One thing is certain, no matter what transpires as the LPGA Championship, a major, concludes this weekend: Not many people beyond the Rochester, N.Y. area, where the tournament is being played, will be talking about it.It's sad but true that the LPGA has little traction with golf fans, especially in North America. The LPGA Championship started in 1955 and is the second-oldest tournament in women's golf, after the U.S. Women's Open. And, strictly speaking, it's a USGA event and not an LPGA tournament, although it counts as one.
The LPGA needs a superstar, one with whom fans can identify. Annika Sorenstam retired at the end of 2008 and Lorena Ochoa took early retirement this year. They were legitimate superstars. Nobody has yet stepped up to fill the void they left.
Well, that's not entirely true. Ai Miyazoto has won four LPGA tournaments this year, including last week's ShopRite LPGA Classic in Galloway, N.J. She's No. 1 on the Rolex World Rankings. Who knew?
Then there's Jiyai Shin. She won the 2008 Women's British Open and finished third in the LPGA Championship last year while winning two other tournaments. She spoke beautifully at the Golf Writers Association of America's dinner during this year's Masters, where she accepted its award as Player of the Year. Shin referred to her small stature but that she had big dreams -”On the golf course, I feel very tall”- and that she hoped her accomplishments would encourage young golfers everywhere.
Miyazoto, 25, and Shin, 22, are exceptionally talented players. Miyazoto is Japanese and Shin is Korean. The LPGA has become a global tour, and Asian players especially have been on the ascendancy. But language barriers and a general reluctance on the part of American fans to embrace Asian players have contributed to the “missing superstar” syndrome.
The U.S. player Cristie Kerr pointed to the problem this week when she said there are “maybe five or six [Americans] that can really contend every week to win.” She added that some 40 Asians can contend each week.
Asked if she felt it was important for a player with whom “masses of people can identify with” to step up, Kerr answered, “I think it's very important.”
Kerr's fellow American Paula Creamer agreed. “I hope I'm a face for American golf,” she said. Creamer, 23, finished seventh last week after four months off due to hand surgery.
Who is that player that the LPGA needs? Is she on the LPGA Tour now? Might she turn out to be Stacy Lewis? Lewis, 25, was the game's top amateur before she turned pro in 2008. She'd lived seven years in a back brace because of extreme scoliosis, for which she eventually had surgery. She shot four-under-par 68 in the first round of the LPGA Championship. Lewis is gifted and she's fiery.
Meanwhile, Michelle Wie has been the LPGA's big hope. Wie, 20, was the only U.S. player to go undefeated when the American team beat the Europeans in last August's Solheim Cup. She won her first LPGA event in November. Wie, however, has only three top-10 finishes in nine tournaments this year. She's 16th on the money list. So far she's in the “promise unfulfilled” category.
The bottom line is that somebody has to emerge, and it would be best for the LPGA Tour if that were an American player.
“The women, although granted, a world tour, with world class talent, they don't have enough U.S. players at the top,” Oakville, Ont.'s Sandra Post wrote in an e-mail. Post won the 1968 LPGA Championship when she was only 20 and won seven more LPGA events. No Canadian has approached her record. She's now a highly-regarded instructor.
“They need Wie to make a move, Creamer to get well, Kerr and [Angela] Stanford (a five-time LPGA winner) to contend,” Post said. “Many people do not subscribe to the Golf Channel, therefore are not able to watch the women play.”
It's somehow telling that, besides Wie, Nancy Lopez is the most recognizable name in the LPGA Championship. Lopez won the LPGA in 1978, 1985 and 1989. She won 48 LPGA events. Her sunny disposition allied to her fierce competitiveness brought attention to the LPGA.
The LPGA needs another Nancy Lopez, not the current one, who is 53 and shot 87 Thursday, but somebody else with her personality and talent. For the moment, that golfer is missing.
-The Globe and Mail
