Does Dinah Shore week help keep LPGA Kraft Nabisco alive?

LPGA

Two of the largest party-driven events are converging in Palm Springs this week, the Kraft Nabisco Championship and The Dinah Shore Week, bringing women together for golf and a frolicking good time! Both are successful events but is it the legacy of golf or poolside hijinks which creates the hullabaloo?

It is unclear which will be the bigger event and which will fuel the other. Celebrities like Johnny Bench, John O'Hurley, William Devane and Alice Cooper bring crowds and glamour to the Kraft Nabisco, an event formerly promoted by Dinah Shore, a tireless supporter and honorary member of the LPGA Hall of Fame.

On the flip side, this first LPGA major of the year gains another distinction which probably helps it stay in the public eye, which is a good thing. Each year, right down the road in Palm Springs, the most popular lesbian party of the year takes place: Palm Springs Women's Weekend a.k.a. "Dinah Shore Weekend", which brings in a host of celebrities of its own.

The weather will be hot and sunny which means wet and wild pool/cocktail parties and hot entertainment including Natasha Beddingfield, Paula Poundstone, Estelle and Jessie and Wynter Gordon.

Certainly, the legendary LPGA Kraft Nabisco could easily survive on its own, without any help from the ladies party down the road couldn't it?

In its 40th year at Mission Hills, this has never been a "stodgy" event and is often compared to the Bob Hope Classic: celebs and pro golfers mingle with the crowds creating a carnival-like atmosphere right down to the traditional jump in the lake at the 18th hole, first begun by Amy Alcott. But, where are the crowds coming from?

Although I mentioned that this major could "easily" survive, Kraft Nabisco has implemented changes to its event from Legends Club access to more easily accessible merchandise tents. Larry Bohannan stated, "With Kraft not spending as much money on the corporate hospitality end of the tournament, local tournament officials have shifted the event to a community-based charity tournament. Those changes have required the event to modify even the way the event presents itself to the public.

Cause for concern? A loss of sponsors has downsized the LPGA Tour event schedule by twelve events (to 23 non-majors) since 2007. Ginn Resorts, Anheuser Busch, State Farm and Corning are just a few companies that have stepped away from sponsoring events.

Golf Digest states that, "Beginning with the LPGA Championship in late June, three of the next four tournaments are majors. From when the U.S. Women's Open ends July 10th to when the Safeway Classic begins August 18th, there are no events in the United States."

Does the lack of U.S. events mean that the LPGA should go global? The LPGA becoming a global Tour certainly has it's benefits especially with the onslaught of Korean and Japanese golfers within its ranks but then what becomes of the KLPGA for example? Does it become a "Futures Tour" for younger, more inexperienced golfers to hone their skills?

Perhaps merging a few of these Tours might make the ladies stronger. Instead of competing for dollars, join forces, make the purses bigger and cross-promote the tournaments to coincide with other festivities to bring more people to the gate who may not have even thought of watching a golf event.


Dyanne Ferk, Dean of the Business College at the University of Illinois Springfield said, "Businesses look at every penny going out and want to know the ROI." She continued, "there's more competition for a limited pot of money for advertising, philanthropy and nonprofit things."
Bringing together the Kraft Nabisco and the Dinah Shore women's party weekend as 'comrades in arms', going beyond the scope of golf, is a method that other LPGA events should adopt if the Organization is to survive and thrive.

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Golf opportunity of Olympic proportions

LPGA

The LPGA is preparing for the most-important unofficial, small-field, two-round golf tournament anywhere in the world. The HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup is just one ingredient in the recipe that can make the sport’s return to the Olympics a success. Tim Maitland reports.

A 27-player, two-day tournament is not normally associated with the start of something big in the wide world of golf, but the HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup could be the veritable small acorn from which a giant oak tree grows.

Prize money of just US $720,000 might not seem much, but the event is the closest thing to a fully-fledged global tournament in the nation that will provide the stage for golf’s re-entry into the Olympics in 2016. As America’s leading female golfer Cristie Kerr put it when she committed to making her first trip into South America, the Olympics is “the biggest single opportunity that women’s golf has ever had.”

Kerr really didn’t need to add “women”; golf itself has never had such a great opportunity, but to make the most of it the sport has to realise what the opportunity is and how its own strengths and weaknesses may impact on its ability to capitalise.

“I would have thought [the Olympics was] about ‘how would you feel about four days in Brazil?’ It has nothing to do with four days in Brazil, and it has everything to do with four years pre-Brazil!” LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan says, capturing the Olympic opportunity in a nutshell.

Perhaps because, unlike almost any other sport, the players effectively “own” most of the biggest events around the world, the focus has initially been on what the Olympic tournament itself might be like and what impact that might have.

Europe’s top-ranked woman golfer Suzann Pettersen was part of golf’s final presentation to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Copenhagen when her sport won the vote to get back into the Olympic movement in October 2009. She’s maintained her commitment to the cause by joining Kerr as one of the highest-ranked players ever to tee it up at Rio’s Itanhanga Golf Club.

Her exclamation that “we’re on a mission!”, translated rather pleasingly into Portuguese as “temos uma missao!", summed things up quite nicely, but naturally enough, her prime focus is on her part of the business; putting on a show in 2016.

“I think it’s important to get everybody on board: all the players need to be on board. I think you have 90 per cent – the majority – with you. You need the last ten percent going in the right direction, so we’ll get the best golfers competing in 2016. I think the concept is there. What else can you ask for?” enquires Pettersen, or Tutta, as she’s affectionately known in Norway.

“Competing in the Olympics, you have the sportsmanship, the values, the ethics; there’s nothing better in sport. For me it’s a dream come true. I grew up in Norway and it’s always been the biggest thing for me, to take part and compete will be fantastic.”

Next Stop Rio

From the viewpoint of a player who will be at or near her peak in five years’ time, Pettersen is correct: getting the golf tournament right at Rio 2016 is essential. Like their fellow newcomers Rugby Sevens, the sport is back in the Olympics for two games, but has only one chance to prove its worth to the Olympic movement before the IOC convenes to decide whether or not to retain either sport or to vote them “off the island”.

