Hana Bank bows to conditions

Your first round leaders, yes the very ones who shot 6 under par the first round of the Hana Bank had a bit of trouble today. Anna Grzebien shot an 82 and Meghan Francella a 79. The conditions were poor and scores were high but not this high. Even Pat Hurst a veteran of playing in bad conditions sputtered to a 7 over 79. I am not going to say any of these ladies played poorly because I can seem to get a accurate read on exactly what the conditions were but they didn't seem to bother Yani who shot the low round at 2 under. Judging from the score it appears if you shot +2 or lower you had a pretty good day. Tomorrow will be interesting to say the least with Maria Hjorth the only non Asian in contention.

Where have you beem Meghan Where are you going Nicole!!!!!!!!

What a surprise to wake up and see Meghan Francella in the lead at the Hana Bank. I was not surpised at all to see Nicole Castrale in last place. Two similar golfers going in opposite directions. Francella having a good journeymen type year but lacking consistency and Castrale is going through a spot so rough even David Duvall could appreciate it. Nicole Castrale has the greatest smile in golf and is happily married to a great guy whom follows her everywhere. This is apparently not a good mix for pro golf. Since a terrible showing at the Solheim Cup Castrale has just fell off the planet as far as golf is concerned. Since mid July I believe she has made one cut and that being the Navistar where she finished tied with Francella for 32nd. Francella on the other hand is never going to challenge for top ten in the world or the Solheim cup because she just has no intentions of working that hard because it's there, the tools are there just not the will. She seems satisfied with being middle of the road mediocre and is able t0 live with that.

You won't however see Francella or Anna Grzebien in the top ten at the end of the week and it's doubtfull that Pat Hurst will be there either. Shin, Tseng, Ochoa will be there and Catroina Matthews and Vicky Hurst will be there and that you can count on.

Whan from ranks of unemployed to LPGA Commissioner.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After some more research on our new Comish I learned he was not even working prior to being selected to lead the LPGA out of demise. This is neither here nor there but I can tell you one thing. Looking at the picture of on the LPGA website. Mr. Whan has either lost weight recently or is a cheap suit kind of guy. I'm sure knowing how fashion conscious the LPGA players are they will have a meeting and send a letter to the board recommending a new tailor for Mr. Whan.

LPGA will announce 2010 schedule at Tour Championship

Marty Evans and Michael Whan will announce the 2010 LPGA schedule which will consist of tentatively 24 events. They have only 18 on the schedule so far and I assume they are trying to shore up the contracts for the other six events in the next two weeks. Not since 1971 has the LPGA had fewer tournaments.

I also have it on very good authority that the entry requirements for tournaments will be changing in 2010. I can't seem to nail down the exact wording of the rules but it's a start in moving toward putting the best golfers on the course based on merit and not seniority. I am hoping they will exempt the top 30 players and force the rest to qualify. Insuring the players in the tournament are playing the best golf at that time.

Hey, no Ai Miyazato, Suzann Pettersen, Michelle Wie, or Natalie Gulbis this week. All big draws for the LPGA! I'm sure Tournament Officials are not happy about this. I'm going with Yani Tseng this week!

Picks for the LPGA Hana Bank

So the players have had a month off give or take so I'm going to to pick like this!


Winner = Yani Tseng

T2 = Lorena Ochoa

T2 = Jiyai Shin

Shin just won in Japan! Everyone knows what Lorena does after long layoffs and Yani is just itching to win again in Asia for Taiwan.

Whan will be Shackeled by IMG

The LPGA can't seem to do anything right these days and now it will become more evident than ever. They hired a man who was let go by TaylorMade-Adidas and went to a fledgling hockey equipment company that pretty much failed and got gobbled up by Bauer for pennies on the dollar.

How is this guy, who I assume is a very nice and well educated man, going to get the LPGA on network TV and get more sponsors to pony up dollars which all go to IMG anyway. I hope and pray he can pull off a miracle but I'm afraid that this gentleman has taken a position for which he lacks experience and qualifications to execute effectively.

I am more than willing to give him a chance but tying his hands with IMG? I don't believe anyone you put in that position has a fighting chance. Good luck Mr. Whan I will be your biggest fan if you can pull this off with the IMG shackels on you arms.

What a Woman!!!!!!!!!!

I had the honor of bumping into Ms. Nisha Sadekar via an short email conversation last night. I had heard MS. Sadekars name mentioned from time to time at various tournaments and always assumed she was a player agent. Last night I found out she is so much more. She emailed me to let me know that my blog post about Nicole Hage was off base and she did so with professionalism and brilliance. I promptly returned her email stating my case as it was more golf related and not a personal attack because as LPGA fans we know Nicole is a beautiful, classy and engaging young woman.

