The Real Problem With the LPGA

It's golf's offseason, which doesn't really mean much for fans and players alike except there aren't any majors, and the competition dwindles. It also gives media and players a chance to reflect on the bigger picture. Players evaluate their years and see what could be improved, promising to work on that before next year rolls out. Media has the opportunity to hand out awards, evaluate certain tours and find flaws in those tours.

That is where this concept came up, about the LPGA and their struggle to gain identity. You could argue that women's golf is the second most important female sport, behind tennis, but it still seems that women's golf has struggled this decade to resonate with sports fans, even some golf fans. Annika Sorenstam had moments where she became a story bigger than golf, but most of that dealt with a missed cut and a skirt, the latter being more of a Fred Funk prank than anything.

So, why can't the LPGA become more popular? Why is it losing sponsors and tournaments and money? Is it because of a down economy that has made a run of damn near everything? Yeah, that has something to do with it. But what seems to be the bigger issue is the ability to market the faces of golf. Plain and simple ... the superstars on the golf course aren't the same superstars that companies are turning to. It's confusing the fan base. It's making it strange to see no-name golfers hold the trophy. The LPGA is in need of a marketable superstar.

Any logical golf fan would take this moment to toss their hands in the air, stomp on their computer and scream the name "Michelle Wie!" Makes sense. She was a phenomenon when she burst on the scene. She set records at a young age and had promise that even Tiger Woods couldn't comprehend. She was a pretty girl that could hit the ball a mile and was the face of the new-age girl -- someone that needed length, embraced it, and used it to her advantage.

The problem is, it hasn't panned out. I'm one of the first people to jump to Wie's defense when people scream about her inability to win golf tournaments, but the bottom line is she still hasn't won a professional event, and she's been making money in golf since 2005. She was the LPGA's Bright Hope, and while she is improving and becoming more of a factor (she finished in the Top 10 seven times this past season), she still isn't hoisting trophies and making cuts on the PGA Tour. It's the thing that we wanted to happen, it just hasn't come through yet.

What we are looking at are tournament-winning golfers with no appeal. That is superficiality at it's best, but it's true, and the fact that Tiger became such a presence in the world of sports had just as much to do with his million-dollar smile and bicep reconstruction as it did with his ability to hit drives 300 yards and fist-pump with the best of them.

When you think of the top LPGA golfers, who do you think of? Lorena Ochoa, Wie, Natalie Gulbis, Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr? Serious golf fans are familiar with the names Jiyai Shin and Angela Stanford, but that's stretching it.

Well, here are your Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings as of November 2.

1 -- Lorena Ochoa MEX
2 -- Jiyai Shin KOR
3 -- Suzann Pettersen NOR
4 -- Yani Tseng TPE
5 -- Cristie Kerr USA
6 -- Paula Creamer USA
7 -- Angela Stanford USA
8 -- Ai Miyazato JPN
9 -- Karrie Webb AUS
10 -- In Kyung Kim KOR
11 -- Na Yeon Choi KOR
12 -- Song-Hee Kim KOR
13 -- Anna Nordqvist SWE
14 -- Catriona Matthew SCO
15 -- Michelle Wie USA
16 -- Eun-Hee Ji KOR
17 -- Shinobu Moromizato JPN
18 -- Sakura Yokomine JPN
19 -- Sophie Gustafson SWE
20 -- Helen Alfredsson SWE

Ochoa is tops, which makes sense. Everyone knows her as the Tiger of the LPGA, even if she "only" won three times this season.

Kerr is fifth, Creamer is sixth and Wie is 15th. That is it. Fans are familiar with about 20 percent of that list, and have no clue about the other players.

The easiest way to judge popularity, in this day in age, is Google. Using the search engine, we come to find out that Wie runs way with hits in a generic search, of nearly 1.72 million, while Pettersen, third on the Rolex Rankings, has just 187,000.

On the PGA Tour, the two top guys are your most popular. Tiger is obviously Tiger, but Phil Mickelson, ranked second on the Official Golf Rankings, is just as much of a crowd pleaser as Woods.

The LPGA has to battle to get their faces up the leaderboard. Hell, Wie and Gulbis didn't even qualify for the U.S. Open this year!

The solution is obviously an early impossible one to conquer. Have someone that is damn good at golf, can win tournaments in a professional setting, and can make the generic viewer interested. If Wie starts winning, she can become this. If she doesn't, the LPGA will continue the search for its marquee player. It just seems right now, the women's golf tour could use that person to step up.