One chance is hard enough to take; harder still when you’re asked to do it in a nation and a region that is not a stronghold for either sport.

The current status of tournament golf in Brazil is a far cry from the 70s or 80s when Gary Player, Ray Floyd, Jerry Pate and Hale Irwin had their names etched on the Aberto do Brasil or Brazil Open trophy. It’s not even quite up to the level of 2000, when the celebrations of Pedro Alvaras Cabral’s “discovery” of the country in 1500 led the European Tour to include the Brazil Rio de Janeiro 500 Years Open and Brazil Sao Paolo 500 Years Open in successive weeks on their schedule.  

(Trivia fans might like to note that Padraig Harrington finished runner-up to England’s Roger Chapman in the former – at the same Itanhanga Golf Club – and won the latter ahead of America’s Gerry Norquist, who would become a fixture and eventually a senior vice-president on the Asian Tour. Completists would need to note that the Sao Paulo event survived a further year and to memorise Darren Fichardt).

 The Aberto do Brasil, now also sponsored by the world’s local bank, remains the country’s most prestigious men’s tournament, with the 57^th edition in December 2010 won by Paraguay’s Marco Ruiz.

Additionally Brazil hasn’t featured as a venue for the Tour de las Americas in recent years and their players appear only slightly more frequently in the regional tour’s tournaments.

That there is a shortage of opportunities for Brazil’s professionals can be inferred from the fact that their names appear sporadically scattered around the world, although in most cases it owes as much to nomadic childhoods or a shared connection with countries with a stronger golf tradition.

In terms of tournament wins, in the professional era Brazil’s greatest triumph might be Jaime Gonzalez winning the European Tour’s 1984 St Mellion Timeshare TPC in Cornwall, but Jaime’s father Mario – winner of the 1947 Spanish Open as an amateur and a two-time Argentine Open champion – is the one frequently described as Brazil’s golfing “great”. Most other notable Brazilian players have those mixed roots.

Angela Park, who has Korean parents but holds dual US and Brazilian citizenship after moving to the States at the age of eight, won the LPGA Rookie of the Year award in 2007, but faded dramatically after her second season. Adilson da Silva, Brazilian born but raised in South Africa, has had a successful career on the Sunshine Tour winning seven times there. Likewise Maria Priscila Iida, a Brazilian-Japanese and a dominant amateur winning both Rio and Sao Paolo city and state titles repeatedly, appeared briefly on the LPGA’s Futures Tour in 2004 and more recently on the Japan LPGA and even the Ladies Asian Golf Tour.

Alexandra Rocha had bounced between the European and Asian Tours before becoming the first Brazilian to earn playing rights on the PGA Tour this year, but he hasn’t yet come close to matching the attention-grabbing performances that could do for Brazilian golf what Jhonattan Vegas’s 2011 Bob Hope Classic win has accomplished for the sport in Venezuela.

Building on the foundations

Even though the numbers of regular golfers in Brazil have grown from 6,000 in 2000 to 25,000 currently, that number seems to have stabilised in the past five years. The number of courses has increased nearly 25% in those 10 years up to 110, but more encouragingly  another 30 are under construction and there is a sea-change to more accessibility. Previously members-only clubs are said to be opening their doors to visitors and there is an increase in the proportion of “semi-public” and daily-fee paying courses.

Still, one could argue, with some justification, that the greatest exposure the sport has enjoyed in recent times was when the national football team chose to base themselves at a golf resort during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. So, golf, and perhaps especially women’s golf, needs to make the most of the toehold they have.

“Exactly right! We’d like to, from an early stage, showcase golf to that market,” Whan declares.

“At the same time we’d like to showcase that golf course, that city, that environment to the golfing population before we get there in 2016. One of the things we’d like to do, if we can figure out a way of turning the Brazil event into an official event, is not only show the golf tournament but show what else is going on. If [they] build a new course for the Olympics, [let’s] show the building of the venue, because we want to engage our fans into 2016, too.”

One senses that the world’s local bank would like the same thing, but as HSBC Group Head of Sponsorship Giles Morgan points out, they will have to do the due diligence of ensuring that such an expansion would give a return on such an investment in the world’s biggest little event.

“It’s hugely important. We talk about championing golf worldwide and, if you look at all of our investments worldwide, the one continent where we haven’t been overexposed to in golf is South America and South America hasn’t been overexposed to golf,” says Morgan.

“This year is important to us with the HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup because we need to get a gauge of what the market is; what is the opportunity? It is fantastic for us to be hosting a professional golf tournament in the city hosting the Olympics where golf is first going to be played. As a starter for 10, it’s a great place to start, but this year is when we really look at what the opportunity is for golf, in the same way that four years ago we went into Singapore with the HSBC Women’s Champions to see what the opportunity was for women’s golf, and in the same way we did for China with the HSBC Champions in 2005. In those cases it’s mushroomed. I don’t think Brazil is going to be quite the same. There’s a fanaticism for golf in Asia and I don’t think it’s an exact parallel.”

But, and this a big but, Morgan is the first to point out that laying some foundations in Rio and producing a successful Olympic tournament, while essential, is about prolonging the Olympic opportunity. The opportunity itself is something completely different!

“The point of the Olympics for sports like tennis, football and golf – already hugely established sports in their own right that have their own world cups, top events or majors – is that it can broaden the base appeal to more countries. It’s very exciting and I hope both sports realise that’s what the opportunity is; it’s about development.

“That’s the opportunity for golf; now you’ll get funding from governments in all sorts of new countries saying ‘we’ve seen how Korea, for instance, can play golf. We can play golf, we can invest in that and we can medal’. That’s what’s exciting for both the sport of golf and rugby. They mustn’t look at their heartland, they must look beyond the heartland,” insists Morgan, who as well as managing the bank’s golf sponsorship portfolio also made them the first umbrella sponsor’s of rugby’s global Sevens tournaments: the HSBC World Sevens Series.

This is a point that may not have sunk in to the golf world completely. Certainly Mike Whan is brave enough to admit it was lost to him when golf successfully presented its case to the IOC two years ago.

