Lack of tournament sponsor leaves Arizona off women's schedule for first time since 1980 

By BILL HUFFMAN

       For those of us who have watched the LPGA grow up in Phoenix over the past 30 years, seeing women’s golf ride off into the sunset was a painful experience Wednesday. After all, it wasn’t that long ago – 2005 -- that the LPGA left Tucson after a similar run ended with no corporate sponsor.      

       Now comes the hard part – waiting and wondering if the LPGA will ever return. Or will the first decade of the 21^st Century always be remembered as the end-all to the women’s game as we knew it in the desert?

       Or for that matter, the LPGA in America, as plans for the globalization of the tour seem to be in full swing under newly hired commissioner Michael Whan, who takes over for the acting commish, Marty Evans, on Jan. 4. With only 13 of its 23 events in the U.S. for 2010, a rapid decline on American soil due to a gloom-and-doom economy, more than a few observers are asking questions about the LPGA’s future.

       Evans did throw Phoenix a bone during her press conference in Texas, where the tour stopped this week to play its season-ending Tour Championship.

        “Phoenix is a fabulous location, great crowds, phenomenal support, wonderful volunteer base,’’ Evans said of last year’s J Golf LPGA Phoenix International that was played at Papago Golf Course -- at the last minute.

        “We would love to go back to Phoenix.’’

        “Love to’’ but not quite yet, Evans added. In fact, with no real group in charge of pushing to bring the women’s tour back to the Valley any time soon, there was not even anyone to call locally for a reaction. I did try the Portland-based Tournament Golf Foundation, which had managed the event for the past six years, but its spokesperson failed to call back.

       Ironically, the LPGA’s fall from grace also began in ’05, when Carolyn Bivens – the seventh commissioner in the 55-year-old history of the LPGA and the first woman – ascended to her throne. The new queen promised to enhance the LPGA and leave a legacy of revolutionary change that included an English-only edict and, well, Twittering. But in the end, it cost Bivens her head, which was lopped off by the very hands that had put her in power.

      Bivens’ bizarre marketing philosophy of alienating sponsors and the media proved lethal, as she destroyed the tour’s then-newfound image of youth, beauty and talent.  By the time she was overthrown, Bivens had left the LPGA drowning in a sea of red ink. Even though the economy certainly played a critical role in all of this, Bivens' reign of terror ultimately has changed the LPGA forever.

     Now, with Whan at its shaky helm, the only way out seems to be a desperate move to take the women’s game global. But, alas, that formula also is a clear-cut path to disaster, especially when tournaments like Phoenix are sacrificed and the schedule is slashed from 34 events to 23 in the span of just two years.

     What’s hard to believe is the LPGA in Phoenix died without a whimper despite it being so successful, annually drawing over 100,000 fans for the week. A truly amazing downward spiral considering all that’s happened here since one-time superstar Jan Stephenson captured the original event in Sun City way back in 1980.

     I mean who can forget Annika Sorenstam’s one-and-only 59 recorded here in 2001, one of her three victories in Phoenix? Or Laura Davies’ record-breaking four in row at Moon Valley from 1994 to 1997? Or the fact that Lorena Ochoa helped propel herself to No. 1 in the world thanks in part to her back-to-back victories at Superstition Mountain in 2007-08, a stunning feat that thrilled her Hispanic following and created a truly rare moment in the lily-white sport of golf?

     At the same time, when the LPGA’s shrunken 2010 sked was released Wednesday, there really were no surprises as far as Phoenix was concerned. Most people had expected Arizona to be left off the master plan chiefly because corporate sponsorship for golf in the Valley has been nil since the economy went belly up. Or did you forget that the Champions and Nationwide tours met a similar demise here, and that the FBR Open is desperately searching for a title sponsor?

     Still, if you were like me and really enjoyed the LPGA and the friendly, nurturing atmosphere it presented for its fans and adoring legions of kids, it was a rude awakening. For some odd reason I had held out hope even if last year's event at Papago had all the trappings of a swan song.

