"She seems to have the rhythm back in her swing."

Ron Sirak finds plenty of positives in Michelle Wie's near-win at Turtle Bay, and at least to this television viewer, I would agree that this was the most noticeable improvement in her game:

She seems to have the rhythm back in her swing. That wonderful "Big Wiesy" tempo some think was lost because she was trying to hit it too hard to keep up with the men is back now that she is concentrating on the women.

For the first time in a long, long time I was in awe of her swing again.

And for those of you suggesting that too much attention is being paid to Wie at the expense of the other players, I'm sure Angela Stanford has plenty of new fans after the third win in her last seven starts.

Wie Does Not Win; LPGA Still Reinforces Its Price Value

I'm sure I wasn't the only one who recorded the LPGA event Saturday and watched it, albeit flipping through the same four promos the Golf Channel runs. The Brand Lady, who made a brief appearance during the telecast and talked about the great "price value" her tour delivers, can point to the many fans who otherwise would not be watching. All thanks to Michelle Wie.

Here's the AP story on Angela Stanford's impressive win in the rain and wind at Turtle Bay. Granted, Wie hasn't won since she was 13, but her swing looks great and overall game appears closer to greatness than ever before.

By the way, does anyone else think that the LPGA should end more events on a Saturday to avoid competing with the regular tour? I thought it was nice to see a winner crowned tonight.

LPGA's L.A. Options

Reader Ha asked what my venue of choice would be for the LPGA in L.A. now that they will be returning. Amazingly, Carolyn Bivens has still not called, but just in case she's reading, I offer my recommendations.

I honestly believe each of these venues could work, assuming an improvements in maintenance and cooperation from their management (in the case of the public courses). Sure, that's a big if since I'm naming some notoriously difficult places to deal with. However, the LPGA has played at a number of private venues and upscale daily fees, with minimal fan interest while the Champions Tour drew well here when they played at Rancho. In other words, the daily fee golfers are your friends, CB. (That's assuming you want fans and volunteers).

13th hole bunker, captured yesterday (click to enlarge)Rustic Canyon - my obvious bias notwithstanding... Pros: parking at nearby Moorpark College, easy freeway access, interesting design with ground game emphasis, would look attractive on TV. Cons: attendance could be an issue in less populated area, though still within short distance of major population base, small clubhouse, management may not appreciate benefits of hosting LPGA.

Santa Anita - Pros: parking at Santa Anita race track next door and at large park nearby, great freeway access, fun/playable design that just needs a little sprucing up to become something truly special, solid population base nearby likely to be engaged (see Rose Parade), easy spectator walk; Cons: would not be visually dramatic on television, small clubhouse).Santa Anita's 14th hole. Wild fairway contours would create challenge for the world's best female golfers. (Click to enlarge)

Griffith Park (composite course of Harding/Wilson) Pros: plenty of parking at LA Zoo with great freeway access; Cons: designs rundown, maintenance needs major work, clubhouse run down, horrible range, dealing with city of LA...okay it's a total mess but I can dream can't I?

Rancho Park Pros: only existing course on the planet to have hosted LPGA, PGA and Champions, quirky design great for spectating, unique location in city center; Cons: conditioning, traffic, lack of tent space, horrible range, dealing with city of LA.

Wilshire CC Pros: excellent venue that has hosted LA Opens and Champions Tour and will be unveiling new Kyle Phillips restoration/renovation of bunkers in 2010, newly renovated clubhouse, great location in city center and near heart of primary Korean population base; Cons: does membership want the hassle? Parking and traffic a pain.

LPGA Returning To LA In 2010

Beth Harris reports. CB, call me and we'll talk possible venues.

LPGA Downplaying Wie's Debut As Card Carrying Rookie

I know her English isn't, you know, like perfect, but come on, she's the biggest thing to happen to women's golf since Annika.

Jon Show tries to figure out what the LPGA Tour could be thinking by handling her like every other rookie, minus the blog posts and other news that might actually draw in more fans.