“I wasn’t around for the vote and ‘should we go pros?’ [playing in the Olympics]. I don’t think I would have voted for it back then. I would have been naïve, back in the voting days. I would have said ‘c’mon we’re already worldwide and we already showcase the best players in the world’; I would have missed the extra excitement. I believe the Olympics is going to have a fundamental impact on the growth of the game. What I’ve seen as [LPGA] commissioner over the past year is what golf in the Olympics really means,” Whan confesses.

“The level of interest and support, and the excitement, is happening in individual countries – countries where it happens around Olympic sports, but doesn’t happen around non-Olympic sports. I was at the China Golf Association back in October and to see the training facilities that they’re building and the commitment to finding young athletes to become Olympic athletes from a golf perspective and what it’s meaning for women’s golf throughout Asia and throughout the world… I would have missed all that.  It’ll impact Canada and the US and Europe, too; everyone’s going to want to keep up, that’s what happens in great sports whether it’s swimming, track or golf. It’s going to give a different plateau.”

As Morgan says, the impact is felt most immediately where an established sport will notice it least. Pettersen, for instance, says she’s noticed an immediate difference back in Norway.

“Once golf was taken in there’s obviously a lot of money involved and the distribution down from it. The [golf] federation can now start to build a team and do the stuff they want to do for the young players to have them ready for 2016,” says Pettersen.

“Money is one thing, but also wherever you go in the world you’ll find a golf course and you’ll find people playing golf; so I think it’s good exposure for golf.”

Investment x Interest = Growth

The combination of increased investment and added interest has the potential, as Whan quickly points out, to create a snowballing effect.

“After each Games, you get some profit sharing back into your sport and when we go to the Olympics and are able to reinvest monies in the different countries that participate, it becomes a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy where the Olympics made it important, and participating in the Olympics enables you to continue to fuel the growth,” says the LPGA commissioner.

However, to maximise the opportunity, golf does need to fully realise and fully adapt to the fact that its historical structure might work against it in making the most of the Olympic opportunity.

The rules, heritage and traditions of golf have been jointly governed by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews (until 2004 when The R&A was created to take over the role of “engaging in and supporting activities… for the benefit of the game”) and the United States Golf Association (USGA). 

Why is this an issue? Well, for instance, the new Executive Director of the USGA, Mike Davis, was recently quoted as saying “one of the things that has never been in the USGA’s mission is growing the game. We have never directly attempted to grow the game.”

Meanwhile the global remit, in big picture terms, has until very recently been in the hands of one single member’s golf club. True, the R&A in its new guise distributes GBP5 million annually from the profits from the Open Championship, but half is spent in the UK and Ireland.

The structure of the professional game could also be regarded as a weakness when it comes to making the most of the Olympics. The tours are, generally speaking, rival businesses run for their “shareholders”, the players. The International Federation of PGA Tours only formed in 1996 when the European Tour, Japan Golf Tour Organization, PGA TOUR, PGA Tour of Australasia and Sunshine Tour finally got around the same table.  

It was only with the push to join the Olympic movement that it truly opened its doors to become fully inclusive, admitting women’s golf for the first time as the Canadian Tour and the Tour de las Americas were elevated from associate member status, and full membership was offered to the China Golf Association, Korea Professional Golf Tour, Professional Golf Tour of India, LPGA, Ladies European Tour, Australian Ladies Professional Golf Tour, Japan LPGA, Korean LPGA; and the Ladies Asian Golf Tour.

“Now you have to set up an Olympic structure; governing bodies for each of the countries that are going to develop and find the talent. Just creating governing bodies for golf, that’s one simple step but the Olympics takes you down that path. Then the governing bodies start coming together to ask ‘how are we going to develop programmes that not only grow the game but also develop superstars?’” says Whan, correctly identifying the process as a positive for the sport.

95% of jackpot is national

The reason that all of this matters is that the Olympics and the money that comes directly from being in the Olympics is not the big opportunity. The money that will be injected into the sport for playing their part in Rio 2016 will be small change compared to the investment that is really out there to be capitalised on.

Badminton, when it was fighting to retain its Olympic status prior to the 2004 games, did an audit of its member associations. While the TV money from the Athens Olympics would bring in around US$6 million over the next four years, the investment from National Olympic Committees and Governments was worth US$110 million over the same period.

In other words, 95% of the benefit from being in the Olympics comes from funding at local and national levels!

While Rugby Sevens may appear to have the bigger challenge in making a successful first impression in Rio – in TV terms it seems unlikely to beat golf – it is certainly better equipped to take advantage of Olympic status. It has one governing body, The International Rugby Board (founded in 1886), that sits over regional and national rugby unions in a far more conventional structure. It’s in the middle of its second long-term strategic plan (The Mission: Growing the Global Rugby Family), central to which is maximising the benefits of Olympic participation.

None of this is intended as criticism of golf, but the IRB’s structure gives it a global overview and development role that golf is going to have to work hard to catch up with.

Put simply, at IRB’s Dublin headquarters, Mark Egan, their Head of Development, can reel off a head-spinning array of numbers and details of where and how Sevens Rugby is growing exponentially all over the world even before the Olympic coffers are fully opened. More importantly he heads a department whose role it is to make sure those chances are taken advantage of. Does golf have someone who could match him? Probably not.

The Good News

Fortunately, as long as golf puts on the right kind of show in 2016, and survives the vote and stay in the Olympics, there will be plenty of time to catch up.

“The good news is that on this one we’re completely linked on objective. All of us agree that we want to put on the best world showcase of the sport as we can AND make sure that that showcase turns into future growth. Like anything, it starts if you’re on the same page to begin with and the good news is we’re on the same page,” Whan declares.

So, while designers like Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam, Greg Norman, Robert Trent Jones Jr., and Lorena Ochoa, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros are jostling for position to design the course that will host the historic return of golf to the Olympics, the HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup, regardless of how small it may be now, is the one cornerstone on which the golf world can build the foundation for it to be a success.

