LPGA Tour 2010 Schedule Update (II)

The LPGA Tour's 2010's schedule of 23 events is down from 2009's 27 events, and 2008's 34 events.
Unveiled Tuesday night, here is the 2010 LPGA Tour Schedule (via: ESPN):

Feb. 18-21 -- Honda LPGA Championship (Thailand)
Feb. 25-28 -- HSBC Women's Champions (Singapore)
March 25-28 -- J Golf Classic (La Costa, Calif.)
April 1-4 -- Kraft Nabisco Championship
April 29-May 3 -- Corona Championship (Mexico)
May 10-16 -- Bell Micro LPGA Classic (Alabama)
June 10-13 -- State Farrm Classic (Illinois)
June 17-20 -- ShopRite Classic (Atlantic City)
June 24-27 -- Wegman's LPGA Championship
July 1-4 -- Jamie Farr Owens Corning (Toledo)
July 8-11 -- U.S. Women's Open (Oakmont)
July 22-25 -- Evian Masters (France)
July 29-Aug. 1 -- Ricoh Women's British Open (Royal Birkdale)
Aug. 20-22 -- Safeway Classic (Pumpkin Ridge, Ore)
Aug. 26-29 -- CN Canadian Women's Open
Sept. 10-12 -- P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship
Sept. 30-Oct. 3 -- Acapulco LPGA Classic (Mexico)
Oct. 7-10 -- Navistar LPGA Classic (Alabama)
Oct. 14-17 -- CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge (California)
Oct. 28-31 -- China
Nov. 4-7 -- Japan
Nov. 11-14 -- Lorena Ochoa Invitational (Mexico)
Nov. 18-21 -- LPGA Tour Championship

My questions are:

- As I suggested (not to pat myself on the back, although I will), is the Oct. 28-31 event scheduled in China going to be the Ladies Asian Golf Tour's Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open, scheduled for the same date in China?
- Why would the LPGA want to schedule an event in Thailand the week before the Thailand Ladies Open?
- Is the Nov. 4-7 event going to be the LPGA of Japan's Mizuno Classic -- which was scheduled for the same weekend in 2009?

 As Jason Sobel (ESPN.com) pointed out on his twitter feed:

@JasonSobel More on LPGA sked: Those 24 events take place over 40 weeks. Good news? Time to overcome jetlag. Bad news? Momentum is a thing of the past.

While a schedule spread out over so many weeks will definitely affect the practice and preparation schedules for many on the LPGA Tour, it may prove to be more lucrative in the long run. Frequently, professional golfers (PGA & LPGA) will make appearances at corporate outings throughout the country -- put on a clinic, maybe play with a group, give a speech afterwards. The open schedule definitely allows for more of this, which I happen to be an adamanet supporter of. To be honest, LPGA Tour players are more friendly than the PGA Tour guys. They are, quite simply, better at corporate outing gig than their male contemporaries. I hope that the women jump at this opportunity.

In terms of golf performance, the spread out schedule will be difficult for some. Some professionals prefer to play nearly every week (Dana Quiqley comes to mind) as a means to keep their game sharp, while others (like Tiger/Nicklaus) prefer to take time off between events to practice and prepare. Fortunately, these are the best women in the world and they will adapt.

Beth Ann Baldry (Golfweek) wrote an excellent piece on the 2010 Schedule.

LPGA 2010 Schedule Update I

Thanks to Wisconsin Reader for pointing this out.

LPGA's 2010 Schedule: 24 Events, 11 Foreign by Gene Yusada

International events continue to increase their influence on the schedule, a result of greater overseas demand for the LPGA and a smaller number of total events. Of the 24 tournaments, 11 – nearly half – will be staged outside of the U.S. As recently as this year, LPGA officials have said they prefer international events to account for one-third of the tour’s schedule.

But in a depressed U.S. economy where title sponsors are hard to come by, the LPGA had little choice but to seize global opportunities. Though critics likely will focus on the diminished schedule overall, a case could be made that the tour saved more U.S. events than expected. Of the eight tournaments that had title-sponsorship contracts expiring this year, five renewed their deals. The three exceptions: LPGA Corning Classic, Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill and Sybase Classic are gone.

The LPGA, however, still has work to do. Three events on the calendar – one in China, another in South Korea and the LPGA Tour Championship – have not yet announced their sponsors nor tournament sites.

