LPGA Commissioner Would Welcome Players Using Twitter During Round

LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens made news last year for the tour's peculiar language requirement. The policy was short-lived, but it's one of those things you can easily point to as an example of why the LPGA struggles to remain both relevant and solvent.

Bivens understands as much (although misguided, her attempt to get international tour players to learn English was to help broaden the sport's appeal). Which is why she'd support LPGA players using their Twitter machines during their round.

Via Waggle Room:

"I'd love it if players Twittered during the middle of a round," Bivens said in an interview, according to Bloomberg News. "The new media is very important to the growth of golf and we view it as a positive, and a tool to be used."

This shouldn't create too many problems. In addition to rounds taking even longer, there's also the issue of whether a handheld mobile device is legal. I mean, what happens if family, friends or fans are tweeting yardage to a player, or how the green breaks based on previous putts they've seen that day? And then there's the question of whether this would even work. Like, say, Michelle Wie tweeting about her yummy lunch. I can't imagine that would do much for the LPGA's popularity. If anything, it might drive people away.

That's not to say Twitter can't be a useful PR tool, I'm just not sure how the LPGA would benefit from using it. Of course, Bivens wasn't laying out a strategy, just answering a question about social media. She continued:

"For Morgan Pressel and Christina Kim's following -- her fans are 12-, 13-, 14-year-old girls and boys -- they're not waiting for the golf broadcast on Saturday and Sunday ... They want to know what's going on in the middle of the round. If we're going to get out of the collared shirts and khaki pants and make golf chic, hip, happening, Christina Kim is exactly the kind of player to reach out and make golf a lot more relevant."

Agreed. But again, what exactly would Pressel or Kim tweet mid-round that would make them more popular?

The PGA Tour bans the use of mobile phones, so this would never happen on the men's side, but I could get behind, say, Sergio Garcia tweeting. "Just hit a fat 7-iron. Blaming Morgan-Leigh." Less compelling (and part of the problem Bivens faces): Tiger Woods -- who might possibly be more boring in writing than during post-round interviews -- tweeting from the course: "Breathed in. Breathed out."

No thanks. Plus, keeping viewers updated on Tiger minutiae is Johnny Miller's job. The solution, obviously: manufactured drama. Like pro wrestling.