“I can tell you, if you’re looking for a corporate sponsor today, you’d look long and hard to find one better than HSBC. Not only are they a sophisticated, multicultural business – they really understand global events like nobody understands global events – they also have a passion for the game. It’s really important for them to not only bring a global event but also understand and respect the local culture. They really do embrace what’s going on locally and make sure we show that market a global experience, but we probably learned more about making sure we understood what was happening in a local market from sponsors like them,” Whan says, before casting his mind forward to what the medal presentation might be like in five years time.

“I remember Michael Jordan said one time that he didn’t expect standing up there with a gold medal to hit him the way it did. For some of our players, too, you might go down to Brazil to play four rounds of golf and you might stand on the podium and realise that it was bigger than a round of golf,” he says.

Photo Credits: Getty Images,  Golfblogger.uk

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Will eavesdropping on PGA, LPGA golfers bring more reality to golf TV?

LPGA

Golf fans previously immersed in the FedEx Cup and Ryder Cup are now being fed more reality-based PGA Tour and LPGA events where golfers are mic'd up during their round. Golf Channel continues to test this format on TV with the assistance of a few willing participants.

Will this experiment in unrehearsed 'golfer to caddy chat' increase viewership?

In a nutshell, here are four choices for golf television viewing October 7-10.

In two out of the four events, professional golfers will have microphones attached so that fans can hear conversations with their caddies.

The McGladrey Classic

Dates: Oct. 7-10

Venue: Seaside Course, Sea Island Golf Club, St. Simons Island, Ga.

• Davis Love III Mic’d Up – Continuing a test with PGA TOUR players with microphones in 2010, Golf Channel will fit PGA TOUR professional Davis Love III with a microphone during Thursday’s opening round of coverage.  Viewers will have the opportunity to eavesdrop on conversations between Davis Love III and his caddy throughout the opening round of play. 

Navistar LPGA Classic presented by Monaco RV

                 Dates: Oct. 7-10

                 Venue: The Senator Course, Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, Ala

•        Amanda Blumenherst Mic’d Up – LPGA Tour professional Amanda Blumenherst will be fitted with a microphone during Thursday’s tournament coverage and also will be the network’s Spotlight Player.
         At the Turn and Walk and Talk Featured – Val Skinner and Stephanie Sparks will interview players as they are walking the fairways during all four days of coverage as part of the network’s Walk and Talk feature.  On the weekend, they will interview players between holes 9 and 10 in the At the Turn feature.
          Battle for No. 1 Continues: Rolex Rankings No. 1 Ai Miyazato and No. 3 Cristie Kerr headline a field that includes No. 6 Na Yeon Choi, No. 8 In-Kyung Kim and No. 10 Paula Creamer.  Creamer, the reigning U.S. Open champion, will make her first appearance in Prattville.

Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship

Dates: Oct. 7-10

Venue: TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, Potomac, Md.

 

 

• Season’s Final Major – An elite field headlines the Champions Tour’s final major of the year, including Bernhard Langer, Fred Couples, Fred Funk, Corey Pavin, Jay Haas, Mark Calcavecchia, Hale Irwin and Tom Watson.

•  Langer Going for Three Major Victories – Bernhard Langer will attempt to match Jack Nicklaus as the only Champions Tour professional to win three major championships in one season.
• Homecoming for Funk – The Maryland native and former University of Maryland golf coach returns to a familiar venue and will attempt to equal Langer’s achievement in 2010 by winning back-to-back Champions Tour majors.

Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

Dates: Oct. 7-10

Kingsbarns Golf Links, Kingsbarns, Scotland

Carnoustie Golf Links, Angus, Scotland

Old Course, St. Andrews Golf Club, St. Andrews, Scotland

World-Class Field: Nine members of the successful European Ryder Cup Team and captain Colin Montgomerie headlines the world-class field that also includes three-time major champion Ernie Els, two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, major champions Michael Campbell, Paul Lawrie and John Daly, who returns to the site of his 1995 Open Championship victory.

Sports and Entertainment Celebrities Featured – International celebrities will compete this week, including Samuel L Jackson, Hugh Grant, Kyle MacLachlan, Huey Lewis and Michael Flatley.  Sporting legends from the world of soccer, tennis, soccer and skiing are also scheduled to compete.

Unique Tournament Format – Contested on three of the world’s best known and respected courses – the Old Course at St. Andrews, the Championship Course at Carnoustie and Kingsbarns Golf Links – 168 teams consisting of one professional and one amateur will play the first three rounds on the three courses in rotation.  The top-60 professionals and ties, plus the 20 leading teams, will play the final round at the Old Course at St. Andrews on Sunday.

Wie Wins

LPGA

Michelle Wie won her second career LPGA tournament at the Canadian Women's Open. She went wire to wire, ended up at 12 under par, and took home $337,500.00 with the win.

Getty photos / Darren Carroll

Michelle Wie "out", Creamer "in" as new face of LPGA?

LPGA

In his recent blog, Chuck Curti said that, as golf fans are waiting for Michelle Wie to live up to her potential and become the "Tiger Woods" of the LPGA, Paula Creamer may be stepping in to become the next "heroine" of women's professional golf.

"We’re still waiting." Curti woefully conveyed. "Wie has not yet lived up to her potential, and her performance at the U.S. Women’s Open last week was nothing short of putrid."

Where the Wie conundrum is certainly true, Paula Creamer, the girl who up until her win this weekend at the U.S. Women's Open never won a major, has now "earned the right to be the face of women's golf?"

Although Paula Creamer has nine career wins and is still a youngster at 23, how many golf fans have watched the LPGA  golf to get a glimpse of the Pink Panther making a tremendous save? How many more will do so now that Creamer is a major winner?

Perhaps Creamer's career "incentive" of working through a thumb injury to perform at the level it takes to win at Oakmont will be her "aha moment" and create the stuff of legends.

Creamer's thoughts?

"It just shows, you know, how much the mental side of golf can really take over. You know, I believed I could do this. I believed I could do this when I had a cast on my hand.

That's what I just kept thinking about was Oakmont, Oakmont, Oakmont."

Michelle Wie's take on the U.S. Women's Open MC? “A complete fail,” Wie said, adding, “There are a lot of things I need to work on.”