Commissioner Carolyn Bivens, in an e-mail, wrote that Wie and other rookies will be promoted through “varied media outreach,” primarily consisting of stories in local print media.

Wie, by choice, is not taking part in the rookie editorial features at LPGA.com. Other players are participating in Q&As and writing blogs on the Web site.

Anna Rawson Does Her Part To Build LPGA Brand **

What was that I said about loving Anna Rawson's brutal honesty? Apparently she took it to heart and touted the progressive heterosexuality of the LPGA Tour and used the "d" word. Oh dear...

She came under fire for her poorly chosen comments aired by NOVA 5AA in Adelaide on Wednesday.

"The tour has got so much better with so many young stars and great players," Rawson told the radio station in an interview arranged by her father Jim.

"But the mentality unfortunately amongst the media and the industry hasn't changed.

"They still think we're at 25 years ago when the tour was full of, you know, a lot of dykes and unattractive females nobody wanted to watch."

The rest of the article reviews her previous remarks on "penis envy." She has that in common with Woody Allen.

Update on 2009-02-07 04:16 by Geoff

Patrick Smith pretty much says it all in criticizing Rawson:

It was an offensive remark showing little respect for the women who toiled here in Australia and internationally so the likes of Rawson could make a comfortable living playing the sport professionally.

And...

Asked whether she needed to apologise to the women who built the tour on which she now hoped to prosper, Rawson replied: "Well, it wasn't my opinion that I was talking about so I don't know. I was just referring to what society is. It wasn't my opinion. I don't believe that. I don't even know what it was." And thus Rawson took a pick axe to her own credibility.

She blamed the remark on the fact that her interviewers asked her questions, which is a little quirky. "Radio is fast and they were asking questions," she said. Later Rawson said she normally got her questions in advance. Not a bad idea.

"But she knows that’s simply not true for players like Lee, who had to leave the game to find out she loved it."

Beth Ann Baldry with an enjoyable look at LPGA rookie Jeehae Lee, a Yale grad who wisely gave up a career in banking to give the LPGA Tour a shot...and secured her card. Oh and her English is impeccable.

The economics major spent a summer working for Lehman Brothers in Hong Kong after her junior year. She accepted a job with Australia’s Macquarie Bank her senior year and planned to return to Hong Kong after graduation. Starting salary: $60,000, plus bonuses.

Then a new coach came to town, and convinced Lee to give it one more try for her last semester of school. She had a light class load and not much to worry about. Surprisingly, her game showed little rust.

To the shock of her family, and herself, Lee backed out of her bank job and joined the Futures Tour, where she and countless others, lost money.

There were many occasions when Lee stood in the middle of Nowhere, U.S.A. and said to herself, “I could be living so easy. What am I doing?”

"Drawing lines in the sand is not going to solve problems, it's going to create problems." **

I doubt anyone was surprised by the news Ginn was pulling out of its two LPGA and one Champions event since word of their bankruptcy hasn't exactly been a state secret. Wait, what was that Ty?

"We were involved in discussions to address whatever issues there may have been in their ability to perform their contract," Votaw said Thursday. "We were disappointed and surprised with the suddenness of the announcement without any forewarning."

Can you believe it? Problems are arising from the PGA Tour legal department's fantasy insistence that their "ironclad" contracts will carry the day even as a company is literally going up in smoke!

Steve Elling reports on Ginn pulling out, the PGA Tour's reaction and he talks to Ginn's man, Robert Gidel, who explains the crux of the problem:

"What gets frustrating at times is that people who are not at the epicenter of the financial and economic crisis lose sight of what's happening to everyone. We're all in the same soup.

"Drawing lines in the sand is not going to solve problems, it's going to create problems."

As reader Chris, who sent the Elling story in notes, it would appear that "Commission Finchem & Company have had the hammer for years, the other side of the table has it now." 

