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For The Good Of The Game?

Sex is in, Commissioner Bivens is out as the LPGA Tour looks to the next six decades

(page 6 of 6)

After several attempts, Bivens declined to comment.

After this year’s record-breaking 34 tournaments, players and fans will see a decline of events for the 2010 season. According to Higdon, the Tour expects to have a more normal schedule of 25-27 tournaments for next year. He isn’t fazed by the numbers. “I think that we’ve got a lot of young players coming up and I’ve seen this in other sports where there’s often kind of that transition from when you had the well-known, established star, in our case with Annika,” explained Higdon. “Her retirement had a bigger affect than I think most people would have expected, combine that with the fact that Lorena has had a very sub-par season and that has made for a real transition in terms of who is going to step up. The reality is that a lot of people have stepped up on a weekly basis, but overall nobody has grabbed the mantle and said, ‘I’m number one.’”

How will the LPGA Tour put the pieces back together again? The vitality of the Tour is questionable if it is contingent upon one player’s shoulders. Tiger Woods has been the saving grace for the PGA Tour, but before Woods there was Nicklaus, Palmer, Watson, Trevino and Player. The Tour thrived on the art of the rivalry—a spirit that eludes the LPGA Tour. “When Lopez was doing really well in the 70s and 80s it was always somebody against Lopez whether it was me, Patty Sheehan or Pat Bradley,” said Stephenson. “The same with Tiger. People come up and challenge him for a while, might be Phil, Padrig Harrington, or the other headliners. Now when these guys win the majors, it isn’t that they won, it’s that they beat Tiger on Sunday. That is huge.”

“Sometimes when somebody is so number one like Annika was, people almost don’t want you to win. Annika was like a machine. She was a fantastic golfer, one of the best I’ve seen in any era. I do believe she’ll come back and I think that would be good for the Tour with Lorena [Ochoa]. I think that’s why everybody leans so much on Michelle Wie. Because she would make the Tour again and somebody with that star power is what the LPGA needs again.”

 

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