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Michelle Wie sings the U.S. Open blues

LPGA

Round one of the U.S. Women's Open is underway and it looks as if Michelle Wie is already struggling to stay above the cut line! Yet another climb to mediocrity for the golfer who was once on everyone's lips as the female Tiger Woods!

 

The LPGA leaderboard currently has Wie's score at +9 with three double bogeys, several bogeys with a few pars thrown in to add a little spice to the mix. Perhaps it would have been better if Michelle would have failed to qualify as it was during the 2009 Open where Wie wound up missing the cut by one stroke.

 

Sure Oakmont Country Club is a tough test but major tournaments are meant to bring out the best golfers and everyone is playing under the same conditions so, since there is plenty of golf left to play, get busy Michelle.

“It’s always a grind,” Wie says of the national tournament. “It’s a tough golf course. I just have to play the best I can and come out on top.”

 

Recent tweets by Michelle Wie ("themichellewie"):

On Oakmont CC  10:08 AM Jul 6th: So excited for the US Open this week! We are playing at Oakmont CC, so challenging but so beautiful! http://fb.me/AWfNyiHT

 

Is the U.S. Open all about the shoes for MW?   8:50 AM Jul 7th:  As for Check out my US Open surprise shoes from Nike Golf! I loveee them!!! http://fb.me/sxRa1SXi   via Facebook

 

Really want to get to know Michelle Wie? Check out her blog: http://ablackflamingo.blogspot.com/

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LPGA Tour Players on Display!

LPGA

LPGA Tour players have been hitting the newsstands this year. Here are all the covers below from LPGA.com.

Click on the link to see more!

Cristie Kerr Golf Week - July 2	Anna Nordqvist Lady Golfer - July	Se Ri Pak KoreAm - June	Anna Rawson Golf Week For Her - May 19
Lorena Ochoa Casas & Gente - May	Natalie Gulbis Golf Fitness - Spring	Suzann Pettersen Norsk Golf - Issue 1	Lorena Ochoa Golfweek - April 30
Yani Tseng Golfweek - April 9	Brittany Lincicome Lady Golfer - April	Kristy McPherson Golfweek - March 26	Anna Nordqvist Caras Golf - March
Paula Creamer Ladies Links Fore Golf	Natalie Gulbis Golf Digest Singapore	Crisie Kerr Golfweek - February 19	Mike Whan Golf World - February 15
Sandra Gal Golf Digest Czech Republic	Beatriz Recari Green	Jiyai Shin Golf Digest - January	Anna Rawson Lady Golfer - January

Stacy Solomon
golfforbeginners@aol.com
Golf for Beginners, because we're always learning!
Follow Golf for Beginners on Twitter!
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Great golf photos and finishes at the Sybase but not for Michelle Wie

LPGA

After a wonderful day of watching the best LPGA golfers on Tour, I have a great picture diary to share with my readers. I suggest that, if you ever get the opportunity to see a professional golf event live, GO! For those people living in the New York, tri-state area, there are still tickets available for the final round of the Sybase Match Play Championship, under an hour from New York City.

Hamilton Farm Golf Clubhouse

We arrived just before the Quarterfinal matches and watched the LPGA ladies prepare at the driving range and on the greens. Here is Amy Yang in her backswing and in her downswing. It's amazing what you can do with a speedy shutter!

Michelle Wie and Yang on the putting surface:

Watching the professional golfers tee off. Amateur golfers can learn a great deal from the LPGA finish position:

For golf aficionados, it's amazing how close you can get to the action!

Here are a few more pictures from the 9th green.

Although all of the ladies were cheered on, the one with the throngs of followers was none other than Michelle Wie.

I was standing next to the loudest of Michelle Wie's cheering section, Christina Kim, who mentioned that she wasn't "tweeting" today, but I was! You can see my cell phone action pics on Twitpic.com and you can always friend me on Twitter.com/Golf4Beginners.

As for Michelle Wie, she was eliminated by six-time LPGA winner Jiyai Shin. After winning 2&1, Wie was asked about her game and she said, "I didn't play as well as I wanted. I think I know exactly what I need to work on. I'm going to work hard the next two weeks and try to win."

Perhaps Wie shouldn't have been so concerned with changing outfits during the break...

Too bad both Ai Miyazato and Michelle Wie were knocked out of contention at the Sybase event but there will be great final round golf action tomorrow when Shin rallies against Sun Young Yoo and Angela Stanford battles against Amy Yang.


For more information visit the Sybase Match Play Championship or LPGA.com website.

Why Miyazato, Wie should be paired at Sybase Match Play

LPGA

Listed below are the Round One pairings for the Sybase Match Play Championship. I'll be curious to see if Ai Miyazato, winner of three LPGA events this season, will be as successful in match-play as in stroke play.

I also want Michelle Wie to make a move into the second round. Match play may be a better format for Wie because she can move past the blow-up holes, regroup and take back control of her round.

Wouldn't it be exciting to see a final round pairing of Wie vs Miyazato? Michelle should probably be paired against Ai in order to learn better how to keep emotions under control. Perhaps Wie may struggle at first but instinct may then prevail with great final round action.

As Michelle mentioned in her pre-tournament interview this week, "It's kind of nice to change it up a bit. I remember I played a lot more match play in amateur events in USGA golf. It's nice to switch it up."

8:50 a.m. Morgan Pressel (14) vs. Jimin Kang (56) 

9:06 a.m. Suzann Pettersen (3) vs. Juli Inkster (35)

9:30 a.m. Jee Young Lee (27) vs. Christina Kim (40)

10:16 a.m. Ai Miyazato (2) vs. Jeong Jang (51)

10:40 a.m. Stacy Lewis (26) vs. Amanda Blumenherst (55)

11:16 a.m. Candie Kung (29) vs. Natalie Gulbis (44)

11:32 a.m. Momoko Ueda (21) vs. Vicky Hurst (37)

11:56 a.m. Cristie Kerr (5) vs. Meaghan Francella (53)

12:08 p.m. Se Ri Pak (17) vs. Azahara Munoz (54)

12:16 p.m. Brittany Lincicome (16) vs. Beatriz Recari (62)

12:32 p.m. Jiyai Shin (1) vs. Kyeong Bae (42)

1:04 p.m. Michelle Wie (8) vs. Stacy Prammanasudh (50)

Golf Channel coverage for the first round of the Sybase Match Play Championship is:

            1:00 – 3:00 p.m. EST (Live)

            6:30 – 8:30 p.m. EST (Tape Delayed)

Sybase Match Play Championship celebrates LPGA golfers by naming brackets

LPGA

Sybase Match Play Championship and the LPGA are celebrating the careers of Annika Sorenstam, Mickey Wright, Kathy Whitworth and Patty Berg by naming the brackets after the lady golfers with the most career wins in history.

