a start. But with all but one Board member not appointed during her tenure, it's hard to imagine this amounting to a sea change for the organization.

Marsha: They want you as a new recruit!

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Anne Szeker reports that retired Navy rear admiral Marsha Evans has been named interim LPGA Commissioner after Carolyn Bivens officially resigned.

"We're looking for someone for four, five months, three or four months, to just right the ship"

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This unbylined AP story quoting Juli Inkster would seem to speak to the urgency of salvaging the 2010 schedule, something we speculated about here to explain the otherwise awful timing of the Bivens ouster.

Inkster said it's important for the board to find the right person to lead the tour into the future. In the short term, the need is immediate.

"Right now, we're in the middle of the season,'' Inkster said. "We're looking for someone for four, five months, three or four months, to just right the ship, get us going in the right direction: straight ahead.''
Inkster said the board plans on taking its time to find a new commissioner.

"Right now, we want to take our time and find the right person for the job,'' she said. "And you can't do that on a whim.''