"Now we plan to generate new business by taking care of the customers we have."

Rick Lipsey interviews LPGA Tour Commissioner Mike Whan, who has a few interesting things to say.

What have you tried to change about the LPGA since you took over?

The LPGA got a little too focused on the business we didn't have. We spent all of our time working on new business, but we neglected to attend to our current customers. Now we plan to generate new business by taking care of the customers we have.

That's a euphemism for "trying to fix the mess made by Carolyn Bivens."

I pitty the poor intern who had to put together this...

How do you do that?

When I started, one of the first things I created was the Customer Profile Sheet. It's a two-page document that we produce every week and give to the players. It has detailed information about the sponsor, the venue, the history of the event. We detail the sponsor's business, the chief executives. We even include pictures, and we put down the names and addresses of sponsor contacts to send thank-you notes. This week we have pictures of key USGA officials. We give it to the players every Tuesday and ask them to read them.

Can you imagine the LPGA Tour's finest laying in their Broadmoor beds looking at photos of Mike David, Tom O'Toole and Jim Hyler so that they can call them by their first name? No, I can't either. Nor would I blame them.