Update on 2009-01-30 15:19 by Geoff

** I posted the incorrect link above in referencing Ginn bankruptcies. Here it is.

"I played with so-and-so, and he said four words to us the entire round.'"

The L.A. Daily News is down to five sports writers but they still let Jill Painter file a golf column from time to time, so you can imagine my joy when I got around to my copy last night and read this from new LPGA Tour card holder Anna Rawson, who draws attention for her looks but more importantly, provides interesting fodder with her occasional blog posts at Yahoo and honest assessments like this:

"I was out at Sherwood, and I was disgusted with how the PGA Tour players acted toward fans," Rawson said. "They didn't sign autographs or they'd sign four and walk off. I watched Paula Creamer sign autographs for two hours in Korea.

"Some (PGA) players walked straight past (fans). I couldn't believe it."

And...

Rawson is a model on the side, and if her game continues to flourish, she might be standing for hours signing photographs, autographs and programs, as well as mingling with sponsors at cocktail parties and chatting up pro-am partners more often.

"God, they make so much money (on the PGA Tour). It's disgusting how much more they make than us," said Rawson, who played at USC. "I've heard countless times from people that played in a PGA Tour pro-am and they said, `Wow, you're going to have a conversation? I played with so-and-so, and he said four words to us the entire round."'

"And while we're on a roll, how about losing the cryptic jargon."

Bad day for the Brand Lady Carolyn Bivens as Ron Sirak reveals the name she gave her project to shed the LPGA Tour of all those pesky longtime sponsors in favor of new ones who spoke her language: "Vision 2010."

And in this week's SI, Dottie Pepper all but explains how the Commish has messed up. Somehow the vision of Paula Creamer picking up the phone to try and repair the ADT relationship may just mark an all-time low for Bivens:

The LPGA players are a tremendous asset when it comes to drumming up new business and trying to save sponsor relationships. Paula Creamer, for example, called ADT when it was announced that the company would no longer sponsor the year-ending tour championship. She did it because she had a personal connection with company executives and wanted to do whatever she could do to save the business relationship. The tour needs to use players in this manner and be thankful for their commitment.

And while we're on a roll, how about losing the cryptic jargon. For example, the LPGA's announcement said that it hoped to create "economic empowerment opportunities" and "to establish executional excellence as standard." How about "provide our members with as many business opportunities as possible" and "do the very best job we can"? Putting a human touch on the sport starts with the way you talk about it.

Brand Lady Does What She Does Best: Layoffs!

Beth Ann Baldry reports and includes this quote from the LPGA Commish Carolyn Bivens on the "realignment":

Commissioner Carolyn Bivens, speaking with Golfweek in response to the tour’s Jan. 7 news release announcing the changes, would only confirm that chief operating officer Chris Higgs was among those who were let go.

“I don’t want to pretend for a second that the economy didn’t impact (the decision); it certainly did,” Bivens said. “(But) it was not the motivating factor for the realignment.”

 For a refresher on some past firings, you can go here and here.

Update on 2009-01-08 03:32 by Geoff

Jon Show at Sports Business Daily offers more details on how the "realignment" will play out.

Gulbis Joins Twitter To Share Her Most Profound Promotional Tidbits

Noam Cohen looks at the sports stars Twittering or Tweeting or whatever you call the Twitter.com social networking tool that allows people to offer short messages on your whereabouts or, if you are an LPGA Tour star with a sordid history of really bad marketing ideas, your carefully cultivated branding messages.

First, though, there had to be a meeting between her media consultant, Kathleen Hessert, and other advisers.

“I had to talk her management team into it,” recalls Ms. Hessert, whose company, Sports Media Challenge, represents athletes and professional teams.

Deciding to join a service devoted to spontaneous, often spectacularly mundane updates throughout the day apparently was something to be thought out carefully. Ms. Gulbis and her team were concerned about who would be reading what she writes on Twitter and what they would do with the information.

