Carolyn Bivens

[LoJo]

Originally Posted by golfnut

and the increased tournament fees dont take affect across the board until 2010.

Across the board? Maybe not...I don't know...but according to an Aug 4th Golf Digest article by Ron Sirak -- http://www.golfdigest.com/magazine/b...s-ginn-tr.html -- things are going to get more difficult and expensive for sponsors.

One insider involved in the Tournament Owners Association said that of the four endangered tournaments, Phoenix was the most likely to survive and the Fields Open the least likely. Next year is an important one for the LPGA as about one-third of its tournament contracts expire, higher sanctioning fees go into effect and television contracts with ESPN and Golf Channel expire.

By the way, the four endangered tournaments cited above are the Ginn Tribute which is toast...the Safeway in Phoenix, which now has no sponsor...the Fields in Hawaii, aloha...and the SemGroup in Tulsa is likely toast since SemGroup has filed bankruptcy.

Commandante Bivens better be burning the phone lines trying to find some new sponsors and new tourneys. Hey...maybe she can call someone in Korea.

[MarinePaul]

So, maybe my criticism isn't so harsh after all.

Bivens has been anything but effective in dealing with existing tournaments, and it seems she's hell bent on destroying the ones she hasn't already pissed off.

[PAC RIM]

"The single most-important thing the LPGA needs is better TV exposure," said one tournament owner, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "It's a highly entertaining product and a great value to for sponsors. The more people see it, the more they will realize that."

and who do they need to play well and get them some TV time?

[PAC RIM]

Here is an interesting article from PGA.com:

SUNNINGDALE, England (AP) -- Lorena Ochoa came to the Ricoh Women's British Open firmly established as the world No. 1 and strongly favored to retain the title she won last year at St. Andrews.

Instead, she was engulfed by the tide of Asian players who are threatening a takeover of the women's game. Ochoa tied for seventh, but the top five were Asians, led by the winner, Ji-Yai Shin of South Korea.

Thirteen of the leading 20 were from South Korea, Japan or Taiwan.
"They're all coming. And it's not stopping, either," said Juli Inkster, who led after an opening round 7-under 65 but tailed off for a share of 14th.

Ochoa, who won four titles in succession on the LPGA Tour this year, acknowledged that it going to take a lot of hard work -- even for her -- to stem the tide of top players coming out of Asia.

"I think we all knew that there are so many and they are playing so well and consistently and working so hard," the Mexican said. "Now we can see that the Asian Tour is becoming very strong. The top players are coming to the States and they can also win in the States. Before it was a different story.

"So the rest of us just need to prepare and continue working hard with so many more good players around."

Asian players have now won the last three majors.

Yani Tseng of Taiwan, runner up on Sunday, won the LPGA Championship in early June and no less than Annika Sorenstam predicted this week that she would not be surprised to see Tseng as the world No. 1 in a few years.

Inbee Park of Korea won the U.S. Women's Open, although she was one of the few Asian disappointments this week as she failed to make the halfway cut.

The other Asians near the top of the leaderboard were Eun Hi Ji of South Korea and Yuri Fudoh of Japan tied third, and tiny Japanese Ai Miyazato in fifth place.

Cristie Kerr was the first non-Asian in sixth place.

The South Koreans had for the first time this year the same number of players in the field, 31, as there were Americans.

Many of them have taken their inspiration from the first of their nationality, Se Ri Pak, to win the Women's British Open in 2001, also here at Sunningdale. She also won two majors in her rookie year in 1998.

"Se Ri Pak, she was my hero because of watching golf," Shin said. "I'm watching her then and watching her now and she's still my hero."

Shin, meanwhile, may change her future playing plans in the light of this victory.

Her father, the guiding influence in her life since her mother died in a car crash in 2005, wanted her to play primarily in Japan next year. But she is leaning toward the LPGA Tour in the States now that she has an exemption for winning this title.

"Maybe he will change his mind now," she said. "I have not joined as a member but now with this win I can join the LPGA."

Shin played three LPGA Tour events this year with a best finish of joint 6th in the U.S. Women's Open. She won three titles on the Korean Women's Tour this year after winning nine times in 2007.

The Asian Invasion is well under way and the LPGA needs to address the issue by expanding their Far East tournament schedule to make up for lost tournaments in th USA.

The emergence of golf in Asia is stunning and the money is here to expand the tour far beyond where it is today.