The tournament’s number one seed will be placed in the Whitworth Group, while the No. 2, 3 and 4 seeds will be placed in the Wright Group, Sorenstam Group and Berg Group, respectively. All first-round matches will be drawn at a special media event at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 18.

Hamilton Farm Golf Club in New Jersey will be the setting for this exciting event. Sixty-four of the top LPGA golfers will compete in match-play format for a purse of 1.5 million dollars.

This honor is probably as exciting as the ladies getting stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and well-deserved!

The new LPGA commissioner, Mike Whan, is sure to draw pats on the back for his thoughtful gesture as he commented, "As we celebrate 60 years of the LPGA, we salute the four champions of our sport with the most wins in LPGA history."


Here is a brief history lesson of these four great female athletes:


Kathy Whitworth
*Won 88 LPGA Tour tournaments in a career which spanned four decades, more than any other player in the history of the game, male or female.
*Six major championships including seven Player of the Year awards, seven Vare Trophies and eight money list titles.
*She still holds the record for the most consecutive seasons with a win at seventeen and records the most career seasons with a victory at 22.

Mickey Wright
*82 wins and 13 major championships in her career.
*The only player to win four LPGA Championships
*One of only two players to win the U.S. Women’s Open four times.
*She still holds numerous all-time records, including the most wins in one season with thirteen.
*Only player in LPGA history to ever hold all four major championship trophies at the same time.
*She won the final two major championships of the 1961 season, the U.S. Women’s Open and the LPGA Championship and the first two majors of 1962, the Titleholders and the Western Open.

Annika Sorenstam
*Won 70 times with 10 major championships.
*Eight Rolex Player of the Year Awards
*Six Vare Trophies
*Led the LPGA Money List eight times.
*The only LPGA player to ever shoot 59 in an official tour event
*First LPGA player since Babe Zaharias to compete in a PGA Tour event when she played in the 2003 Bank of America Colonial.
*The only player in LPGA history to sweep the Player of the Year, Vare Trophy and Money List title five times.

Patty Berg
*One of the 13 Founders of the LPGA
*Won 60 LPGA titles and a record 15 major championships
*Seven Western Open titles, seven Titleholders Championships, and one U.S. Women’s Open, the only time it was played as a match-play event.
*Led the LPGA money list three times, and three times she won the Vare Trophy. In 1955, she became the first LPGA player to achieve both honors.
*In 1978, the LPGA established the Patty Berg Award to reward outstanding contributions to women's golf, to honor Patty Berg and to recognize her diplomacy, sportsmanship, goodwill and contributions to the game.


If Babe Didrikson Zaharias could only see how far the LPGA has come! Did you know Babe met her husand, wrestler George Zaharias, while playing golf in a PGA tournament? Babe's participation in a men's event was sixty years prior to Annika Sorenstam, Suzy Whaley or Michelle Wie's attempts!


And yes, The Sybase Match Play event will be aired on television but sadly not on Network TV. Visit LPGA.com for more details.

Also, we are sorry to earn about the passing of LPGA golfer Erica Blasberg. Only 25 years old, she had much more golf to play.



About the Ladies Professional Golf Association

The LPGA was founded in 1950 and today boasts a membership comprised of world-class LPGA Tour professionals and more than 1,300 dedicated Teaching and Club Professionals (T&CP). Players on the LPGA Tour, who represent more than 25 countries, compete globally showcasing the very best of women’s professional golf.

LPGA T&CP members directly impact the growth of the game through teaching, coaching and management positions and oversee programs aimed at increasing the involvement of women, girls and youth in golf. The LPGA’s Vision is to inspire, empower, educate and entertain by showcasing the best golf professionals in the world. Its Mission is to be a leader in the world of sports, to promote economic empowerment for all members, and to serve as role models on and off the course.

Lorena Ochoa LPGA golfer talks marriage, motherhood and Twitter?

LPGA

MIKE SCANLAN: Lorena, we’d like to start with some LPGA business. In the past three weeks, we’ve announced three title sponsors: Sybase, Hana Bank and, just today, Kia.  Talk about the excitement of new partners being interested in the LPGA.

LORENA OCHOA: Hello Mike, hello everyone.  For sure that is great news.  Not only me, but all of the players believe that the LPGA is going in the right direction.  It’s nice to find out that we have new sponsors.  It helps a lot.  I’m excited to have more options to play tournaments.  It’s very special.  Thank you to the sponsors.  I’m looking forward to those tournaments.

Q. I just wanted to ask you, I know this is going to sound like a very strange question for someone who's coming off winning Player of the Year last year, but based on only three wins after such a big year in 2008, do you feel like it was sort of a little bit of a down season for you?
LORENA OCHOA:  I didn't understand the last part of the question.

Q.  Do you feel like it was sort of a down season even though you won Player of the Year and had so many strong finishes after winning so many times in 2008?
LORENA OCHOA:  No, no, I would never consider it a down season, what happened in 2009.  The opposite, I always try to look everything and learn as much as I can.  It was really tough in different ways, in my personal life, also a lot of things happened for me outside the golf course.  So with all of that and being able to maintain my title and stay at the No. 1 player in the world, it means a lot.  When it's tougher and when you achieve something, it feels a lot better.  So I'm really happy the way I finished, and I'm excited to start 2010.

