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Golf

Commissioner's Ouster Won't Save LPGA

Posted Jul 09, 2009 9:00PM By Greg Couch (RSS feed)

Filed Under: LPGA

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Did you see what happened Thursday in the first round of the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament?

Just kidding. No one saw. No one is watching. That's not new. The most amazing and interesting thing about the game has nothing to do with actual golf. Instead, it's how this entire sport in unraveling. Right now. On the first day of its most important event.

The LPGA tour commissioner, Carolyn Bivens, didn't even come to the tournament. Reports surfaced on Thursday that Bivens has accepted a buyout to step down. This after players drafted a letter demanding she resign.

Meanwhile, Michelle Wie? Not at the Open, either. She didn't quality, and the US Golf Association didn't give its one, big-name, marketable, watchable star a special exemption because when it did that years ago, players raised a stink.

Tournaments are disappearing. Sponsors are fleeing. The commissioner keeps making boneheaded and humiliating decisions. Tick, tick, tick. Women's golf is just waiting for the "Kaboom."

Players think that replacing Bivens will fix things, but here's a tough truth: Bivens is only the third-biggest problem. No. 2 is the economy scaring away potential sponsors. And No. 1? It's women's golf. It doesn't sell.

Player Cristie Kerr, who won the Open two years ago, felt it necessary, in her regular pre-tournament press conference, to include this in her opening remarks: "I also realize many of you in this room probably have questions and concerns and issues involving the LPGA. Out of respect for the USGA [which runs the Open], I'm asking that questions at this time be reserved for the U.S. Open or questions about myself and my golf and perhaps my wine making."

Well, red wine or white? Which one goes better with the implosion of a golf tour? Wine making? Really? Who is coaching these people in public relations? The players, one after the next, have said this week that they won't talk about the tour's problems because they want the focus to be on the U.S. Open.

As a result, the Open, the signature moment of women's golf, has been made irrelevant. Bivens should have held a press conference on Tuesday, two days before the Open, and taken any and all questions. Then, the players could have done the same. Get it out there. Get it over with. And frankly, with that publicity, even negative, people would have tuned into the golf this week. But these are basics of management 101.

Bivens was sick that day. She pulled this same thing a few weeks ago, hiding under her desk during the LPGA Championships rather than face questions about all the tournaments disappearing.

Bivens has tried to impose big rights fees for sponsors wanting to hold a tournament. Seven tournaments have vanished since 2007, and several more might go after this year. During pro-ams, corporate representatives have reportedly been complaining to players about the tour. And last year, Bivens considered a rule that would require foreign players to learn to speak English or face suspension. I didn't make that up.

But still, for all of Bivens' bumbling, she has only served to make a reality worse, and maybe a little comical.

"This isn't to say the players are right and she [Bivens] is wrong or vice versa," said Marc Ganis, CEO of SportsCorp, a leading sports business consulting firm in Chicago. "But primarily the LPGA is losing sponsors because there's not enough interest to justify sponsor expenditures on the LPGA. It's as simple as that.

"Some of that relates to economy. A lot is that the LPGA has not promoted itself in a manner that makes it worthwhile for marketing, fan interest or TV ratings. Does the fault lie in the sport itself, in the fact that the sport doesn't have any telegenic athletes playing it, no great star to attract interest? All of the above."

With few exceptions through the years -- Nancy Lopez? -- that has always been the case. But in a strong economy, the tour has been able to survive anyway. Now, the timing couldn't have been worse, as all things are coming together. First, Annika Sorenstam retired, meaning that the tour lost its star. Then, the economy tanked. Bivens took over and rather than building relationships with sponsors, she played hardball and scared them off.

It's not just golf. Women's sports in general are struggling. Tennis is the only women's sport that has broken into the mainstream. And Ganis said that golf is a niche sport, and women's golf is a niche of a niche.

Wie, and maybe Natalie Gulbis, are the two women's golfers who have made it to the mainstream. Gulbis also failed to qualify for the Open. And frankly, Wie is in the mainstream because she tried to play on the men's tour. Gulbis is there because she's attractive, and was on Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice show.

Golf didn't get them there.

Frankly, both should have been granted a spot in the Open. Unfair to whichever two players were bumped out? Sorry, but the sport is dying here.

"Recall several years ago when Michelle did get a special exemption, that didn't necessarily sit well with some, both in the media and some of the players," said Mike Davis, the USGA's senior director of rules and competitions. "So it was never seriously considered."
Tournaments are disappearing. Sponsors are fleeing. The commissioner keeps making boneheaded and humiliating decisions.
Wie is 12th on the tour money list, which should be high enough to get into the tournament in the first place. The top 35 used to get in automatically. Now, it's the top 10, another stupid rule that threatens to keep stars out.

Even when Bivens is gone, the LPGA tour will struggle. For once, she's right about the problem with Korean players. If the English-speaking media can't talk with the best players, that's going to lead to less coverage. But instead of a rule and suspension, how about just offering the players help in learning the language?

And Bivens also was ripped for an idea of having players post on their Twitter accounts during rounds. That one, I think, was a great idea. But instead, she claimed it was taken out of context, even though it was on tape.

Whatever, no one is listening to her anymore. She's done. And women's golf? Just keep waiting for the kaboom.

Like what you read here? Follow me on Twitter: @gregcouch

Tags: Carolyn+Bivens, christie+kerr, michelle+wie, natalie+gulbis

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