“There is a risk,” Ms. Hessert conceded. “Whenever you open yourself to the public there is risk. The way I convinced her to do it, is to say that people see you one way and there is so much more.”

Ms. Gulbis agreed to use Twitter, but she said she wasn’t simply following Ms. Hessert’s lead. “When I decided to do Twitter, I had a plan — there is information I wanted to get out,” she said in a telephone interview last week from a yacht in the Caribbean. And she established clear parameters. “I don’t think I would ever Twitter about my personal life, who I was dating, who I was going out with. That is something I would be very protective of,” she said.

Instead, Ms. Gulbis’s tweets thus far tend to be circumscribed and have a clear point to make, whether it relates to her work on behalf of the Boys and Girls Clubs, or a sponsor, TaylorMade, or even the broad outlines of her oceangoing vacation. 

Lucky us!

"I've kind of had the door shut on me a couple of time. But they can't do it anymore."

Eric Soderstrom talking to David Leadbetter about Michelle Wie qualifying for the LPGA Tour:

“She needs the LPGA; I think the LPGA needs her,” Leadbetter said. “I think you can see by these crowds here. I don’t think that would have been the case if she wasn’t playing.

“So I think it’s wonderful for all concerned.”

Steve Elling on the final day scene:

LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens watched a few holes from her electric cart, no doubt deliriously happy that Wie and fellow American Stacy Lewis, who was the medalist by three strokes at 18 under, were earning their cards. Page Thompson, the head honcho at the Golf Channel, drove up from Orlando to watch Wie's final round. Media on hand included the New York Times, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, both weekly golf magazines and a slew of writers from various sports websites.

"You ask whether the LPGA needs Michelle?" Leadbetter said. "Look around here."

Ron Sirak offers this about medalist and all-around amazing story Stacey Lewis:

While not as extensive as Wie's run-ins with the LPGA, Lewis, a scrappy 23-year-old who endured a nearly decade-long battle with scoliosis, has had a couple odd brushes of her own. In 2006, she led an LPGA tournament in Arkansas that was washed out after one round and was erased from the record books. A victory that wasn?t.

Then this year she earned enough money by finishing third in the U.S. Women?s Open to have secured her card for next year off the money list, but the tour has a rule saying U.S. Open money does not count because the purse is so much larger than normal LPGA tournaments. Thus she had to come to Q school.

"I've kind of had the door shut on me a couple of time," Lewis said. "But they can't do it anymore."

In less positive news, Elspeth Burnside reports on Vikki Laing's DQ:

Laing had posted a 76 on day three and was tied for 56th place on one-over par, but she signed for a six instead of a seven at the 14th hole. The error was only discovered after she had left the scorer's hut. Laing, who held non-exempt status for the LPGA Tour in 2004 and 2005, had been hoping to gain one of the fully exempt cards for the 2009 circuit. But she now faces another season on the secondary US Futures Tour. 

"In terms of the bigger picture, she had little to offer, a state of affairs that will have to change when she ventures out into the wider world."

John Huggan is not very bullish on Annika's ANNIKA's post golf course career:

Showing admirable understatement, McGee acknowledges that his partner's marketing income will "go down slightly" after her public profile plunges. That assessment, however, may turn out to be more than a little optimistic. If the quietly spoken Sorenstam's efforts in the world of commerce are anything like her admirably machine-like but ultimately dull style of play, the credit crunch will before long have another victim. Her qualifications for entry into the esoteric world of course design, for example, remain something of a mystery to me.

And let's not get into the fact that, throughout her distinguished career, the long-time world No.1 only rarely, if ever, said anything remotely interesting (an accusation that can also legitimately be made against Tiger Woods). Anything Sorenstam ever did for the growth of women's golf and the tour she played on resulted from the quality of her golf rather than her rhetoric. In terms of the bigger picture, she had little to offer, a state of affairs that will have to change when she ventures out into the wider world.