Q.  I guess a couple quick ones.  One of them is going to be a fun one.  The first one, if you could comment a little bit about your thoughts on the whole groove situation with the new rulings coming in, and of course on the PGA side Phil Mickelson making some waves there with his decision to play some wedges from Ping that do conform but don't conform according to other people and loopholes.  Have you been doing anything to work with that?  What are your thoughts on it?
LORENA OCHOA:  Well, I think just like everybody else, I got my new clubs early, first week of January, and I've been practicing with them since that time.  I feel very comfortable.  I think you can notice maybe a very small change.  To me the ball just maybe comes out a little bit higher and a little bit harder to get a lot of spin.  But not much of a difference.  I'm happy.  I'm confident that I have the right equipment for me.  Ping has always been working extremely hard for us, and I'm ready to go.  I think the change is for all of the players, so you just need to be patient and go with the change.

Q.  When will we see Lorena Ochoa on Twitter Tweeting regularly?
LORENA OCHOA:  No, never.  I'm not that type of person for sure.

Q.  Can you talk about any concerns you might have as far as the schedule whereas you guys can play two weeks in a row and then have three off, play a tournament, then have three weeks off, and then you also have in the middle of the summer I think it's five major tournaments in six weeks.  Can you just talk about any concerns you might have of staying sharp or conserving energy as you get into the middle of the summer?  Just talk about the schedule, please.
LORENA OCHOA:  Yes.  Well, I'm really happy.  To me it looks good.  That's the way it is, and I just think we need to try to work around.  I think as much time for me as I can spend at home is great news.  Now that I'm married, everything is good for me, and it's just nice to be home.  And at the same time I get to practice, have a lot more practice time with my coach here in Mexico.  So I don't mind at all having a few weeks off.
    You are correct about the summer.  You need to be careful and be at the top of your game to play good five weeks, because probably those five weeks are going to mark the rest of the year.

Q.  Do you have any idea how many you will play this year?
LORENA OCHOA:  About the same.  I think I have my schedule right now at 23 ‑‑ 22, 23, so we'll see.  There will be maybe one more or one less, but just around that number.

Q.  And then the last question, I've talked to other players, and they say one of the great things about the fact that there are so few tournaments is the fact that every tournament is going to be loaded with the best players.  Do you feel that, and what are your thoughts on the fact that most every top player is going to play most every event?
LORENA OCHOA:  Well, I think this has been happening for the last couple years.  I think it's very amazing how we have every tournament the top players, and I like that.  I think the better the competition gets, the more exciting for the media, for us, for all the fans that come and watch us play, so I like that.  Hopefully we just come together and be there every week to have a great tournament to be successful.

Q.  Congratulations on the marriage. I wanted to ask you a little bit about that. How did the ceremony go? Were there a lot of people there? Did any other Tour players attend? And what's it like being a mom? I know your family just got a lot bigger.
LORENA OCHOA: Yes. Well, thank you. It is a change. Right now I'm enjoying the moment. The ceremony, it was beautiful. It was in Guadalajara close to home. It was a small ceremony. We decided not to have very many people from the outside, so we didn't have any LPGA professionals. It was just some relatives and very, very close friends.

Right now I'm living in Mexico City. We moved up here.  Andres has been here for many years, so I'm living in Mexico City, and everything is going very well.  I'm excited.  Family is the most important thing, so I'm trying to learn and to do my best.

Q.  How old are Andres' kids, and to ask you the million‑dollar Annika question, do you think you'll be having a child of your own sometime soon?
LORENA OCHOA:  Andres' kids are ‑‑ the oldest one is turning 14 this Sunday, and then 12 is a girl, and then 7 is a girl.  They are at a fun age.  We go and play sometimes golf, sometimes tennis.  We like to spend some time together.
    Having kids of my own, I think I still want to wait a little bit.  I'm going to keep playing for a few years, and then after that we'll make a decision.

Q.  With all the off‑season activity going on in your life, do you have any concerns about being able to focus on golf when it's time to focus on golf, whether it's practicing or whether it's competing?
LORENA OCHOA:  No, no concerns.  I think it's been very clear, Andres has been with me for a few years, and he knows how is my life.  We've been pretty good about not spending too long or too much time without seeing each other, so he's going to try to travel as much as he can.  The practicing is going well.  I'm taking the time I need to and being there 100 percent.  So everything is going well.
    I think if you are happy, it's a lot easier to play good golf, so I'm trying to go that way.

Q.  You have a new commissioner now.  I know Mike has had a chance to get to know some of the players last fall and into the start of this year.  What are your impressions of the new commissioner?
LORENA OCHOA:  Well, I think we can see so far that we're making some improvements and some changes.  I had the opportunity to meet him in Houston just very briefly; I wanted to say thank you.  For us it's very important to support him, just to tell him that he has my support and as much as we can do to help, we are willing to do.  We're going to work together.

Q.  With everything that happened during the off‑season, your new family structure and everything, can you tell us and give us some specifics about how you've prepared during the off‑season for the upcoming LPGA Tour season?
LORENA OCHOA:  It's not that ‑‑ I always like to talk about the way do things.  Now I'm in Mexico City.  I've been taking the time like I always do to practice six, seven hours and go to the gym a couple hours every day.  My coach is traveling here to watch me play and help me a little bit with technique like we always do.  So I'm prepared.  That's all I can say.  I'm excited.  We all can't wait to start playing and make the trip.  I'm going to fly out on Sunday and be there to start the year.

Q.  2009 was kind of a breakthrough year for a couple of players, maybe not breakthrough but you saw up close ‑‑ rather the rivalry you have now with Jiyai Shin and Michelle Wie winning your tournament.  The emergence of those players and maybe a couple others, does that inspire you in the off‑season to make sure that you are sharp for the following year?
LORENA OCHOA:  Well I think yes, for sure I know that the competition is getting tougher and tougher.  But at the same time I never pay too much attention to other players.  I always try to focus on my game and to see where are the things that I can improve and work on.  This has been the case this year, just trying to improve on my short game and my putting.  Believe me, I have enough motivation.  I want to stay at the top and practice very hard every day to be up there.

Q.  You'll been coming down to Thailand and Singapore in the next few weeks.  How important is it to set down a marker when you arrive and play really, really well?
LORENA OCHOA:  Well, of course it will be important, but I'm going to do it just like I always do, just be prepared and try to get a good practice round to see the golf course and give 100 percent every day.  I don't like to think too much ahead, just kind of one day at a time and put myself in a good position for the weekend.  I think it should be fun for all of us to see each other and get the Tour started.