     Trust me, we will rue the day we let this tournament get away. Especially when the LPGA announces that its “outsourcing’’ almost half of its schedule -- 11 or 12 events (one tournament in Korea still is uncertain) – to countries like China, Singapore, Thailand, Mexico, France, England, Japan and, of course, Korea. I know some people, and especially Whan, think it’s a grand idea. But we shall see how this trip around the world ends up, say, five years from now.

    Whan, who has about as much experience running a professional golf tour as Bivens – or zilch -- said it’s not all bad despite how it looks. Of course, he made no reference to the fact there will be no LPGA tournament in Arizona for the first time since 1980, nor did he point out that Florida, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii and Washington, D.C. also were erased in the blink of an eye. Instead the rookie commish emphasized what he deemed as positive news for what is basically a negative situation in women’s golf.

     “There is definitely room for more domestic events,’’ Whan declared in stating the obvious to USA Today. “It is fair for people to be concerned about that.

    “But I would say that I think people in general are struggling with the globalization of the LPGA tour. One of the big things I’m going to try and do is help people to not only get over that trouble but to embrace the globalization of the tour.’’

      In other words, outsourcing is great thing. In fact, it’s worked so well in our downtrodden economy over the past 10 years that the hunch here is it will have a similar effect for the LPGA.

      And here is why:

    *Only the well-healed players, a.k.a. the leading money winners, will be able to afford the travel to places like China, Singapore and Thailand. I still can’t forget what one LPGA pro from Scottsdale said to me last year following a trip she took with her husband to the Far East to play in two tournaments.  When I asked her how she liked her adventure, which took 40 hours in the air and cost nearly $20,000, she shot back: “I’m never going back. It cost me more money than I made.’’ Oh, well, chances are she'll change her mind if she still wants to play in this brave, new world.

    *Such a roller-coaster schedule, which includes 17 idle weeks over a nine-month span, is certain to be a bust on TV. Not only will the LPGA’s product be inconsistent, with three-week gaps coming into play frequently, many of the international tournaments will be on the other side of the moon. And while golf fans will stay up past midnight to watch Tiger and Phil in Shanghai, chances are they won’t for a tournament that is heavily dominated by Asian players. Let’s see how this all plays out when almost half of the broadcasts will be tape-delayed.

    *Globalization favors the Asian players and chiefly the Koreans, because unlike the U.S. where the PGA Tour players get all the lucrative endorsement deals over the women, in Korea it’s just the opposite. Armed with more money and less distance to travel, it will be easier for the Korean players to keep their cards because they will play literally every week (hey, 23 tournaments are less than half the year). Taking it a step further, last season there were 44 Korean players on the LPGA and about twice that many Americans. But there will come a day when Korea will be the dominate country in women’s golf (if it’s not already among the top players), and when that happens the TV ratings will plunge like a Champions Tour event.

    From this point of view, the globalization of the LPGA adds up to a pending disaster no matter how you slice it. In fact, had you told me five years ago that the LPGA would be leaving for foreign lands, what with the tour soaring behind Annika, Lorena and a bunch of new fresh faces like Michelle Wie, I would have called you “crazy.’’ Just as unimaginable, had you suggested Phoenix would not have an LPGA tournament today I would have had you committed.

    But after being propped up financially for one year by the powers that be (some said it was J Golf but that was a farce), the LPGA Phoenix International has crashed and burned despite the love. Even though “Whan for the money, two for the show’’ says there is “windows of opportunity in 2011, 2012 and 2013,’’ I’m not sure I believe him. Hey, after what’s happened over the past five years, the next czar will have to earn it.

     “This tour is global. Our players come from around the world, our sponsors come from around the world, our website hits are coming from around the world. We don’t need to fight that,’’ said the former hockey exec in what amounted to a slap shot to every event that got left in Wednesday’s wake.

     “There is a significant upside. There is potential in five or six years for the LPGA tour to be a whole different size and entity. Let’s not forget that globalization is change, and change creates anxiety.

     “I get all that. But we’re not going to stop it. Why stop it?’’

     Hmmm, interesting! I guess what Whan is saying is, who needs a sunny, popular, secure golf haven like Phoenix when places like Malaysia and The Philippines are calling? And if you buy that, then I guess it’s also safe to assume that the LPGA we once knew is long gone.  

      If that's  true, what a shame!