Players Worried, LPGA Seeks Home For Championship

13/06/2009 20:22

The season's second women's golf major commences today with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety at Bulle Rock.

On the course, plot lines are plentiful, but so are nagging questions pegged to next year and the health of the LPGA in the face of the global economic downturn.

Last year, LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens announced that the tour was taking ownership of the LPGA Championship in 2010, a move that also ended 29 years of sponsorship by McDonald's.

The event is leaving Bulle Rock for a destination as yet unknown.

"No announcements this week," LPGA spokesman David Higdon told reporters yesterday. "We are getting a lot of interest from venues and a lot of interest from sponsors and have to figure out a way to marry those two."

Having a major event unscheduled worried some players.

"I am concerned," world No. 3 Paula Creamer told reporters on Tuesday. "I'm 22 years old, this is my fifth year on Tour, and we don't know where one of our majors is going to be. It's a scary thought."

Higdon said the timing of the event might change within a 2010 calendar that could be much different. Nineteen of the 29 events were up for renewal decisions at the end of the year, though he said the tour felt good about 14 of them.

The tour has lost six tournaments over the last year, Golf World magazine reported.

"We're running into super slow sales cycles and people are not making decisions right now," Higdon said. "Our goal is to announce the schedule in November at our Tour Championship and we'll roll out our full calendar."

Cristie Kerr, the tour's leading money winner this year, said the uncertainty was a sign of the times.

"I think there's definitely a level of concern for everyone, whether it's your mortgage that you're looking at or your portfolio, or your bank account or how many tournaments are up for renewal," Kerr said.

"I think it's on everybody's minds and everybody is wondering where the bottom is going to come."

SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:

Everyone in professional sport seems to ‘get’ the world economic and financial crisis, except Gary Bettman.