Ms. Sadekar loves women's golf and being a former competitive golfer has a passion for seeing it thrive. Accordingly enough she has built her life around the love of the game and is very active in the player management, event promotion, and charity fund raising. I have put a few links on here so that you can all see exactly what I'm talking about. www.playgolfdesigns.com http://www.divacountryclub.com/ and http://www.broadcastersfoundation.org/

You will find one incredibly beautiful and intelligent woman who loves golf and if that's not enough, her goal is to make golf better.

What's the difference between inside the ropes and outside the ropes!!!!!!!!!

Why do professional golfers especially female professional golfers always try and tell you that the only way you could understand is to be inside the ropes. Ladies it's golf, I play to a sub 2 handicap it's the same weather your in South Korea or South Bend Indiana, competitive golf is just that, competitive golf. Now the average golfer may very well not understand the Golf Industry as a whole but trust me ladies we do understand the game and on occasion better than you do. So this "inside the ropes" stuff is simply a way to try and distance yourselves from intelligent , knowledgeable, and passionate fans.

Golf unlike the NFL or NBA can be experienced by everyone and the rules are the same and there is a standard that is set (par) and handicaps issued that make everyone equal. So to try and tell a good weekend golfer that he has no idea because he is outside the ropes is ignorant! The golf industry is a totally different animal! With sponsors and equipment manufacturers and promotions etc. Yes you get a pass there but that is not inside the ropes. Inside the ropes is golf and if anything else is inside the ropes then I can assure you it's against the rules!

College no longer in the LPGA's plan!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I believe it is irresponsible for the LPGA to allow players to play on it's tour without having gone to or being the age of a college graduate. Let me give you a few examples. Of the top 100 golfers on the LPGA money list about 40 are Asian and 60 are from the rest of the world. Of those 60 non Asian born players, 26 went to college and approximately 16 received their college degree. So 16 college degrees out of 60 players.

Those college degrees however are predominantly made up of Communications, Exercise Science, and Sports and Entertainment Management. These are the very same majors that Major College football teams use to keep their players eligible. Yes pretty much basket weaving one and two.

No consider the like of Meaghan Francella who is a mediocre golfer middle of the road player can't seem to put any consistency together but a great great girl none the less regardless of her sexual preferences. She has a Communications Degree from UNC I believe(yes went to Memphis and transferred)and has zero marketable skills and has maybe another year on tour. What will happen to her?????I think it's the LPGA's responsibility if they are going to reap the benefits of these players that they educate them in the process.

A high percentage of these girls won't survive on tour more than a couple years and barley make any money. We need to either show them how to work hard and compete or educate them in case they can't!!!!

Why can't America's women win in Asia? Asians dominate the LPGA here!

At the risk of breaking a few barriers, I'm going to attempt to delve into a subject which may alienate some readers but facts are facts. As the LPGA moves to South Korea and Japan the next few weeks before returning to the states for the Tour Championship it appears the chances of America having a winner in any of the last three events is slim to none.

Our best player, Christie Kerr has been living the high life in New York and commenting on things she ought not to discuss on the record. While Jiyai Shin and Ai Miyazato were both practicing and winning in Japan. Lorena Ochoa I have no doubt has made this month off count and will be right in the thick of things in each of the next three events.

Work ethic is the reason the Asians Dominate women's professional golf. Our American women have some but nothing close to that of the Asians or of Lorena Ochoa. Our girls are spoon fed praise and told they are great and the problem is they want to win they love to win but they are not good enough to win in full field events. We do not have an American female golfer who can play well on the final day with a lead or withing a few shots of the lead. Our women lack the mental toughness that the Asian players have perfected through playing tough fields week in and week out and learning how to handle pressure and close out final rounds. our girls play well on the last day if they are more than five shots out and need a run to get into the top ten but they can't play with a lead or within a shot or two.

So lets let them continue to be praised and make them stars for no reason and without merit. They can all work out, wear short skirts and do calenders and if that's all the LPGA wants then it was doomed to fail anyway. Lets get girls who can compete on our countries very own tour. Not once a year but week in and week out like thier Asian counterparts can do.

I will give you and example. Check the twitter accounts of the top American players and you will read mostly about food and electronic gadgets and packing and travel and anything but golf except at the end of a tournament day. Then check the tweets of the top Asian players and it's all golf! good, bad or indifferent it's all business and they love it. there is no grinding for asian players they know the opportunity they have been given and they are going to take full advantage.

