LPGA Founders Cup No-Shows To Be Treated As Heathens?
/Besides the absurdity of asking players to play for free, you had to figure the LPGA Founders Cup would eventually reach the pitiful low of suggesting those players who don't love the event are somehow disrespectful to charity, America, the founding members, and before we're done, probably the troops too.
“I truly feel like sometimes athletes in general can sometimes forget where we all come from," Kim said in the LPGA release. “A decade ago, I wasn't playing for money, just a trophy and love of the game.
And here you are a decade later doing the same thing for one week on the schedule. Go on...
The founders of the LPGA didn't have the endorsement opportunities that we have today. I am so proud of Mike Whan's vision, for remembering it's not just about the future of the game, but also about remembering and honoring the past.”
So you ungratefuls, take that!
The SI gang debated the event and Kim's Keeler took the "petty" position.
Shipnuck: The tourney is going to happen, warts and all. It looks petty to skip it. It looks pathetic to issue a press release, like Pressel, to air your grievances.
John Garrity, not so much:
Garrity: In LPGA news, Suzann Pettersen announced that she will skip the $1.3 million R.R. Donnelley Founders Cup, a new tournament that diverts its prize money to the LPGA Foundation. Pettersen came off as callous and ungrateful, until you learned that only a half million of that nominal purse is actually going to the Foundation — giving Donnelley, in effect, a massive discount on its sponsorship. Who should we boo? The LPGA stars who refuse to play the event pro bono, or Commissioner Mike Whan for Wal-Marting his product?