Q.  When you do come down, you'll be with Michelle Wie who will be making her first visit to Thailand and Singapore.  Chances are the press are going to go a bit crazy over her.  Do you think that will take off some of the pressure from you, or do you think it's a bit unfair for everyone focusing so much on Michelle Wie?
LORENA OCHOA:  Either way, it is something that is out of my hands.  I'd be happy to be there and help the media and be nice with all the fans.  But if Michelle takes a lot of attention, that's good, too.  I think what is important is to be there on Thursday and try to make as many birdies as you can.

Q.  I saw on the schedule on your website that the tournament in northwest Arkansas is one of the few you have not decided not to play in, and I was kind of just wondering if that was a final decision, and if it is, why you decided you're not playing there.
LORENA OCHOA:  Well, I have a number of tournaments that I would like to play, and they go very well with my schedule going back and forth from the States from Mexico City to be here at home.  It is not a final decision.  I'm going to add maybe one or two more tournaments at the end of the year later on when the weeks go on.  So I will consider that and maybe have different news later in the year.

Q.  I have two questions for you.  I just wanted to follow up regarding Michael Whan.  You mentioned there had been some improvements and changes that you've seen from him.  I know he's only been in the commissioner's office for over a month, but is there anything specific you've noticed that he's done, whether it's reaching out to certain players or anything else that he's done that's kind of had a nice impression on you and maybe some other players besides the addition of the tournaments for the 2010 season thus far?
LORENA OCHOA:  From what I can see, he's trying to learn as much as he can, interviewing different players and getting as much information as he can before making any big moves.  I think that's very important at least to the players to see what we need and what is best for us.  So I think that's a great way to start.
    And having the new sponsorships and having more tournaments, you know, I think a lot of those things are a clear mark that he's working in the right direction.  Hopefully those relationships become very strong and we continue to have better tournaments in the next few years.

    Q.  My next question is you've had so much success in Southern California dating all the way back to the Junior World Golf Championships and you've won at Bighorn, obviously won the Kraft Nabisco.  How excited are you that there's another tournament on the schedule for 2010 down at La Costa?
    LORENA OCHOA:  Yeah, I'm very excited.  We're going to have plans with my family and relatives that are excited to come and watch me play.  There are so many Mexicans in San Diego that I think it will be nice to have a lot of support during that week.  I'm looking forward to it.  I'll be there for the tournament and supporting the new event.

Q.  Did you say you have relatives in San Diego or just coming up from Mexico?
LORENA OCHOA:  Coming up from Mexico.

Q.  I'm not sure if this question has been asked because I just joined a while ago.  What are your thoughts on the whole issue with the whole controversy with Tiger Woods?  What was your first reaction when you first heard the news?  And do you think it will affect him?  Do you think he'll still be able to go out and win some more majors?  And the other question is your thoughts on coming back to Singapore?
LORENA OCHOA:  Well, about Tiger Woods, I really don't have much to say.  I think for all of us, it was a big surprise, disappointment in many ways.  But hopefully he's taking care of his problems and hopefully he'll be back soon.  I have nothing else to say.
    I'm excited to go to Singapore, of course.  It's a beautiful place.  I've won there before, and I'm looking forward to having a great year.

Q.  You have been a source of great pride and good news for Mexicans, especially here in the U.S. where all the news coming from Mexico usually is bad news.  What are your thoughts about the situation that our country is living in right now with crime and drugs, et cetera?
LORENA OCHOA:  Well, I think for sure I would like to see the country in a better position with the politics and especially the security, to be better not only in Mexico City but in different parts of the country.  But at the same time, there's not much I can do.  I'm trying to play my sport and to do the best I can to keep as many Mexicans as I can happy, so hopefully we continue that and hopefully I see the support like I always have seen through the years and enjoy every tournament.

Q.  Second, do you see more Mexican golfers coming up following in your steps in golf?
LORENA OCHOA:  Yes, for sure.  Especially here in Mexico, before used to be only three, four girls playing.  Now in every Cup there's more than 30 or 40 or 50 girls playing.  It's very interesting and very special to see those kids playing, and I believe that we could have more professionals in the future.

Q.  Can you mention some names?
LORENA OCHOA:  It's hard to mention names.  Right now what we have is two professionals that have the best opportunity to be on the LPGA is Tanya Dergal and Sophia Sheridan.  They are really close to being on the LPGA.  Hopefully they continue trying and working hard, and we'll see them maybe in the next year.

Q.  Have you ever played at La Costa, which is the site of the LPGA Classic?  And if you have, what are your thoughts on that course?
LORENA OCHOA:  No, I've never played there.  It will be the first time for me.

Q.  But you probably have some strong memories of playing in San Diego all those years you played at the Junior World.  When you look back on that time, does anything really stick out, all those years you played at the Junior World in San Diego?
LORENA OCHOA:  Yes, for sure, those were some of my best memories.  That's why I'm here today.  I remember those tournaments very well, winning and being there with all the players and my parents.  They used to come every year to watch me play.  That's what gave me the motivation to keep playing and to really make me love the game.
    You know, those are great memories.  I always keep them on the top of my list, and I'm excited to go back and be in the area.

Q.  I didn't see your schedule, but I'm just wondering if Canada is on it.  And number two, you've been coming up here for years; I'm just wondering if you have seen that tournament grow considerably since you first started coming up here.
LORENA OCHOA:  Yes, I will be playing for sure.  It's a tournament that I love to go.  I think CN has done a wonderful job just getting more fans and putting a top tournament together.  I think we all agree with that.  It's just wonderful to see the volunteers and the sponsors and the community to get involved and help.  I have nothing to say but good things.  It's been a great experience.  We'll be there later in the summer.

Q.  Have you ever played in Winnipeg?
LORENA OCHOA:  No, never.  I'm excited.

You can find a link to the audio from today’s conference call here -- http://www.conferenceplayback.com/stream/35761154/SCAN0210.mp3

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