Nicole Hage is just a little girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nicole Hage, a so called "professional Golfer" who has sponsors and her name on her bag and beauty beyond measure and is really just a little girl who can't handle the truth and all things aside, just not a very good golfer. Like so many of the Golfers on the LPGA tour today Nicole has the physical tools to be very good yet she has a poor work ethic and a worse temper but don't tell her the truth or you will face the wrath.

This is her second year on the tour and her stroke average is right around 78 and among the worst on the LPGA. Golf obviously is not her forte but don't tell her that she thinks she is world class caliber and everyone on this earth should think so to. You see letting these immature little girls play is just killing the LPGA's product when there are so many wonderful players out there who would raise the level of play the LPGA continues to let double digit handicap type players dominate their fields. If I want to see players like this I can everyday at any golf course across the country. I believe this girl needs and education as do many of the LPGA journeyman high handicappers because living on sponsor money and not producing will get you zero returns unless your a flaunter like Natalie Gulbis!

Angela Stanford, You just have to love her!!!!!!!!

Angela Stanford leads the LPGA in rounds under par. Not scoring average! She makes birdies and very few bogey's. You have to love this girl. She is the quintessential type of golfer the LPGA needs. She plays golf, everyone of her peers adore her and yet you never hear a controversial word come out of her mouth. At a time when the LPGA needs quality players to be quality people, Angela is at the top!

You won't see Angela posing nude or hustleing worthless golf gadgets. You won't see her wearing her skirts to short or her shirts to tight. You will get from Angela, hard work, great sportsmanship and very good golf. The only thing Angela is not doing is winning. She seems to be there week in and week out but it would be nice to see her close one out.

If you are a regular reader you know that the LPGA is in total disarray and is trying to find something or someone to to wave a magic wand and heal it's wounds. They haven't played in a month and will only play one more event in the US this year and when compared with the PGA, Nationwide and even the Hooters tour the LPGA has become the laughing stock of golf. Oh they will dig up something and the LPGA will muddle through a few more years but the damage has been done the quality of golf so poor! Let me give you an example!


Dorothy Delasin
Ashli Bunch
Maggie Will
Nicole Jeray
Jeehae Lee
Samantha Richdale
Mhairi McKay
Kim Welch

These 8 players who for the most part can play tournaments and get into tournaments ahead of Amanda Blumenhurst or Jean Reynolds, yes the eight players on this list have shot a total of 5 rounds under par combined all season! These women could not win a golf tournament at the local municipal course and here they are week in and week out teeing it up ahead of much better golfers on the so called "elite womens golf tour"

Please someone tell me why! You have to be an idiot not to see why this is killing the LPGA. Imagine 8 professional golfers playing all season and out of all those rounds on 5 scorecards have a sub par round on them. Now tell me whats wrong with the LPGA!

ANY REAL MEN LEFT IN SPORTS MEDIA?

Jim Nance, Steve Phillips, Rick Pitino, David Letterman, Shawn Crawford, Woody Paige, Harold Reynolds, Steve McNair, David Letterman and many more. It's obvious that professional sports, sports media and show business in general are really loaded with scum bags. All these men have families and children and all of them cheated on their wives and children and now their employers. What happened to honor and ethics and being a good husband and father? Why do we have to read about scum bags like this everyday and why are these scumbags given positions where they can pretend like they are upstanding people. I think they should all be classified as sexual predators and be made to go through hundreds of hours of counseling to even be able to marry again. I think they should be fired from their jobs and blackballed from the business.

These are not real men!!!!!! These are morally bankrupt men who have no business being in the public eye!

Do you reallt think your vote counts???????

Election day is November 3rd this year and as it draws near, I got to thinking about weather an individuals vote really counts at all. Assuming that a majority of the people out there (maybe optimistic) really put some thought into their vote as I believe is the intent of our Constitution. It appears that our or the people's voice of the vote is an exercise in futility. I for one am tempted to send Washington a bill for the countless hours of TV adds, talk shows and debates not to mention the junk mail that read watch and deliberate over to make my voting selection. The reason being that none not one single thing we are told prior to the elections by candidates ever happens.

I didn't vote for our current president but will use him as an example because his campaign was the most publicized and memorable!

He our government would be more transparent. (it's gotten worse)

He said there would be no more no bid contracts (there are more than ever)

He said government would be more efficeint and smaller (it's bigger and slower than ever)

He said he would bring the troops home from Iraq by the end of 2009 (not even close to happening)
He would end Afghan war (more troop deploying before the holidays)

So what possible good did it it do for us to listen to anything he said and not just him George Bush before him was the quintessential liar?

If we were not in either of these wars we could pay for health care for every man woman and child in this country for 20 years so far and never have to borrow a dime!

My point is this it is by law illegal for a politician who has taken an oath of public office to lie to the public! So the next time a politician any politician lies and you can prove it. Sue them! You don't need a lawyer or even to have money I doubt the courts will give you much time but it will sure make a mess for the politician and hopefully teach them a lesson. We don't have to continue to have our tax dollars just frittered away on random useless and idiotic things. We don't have to take this any longer.

LPGA bottom line disappearing !!!!!!!!!

This year on the LPGA tour there is a total of approximately 64 million dollars. Next year the LPGA tour prize money will total about 40 million dollars. No I may not be the smartest man in the world but even in this economy the PGA Tour, MLB, NFL, and Pro Tennis will all have increases in total purses or revenues for next year and the LPGA will lose 24 million. Now we can blame this on quality of product, lack of TV exposure, just blatantly poor marketing and mismanagement across the board. I blame a bit of it on twitter. Follow Christina Kim on twitter for a day or Morgan Pressel both wonderful golfers and as far as I know great people. That being said, reading their tweets will leave you thinking your following a couple of junior high girls who have no idea what it means to work or live in the real world. It's so infantile that you have a hard time keeping your respect for either of them. You have to respect their golf games but they have no idea what life is about or being a grown up entails.

LPGA looking to emmulate marketing plan of SUBWAY

There was an LPGA outing yesterday at the Chelsea Pier and the topic of conversation was marketing. If you read yesterday's blog on here you noticed that I kind of ribbed the LPGA for not marketing to it key demographics. Well it seems to me if your biggest and most numerous fans are educated males that marketing to them would be a lot like marketing fine wine or high end luxury cars and not the prepubescent McDonald's type marketing that's been done for so long. The LPGA needs to pay someone to come up with a campaign to market it as a quality, high end organization rather than the blue collar golf tour.

I mean when you have the Roseanne Barr of the LPGA (Christina Kim)posing nude to represent your tour, it's quite obvious you are desperate and are making a cry for help. So the topic of the LPGA outing was the SUBWAY marketing plan, which is I guess one to look very closely at if it your intention to have a Walmart driven tour. Why not sell your LPGA apparel in WALMART? Why not give away coupons for buy one get one free tickets with the purchase of a box of Sam's Choice tampons! I mean after all they are the better value. Come on people, the reason the PGA Tour does so well is not because the players are standing around Walmart with signs that say come to the tournament but because they're not there! The only way to see Tiger Woods is to go to the tournament. The only way to see the best golfers on the planet is to be there and take it in first hand. I don't want to see Natalie Gulbis shaking hands with little girls at the mall. I want to see her Golfing. I want to see her making shots that I can't hit I want to see her doing things that separate her from all the other women not what makes them the same.

Does anyone not get this! I mean come on people this is what you do. I can not believe you can have so many people, who are supposed to experts in this field, together in one place and not get who you are and what you need to do to get where you want to go. You have 9 and 10 handicaps playing on your tour that's like the local municipal golf course. You obviously don't have to be a good golfer to be on the LPGA so why would anyone want to watch or go to an event when you have only 18-20 golfers that are even worth watching? Please, LPGA get some help. If you need advice call me.

LPGA is a marketing disaster!!!!!!!

Educated Males and Lesbians, these are the LPGA's biggest fanbase and they market to neither. Failure to market to either is a huge mistake.

Why do the Asian players come to the US. to play on the LPGA tour you ask? Well it's simple and the answer is money. They are better golfers and the purses on the LPGA are significantly better here. These Asian players come to the LPGA, bank a million dollars give or take and head home and bank another 200k over the winter when the US Women are involved in shameless self promotion primarily aimed a little kids and women. When their demographic is educated men and lesbians which one they fail to market to and the other they fail to acknowledge

I understand that having educated golf purists(predominantly male) and lesbians as your primary fans it difficult to market to both but failing to market to either is just idiotic. So it won't be long before the purses shrink and the Asians leave and the better US. golfers will play elsewhere to make the better dollars.

It's really simple to figure out but the LPGA seems to have trouble figuring out anything these days let alone marketing. You can spend millions marketing to kids an may reap some long term benefits but golf is not as addicting as tobacco and to market to people who can't support it is a stupid move.

Jeehae Lee #538 in latest Rolex Rankings

Jeehae Lee is very beautiful and I thought intelligent coming from Yale and turning Pro in 2006 and gaining status to play on the LPGA Tour this year. I finding out she is not very smart nor can she play golf. I have better women golfers at my club than this girl who is allowed to week in and week out play and embarrass herself on the LPGA Tour. She can't putt or drive the ball in the fairway,nor can she get up and down from off the green yet every single week she is out there playing her two rounds.

Now here is some evidence of how poor the golf has gotten on the LPGA Tour. Jeehae is number 156 on the LPGA money list because she made one cut and took dead last in that tournament which she earned about $3,500 for and not a single penny more the rest of the year. The think is she is #156 on the money list and only completed one tournament. She is not even in the top 156 golfers from her own country. She is ranked 538 in the latest rankings from Rolex. You watch however she will take her 9 handicap and be teeing it up with all the other tour players at the Tour Championship.

I don't believe she was even able to go back to her home Korea to play in the Hana Bank tournament. If she is though we can that being a Representative she will not embarrass the LPGA to badly against players much better than her from her own country.


I know I am really beating this Jeehae Lee, Dorothy Delasin thing to death but come on these players are carrying double or near double digit handicaps and playing on a self proclaimed "Elite" tour. You won't see a PGA Tour player with a handicap who plays week in and week out. You have to have less than a 5.4 handicap to even be able to enter the Women's US Amateur so how is it these ladies get to steal tournament spots from better golfers. It's sickening!

No Presidents Cup for LPGA

Can you Imagine if the LPGA has a Presidents Cup. I think we all know why they don't. The USA would be such huge underdogs it wouldn't even get any TV attention.

Look at what the teams would be.

USA would consist of Christie Kerr, Paula Creamer,Angela Stanford,Michelle Wie,Kristy McPhearson, Morgan Pressel, Brittany Lincicome, Brittany Lang and two Captains picks who would be Christina Kim and Michelle Redman


The International team would be.

Lorena Ochoa, Jiyai Shin, Suzann Petterson, Yani Tseng, Kari Webb, In Kyung Kim, Ai Miyazato,Song Hee Kim, with Anna Nordqvist and Catronia Matthew as Captains picks.


With the exception of Morgan Pressel, Christina Kim and maybe Michelle Wie, none of the American players are even remotely adept at match play golf. We all watched the S-Cup and with the Europeans being about two deep as far as good players we should have demolished them but didn't.


I would like to see an Asia against the world event though. The Asian are far and away the better match play golfers and an event like this would be a real treat to golf purists everywhere.

Ok readers you're right!!!!!!

I got lots of emails about the negatives og golf in the Olympics and the consensus is that it's fantastic, 99.9% of you have a problem with the format. Which as it stands not is Top 60 men and women in a 72 hole stroke play format. This exactly what we see every week on both tours or very close to it. I would like to see it in teams from each country with their top pro and top amateur paired together in a best ball event. So you have Tiger Woods and Ricky Fowler, Kristie Kerr and Jennifer Song. I believe this would be keeping with the best interest of Olympic competition.

Golf in the Olympics!!!!!!!!!

I woke today anticipating that golf as expected would be added to the 2016 Games. It was and I am happy about that and the more I think about it the happier I get. It is an opportunity to introduce golf to some areas where it has never been feasible. I mean sure the US and Old Europe and Asian Countries will have a huge advantage at the outset. I can guarantee you however, that it won't be long before Russia, the Ukraine, and many smaller nations improve drastically. It will be the Jamaican bob sled team type of scenario for the first couple of games but by the 2024 games It's my opinion that you will see some very big surprises. By the 2020 games you will see a few excellent golfers from Countries who never had golf and then by 2024 you will see a country other than the ones you expect get a medal. It really is going to improve the game and take it to heights that we can only dream of. I fail to see one single negative here. If I'm wrong please fill me it it looks like not just a win win but a win win win and those are very rare in this day and age.

I Love the LPGA!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know that i have been pretty negative about the LPGA lately and I honestly don't mean to be that way. I love the LPGA, I think it's a great mix of personalities and cultures and is just a wonderful institution. The reason I'm so hard on the tour is that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. I'm trying to squeak loud enough so that they (the LPGA) pull their collective heads out of their arses and realize what a tremendous product they could produce. My reasoning for being negative is this. When a plan flies from JFK to LAX and lands safely, you never hear about but if there is a problem it's all over the news. Well if the Tour was being run correctly, and the quality of the golf was improving and sponsors were lining up (like the PGA Tour) then you would hardly hear about this but this is not the case!

I would like to see many changes on the LPGA Tour an i believe all of them are feasible and can be done with really minimum financial output. Here is my list.

1. First and foremost, the many very marginal players on the tour are blocking better players from tournaments. Do away with any rules that prevent your tournament fields from having the very best players.

2. Ban your golfers from twitter, They are embarrassing themselves and the tour!

3. You need to embrace the Asian players and the great sponsors they bring with them.
4. Report you game honestly, Your adding fictitious yardages to your courses and there is no need to mislead people. We know these are not men and don't expect them to be.

5. DO NOT ALLOW QUESTIONABLE ACTIVITIES for the sake of publicity

6. Make your Golfers get educations

7. Stupid choices for publicity need to be axed. For instance playing the US. Open on they same course as the men(3 days later) with out time to repair the course. I wouldn't want to hit every other shot out of a divot at the US. Open when the course should be expected to be in pristine condition. Not to mention people have just see the men play it and won't believe how much easier it is when the women play it. Why, because you have been fudging yardages!!!!!!

8. Don't put all your hopes on Michelle Wie, it's not fair to her and you will be disappointed.

9. Please, secure a TV contract so you can at least compete with the senior tour. Until people can watch your game live it will never prosper.

10. Select a new Board of directors that have a real interest in the tour. They have done a terrible job and need replaced.

11. Control your members, you can not have shameless self promotion by your golfers that undermines the fabric of what your trying to promote.

Christina Kim has no clue!!!!!!!!!!!

Christina Kim, whom I think is adorable and sometimes a bit over the top but can play her irons like very few others and a very good friend who has worked with and for the LPGA tour for many years had a small argument today on twitter and it went as follows.

ENICK88 @TheChristinaKim No one will sponsor LPGA events because the LPGA has no INTEGRITY hmm bet posing nude will help

TheChristinaKim @ENICK88 excuse me???

TheChristinaKim @ENICK88 what do you even know about the issue, or even the LPGA business, for that matter, may I ask? Why point out golf when 30+athletes

TheChristinaKim @ENICK88 were a part of the issue

ENICK88 @TheChristinaKim Marty is well aware of where I stand on this and you have to know golf requires a higher standard to insure integrity

ENICK88 @TheChristinaKim unless you want to play in the Nuva Ring Invitational wearing a thong keep exploiting the game

ENICK88 @TheChristinaKim Sponsors like Corning and Jaime Farr will have no part in your tour like this You are smarter than this!

TheChristinaKim @ENICK88 but what about other sports, do they not have the same standards with which should be upheld in your opinion?

ENICK88 @TheChristinaKim A bit but ticket sales drive them, not so in golf it's sponsor driven.

ENICK88 @TheChristinaKim quality companies like Rolex and Mercedes Benz can be associated with questionable activities

ENICK88 @TheChristinaKim I'm sorry can't be

ENICK88 @TheChristinaKim I understand it was your decision and I respect that but so much more is at stake here especially now!

TheChristinaKim @ENICK88 why and how is golf so high and mighty compared to tennis, equestrian, hockey, football? Pardon my ignorance, I'm just curious

ENICK88 @TheChristinaKim I can not even believe you just asked that question. I'm truly saddened.

TheChristinaKim @ENICK88 I understand and appreciate your wish for betterment of the tour, but condescending tones, esp after the fact, don't help :-)

ENICK88 @TheChristinaKim You win your the best ever!

ENICK88 @TheChristinaKim i would have told you the very same thing before the fact.

TheChristinaKim @ENICK88 I do not need cynicism, nor do I need to be lavished with compliments. But I have yet to read a positive thing you've posted.. I'm

TheChristinaKim @ENICK88 just asking why flog a dead horse. I'm sure you'd have clearly stated your opinion before the fact. I don't mean to say you'd not

ENICK88 @TheChristinaKim This horse isn't even close to dead there will be repercussions for a very very long time

ENICK88 @TheChristinaKim I know and I'm sorry but, please understand this is the only avenue with which we have to be heard

ENICK88 @TheChristinaKim If there was a positive way to address this I would have done it but how to, has escaped me.

ENICK88 @TheChristinaKim Ok I'm done enjoy your time off. Oh and Venice really does smell bad it's the canals or standing water or something

TheChristinaKim @ENICK88 I'm not looking to argue. Don't mean to offend, thank you for your honesty. Truly, I'm not trying to sound snarky

Now the reason I want to post this is because this is a player who has done nothing but play Professional Golf in her life. She has been on the LPGA Tour for years and won multiple (2) I believe times and makes a very nice living. It's the fact that she does not know why golf and golfers are held to higher standards then other sports. She does not understand or the LPGA is negligent in making it clear that adult fans of golf average over four years of college and have income levels that are two to three times higher than the major ticket sales driven sports. She does not understand why Rolex and Mercedes Benz and Izod LaCoste sponsor golf and tennis and not NASCAR and NFL Football!

How does one become a professional golfer yet know nothing about the game? I can't even comprehend how an LPGA "professional golfer" could not know that their sport was sponsor driven rather than ticket sales driven like the NBA and NFL. The ticket sales at a single LPGA event would not even cover the course set up for that event. To think that your Tour in it's dying hour can withstand more public scrutiny by the very people who support it, is just idiotic behavior.

I'm done, when you have an LPGA player who is on the Board of the Tour and has absolutely no idea what her sports demographic is or what makes her sport answer to a higher standard then the others and with out regard for the very Sport and Organization that employs her chooses to represent the game in a way that can be conceived as negative is more than I as a lover of the LPGA can stand.

LPGA in dire straights!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While drinking my coffee this morning and reading about the world of golf,I came across a few interesting articles on the Golf Channel Site, http://www.thegolfchannel.com/shag-bag/ now after reading these it pretty much confirms what I have been hearing about the LPGA and it's so called "situation" and here are some thoughts. The Corning Classic a staple on the tour for so so long pulls the plug on it's tournament. Now, if you have ever been to corning it's a pretty small place and the LPGA event is all they have. It allows hotels and motels and restaurants to stay open year round rather than close during the winter. It also makes up a huge percentage of the communities tourist revenue. The Company footing the bill to bring the LPGA to Corning is a "stead fast all American, something out of nothing support it's community" type company that is so lacking in our country today. It is also on very solid financial footing!

So you can understand why those of us who love the LPGA needed more information about this. I mean, of all the tournaments to fail to renew this would be the very last because of the life this tournament breathes into the community. So,I looked deeper, Yes Carolyn Bivens was a terrible tyrant towards companies trying to increase their costs two and three times to sponsor a tournament. Lying to long time partners of the tour and TV executives. This however is only the tip of the iceberg! The LPGA is in such disarray that the Corining Classic people have gave a resounding NO to the LPGA. They will not even consider coming back until they get their house in order. Now things have become clear, the other tournaments that have already pulled out saw this also and didn't have the long standing connections with the LPGA so they pulled the plug early where the Corning Classic much like the Jaime Farr in Toledo have been staples on the tour for so long it was hard for them to leave the LPGA even in times of trouble. The trouble, however has gotten substantial. The LPGA is losing control of it's tour and it's finances. The players now run the tour, but none or few have educations and many are teenagers. Yes, they were smart in getting Bivens to leave but she had done alot of damage. You don't repair your broken fences with nudity, players being rude to fans, short skirts and big smiles.
What I'm saying is that Golf is by invention a conservative game, It requires, sportsmanship, pride, and integrity! The LPGA has lost it's integrity! You can't ask Companies grounded in fair and honest business practices to sponsor an event for a organization with no integrity. Corning and Jaimie Farr are institutions who came to golf as a means of promoting their long standing and fair and honest relationship with their respective customers and communities. Not to sponsor an organization so it's players can pose nude. It won't matter how tasteful the ESPN article is. It is not in the best interest of any of the sponsors today.

At this rate we will soon see the the "PLAYBOY LPGA Classic "and the "Nuva Ring LPGA Tournament" because no legitimate American company will be willing to lend it's name to a Tour who lacks INTEGRITY!

The LPGA needs to learn that any publicity is good publicity but only if your an out of work movie star! Integrity is everything in sports especially this "Grand Ole Game" and when you don't have any you will always lose!!!!!!!!

Honesty in Golf but not in the LPGA

The Grand Ole Game, Beauty Personified, Golf has stood the test of time and shown it's teeth through war and tragedy. It's my contention that at it's current state, the LPGA is hurting golf.

Don't misunderstand me please, when I say the LPGA I mean the administrative branch of womens professional golf. Not the players, not the soldiers who can't help but be the victims of the tour they have joined under the assumption that their best interests would always be considered paramount.

Honesty and honor are what golf is based on! To be the LPGA and violate both of those corner stones of golf is unthinkable and obviously unmaintainable. When you have to sink to self reporting your game in ways that are not true and intentionally mislead the very people you want to patronize your sport is not good in any arena but in golf it;s sacrilege. You can't announce record crowds at tournaments when the crowds were not half of what they have been in years past. You can't say this course is playing at 6,400 yards when it's playing at 6,000 yards. You can't say your the world premier womens golf tour when you have exempt woman playing week in and week out who have or would carry double digit handicaps. Yet the LPGA has thrown the rules of golf out the window and look where it has landed them.
You have encouraged players to use twitter to be closer to the fans. Huge mistake, follow one of the players you admire on twitter and you will see how lives with out meaning or perspective are lived. I'm serious follow Morgan Pressel or Christina Kim two frequent tweeters and you will realize that these girls who are fan favorites just about anywhere really have nothing but golf and lack the education to excel in any other field other than restaurant critic. I grant you, both are young and pleasant but a little reading between the lines and you will feel sorry for them. Deciding between Gucci or Jimmy Choo boots is a major life decision for them and what to pack for the next trip after they have done it hundreds of times they still are no better at it and fret over it.

Allowing players who represent a game of time honored esteem such as golf to pose nude is a huge mistake. Golf does not need or want that kind of publicity. The LPGA, does though! At this point it surprises me they are not having their golfers play in thong bikini's but it will happen soon. You see the quality of golf on the LPGA has decreased to the point that marketing the players is the only way the LPGA can stay afloat. Much like NASCAR the product is really irrelevant but the drivers is where they spend their marketing dollars because it's the only thing that's different that can be marketed and the LPGA is finding that by not allowing the best players to play each week there is really no difference in the golf so you need to market the players and figures and breasts and butts anything but the golf because the golf is poor and the courses have been made so easy.

After this last tournament and the misleading info used by the LPGA and the terrible way in which one of the players treated what I know to be her biggest fan and the meagerness of the course set up turning the entire game into a putting competition I have decided that there is no reason to keep wasting time on the LPGA when the better golfers and better golf are played elsewhere. There was a time when I loved the LPGA and what it stood for but now it's making a mockery of the very game I hold above all others.

Why does the lpga love 20 under par.

I wish someone would explain to me why the LPGA loves to make these courses so easy that player who don't shoot 5 or 6 under par om them lose ground to the field. Do they think the fans like it better? Do they think the golfers like it better? Who does it help?

You know when players like Jehaee Lee (9 handicap) shoot +1 for 36 holes that you are playing on not only a terribly easy but also very short course. They billed the Navistar at around 6,200 yards well maybe from the back tee's and they didn't play any back tee's. A Caddie who regularly talks with me before events and scours the course prior with a range finder says the course isn't even 6,000 yards and plays less than it is. Now the LPGA sets the course up the way they want and for the type of conditions they expect and to make for an exciting event but the Navistar is nothing more than a putting contest.

If you favorite LPGA player is not -8 by the end of this tournament then they are very marginal and should have their professional tour status. Their are a thousand club pro's out there and way more amateurs who could shoot -8 on this course in four rounds and think they didn't play well. Did you know there are players on the LPGA who haven't shot a single round under par for the entire season not just this tournament. Please tell me how these golfers enhance the value and appeal of the tour to sponsors. No I love the LPGA but at the rate they are going we will not have it much longer and our ladies will have to compete in Europe or Asia. I would hate for that to happend but the continued bungling by the board of directors and those making the decisions is just killing it.

Alexis Thompson is a very good golfer. Alexis Thompson is 14. She is not a great athlete nor is she a super phenom! She is however, a little girl. A little girl, who is leading a so called "pro golf tournament". The truth is she won't win but she is making a mockery of the LPGA. You see, the LPGA bills it self as being the "Elite Womens Golf Tour" when it is really a somewhat poorly run, poorly managed, disorganized, organization trying to stay afloat.

History tells us that in poor economic times, High Quality items always sufferer the least. Mercedes Benz, The PGA Tour, Rolex, Blackberry, and a few others who offer the highest quality to their customer. You see, If you by the best you will never be disappointed!The LPGA refuses to allow the best golfers to compete. You see they have all kind of restrictions keeping great golfers from getting into their tournaments but very few for getting rid of poor golfers.

Alexis Thompson is lucky to be able to have the opportunity. She is a legitimate world class player as is Amanda Blumenhurst,Mina Harigae, Jean Reynolds
and many others both amateurs and professionals. They are seldom allowed to compete with the world class players because of LPGA rules. Dorothy Delasin (who would have a 10 handicap) plays in every event. Now how can you carry a 10 handicap and be allowed to compete exempt week in and week out or for that matter even be able to say your a professional golfer? She has not made a single cut this year yet she is exempt in to all tournaments with the exception of the performance based events like the Samsung. Now if I were struggling in tougher economic times I would certainly look at the quality of product I was trying to sell to my customers. The LPGA seems to think otherwise. They think it's good that a little girl is better than 90% of their members. You won't see this on the PGA tour ever. Those players would never allow a little boy to beat them. Sure on occassion amateurs have done well in PGA events but they were accomplished golfers with extensive backrounds not little boy's. They don't just allow anyone who has ever played in a PGA event to bump the best players from events. Look at the scoreboard from this weeks LPGA event and ask yourself how many of these women should really be in this even when there areso many better golfers all over the country who deserve the opportunity to play. If this were the case the quality of the LPGA would be so much better and they wouldn't have to worry about their future in times like these.

I propose at top 20-30 exemption! The top 20-30 players on the money list qualify for next week automatic. The rest have to qualify on the same or similar courses as the one the event will be held on. This insures you getting the best players week in and week out and gives the best players and opportunity to break into the Low Performance Golf Association.