This sounds similar to the plan that Annika Sorenstam suggested and I followed up with earlier this week.

A plan for the success of the LPGA Tour

Yesterday I listened to Annika Sorenstam on ESPN's "On The Tee" podcast (11/10) with Jason Sobel.

Their interview touches on a number of LPGA Tour specific issues. Most interesting was Jason's question about the future of the Tour:

Jason: Is the future of the tour that of a more global tour (Japan, Korea, Mexico)?
Annika: Yes, we should be more global. Have more tournaments around the world. That is where the demand is, companies are more interested in Europe and Asia.

After thinking about it for sometime, here is a plan for the future success of the LPGA Tour as an international tour.

Here's the situation (via: Golfweek)

Of this year’s 16 scheduled U.S. tournaments (excluding majors), 13 – at best – will return for the 2010 schedule. Three events already are defunct: Turtle Bay (formerly SBS Open), Kapalua LPGA Classic and LPGA Corning Classic.

At least seven of these events have title-sponsorship contracts expiring this year. Among this group, tournament owners of the Sybase Classic, P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship and Navistar LPGA Classic are optimistic about continuing in 2010.

At least four are under contract through at least 2010: Safeway Classic, CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge (name changed following acquisition of Longs Drugs), Bell Micro LPGA Classic and Tour Championship.

The LPGA is launching a new event in Southern California next year with J Golf, the tour’s Korean cable TV partner. In addition, LPGA State Farm Classic has committed to return.

On the international front, the tour announced July 21 the creation of another tournament in Mexico beginning in 2010: the Acapulco LPGA Classic, to be held next spring at Tres Vidas Golf Club. Two of the LPGA’s three existing events in Mexico are up for renewal this year: MasterCard Classic and Corona Championship. MasterCard’s status is uncertain; Corona hasn’t officially committed, but event organizers have expressed confidence the event will continue. The third event, Lorena Ochoa Invitational, is under contract through 2012.

In addition, the Evian Masters’ contract expires in 2009, but a tournament official said "all the lights are green for a renewal." Tour officials also said Honda LPGA Thailand and CN Canadian Women’s Open are part of the 2010 schedule.

As has been illustrated over the past few weeks throughout the golf media, the LPGA Tour is facing a dire financial situation as corporate affiliations are disappearing and general interest in the Tour is dwindling.

Of the 29 Tournaments listed on the 2009 LPGA Tour Schedule, foreign title sponsors of note:

SBS - Korea based
Honda - Japan based
HSBC - England based
Corona - Mexico based
Societe Generale - France based
RICOH - Japan based
CN - Canada based
Samsung - Korea based
Hana Bank -Korea based
Mizuno - Japan based
Banamex - Mexico
Rolex - Switzerland based

American based: Nextel, Mirassou Winery, Kraft Nabisco, Michelob, Sybase/ShopRite, Corning, State Farm, McDonalds/Coca-Cola, Wegmans, Kroger, US Open (no title sponsor), Solheim Cup (no title sponsor), Safeway/Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Navistar/Monaco RV, Wendy's.

The current Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings (11/09/09):
Of the top-30:
       Korean: 9
       American: 7
       European: 6
       Japanese: 5
       Australian: 2

With the evident international interest and international presence on the LPGA Tour, there is an obvious opportunity for the LPGA Tour to exploit their international advantage.

While there is an international interest in women's golf, it's important to note that the purse sizes on the Ladies European Tour approximately average €300,000 ($500,000) while every LPGA Tour purse was over $1 million, with many over $2 million.

My  proposal would be to follow a men's European Tour model where there is no clear base-country for the Tour. Unlike the European Tour, obviously, an international LPGA Tour would have a multi-contintent schedule.

The LPGA Tour schedule would be comprised of the most successful American tournaments, the title-sponsored events with foreign corporations would be moved to those respective countries (something those corporations would hardly have an issue with), and the LPGA schedule would then be joined with the most successful tournaments from the Ladies European Tour and the Ladies Asian Golf Tour (the 2010 schedule has four events: China, Indonesia, India, and Thailand).


Obviously, this would create a traveling burden on the players, but I believe that increased incomes via tournament purses and international corporate affiliations would be make up for it.

The mission statement for the LPGA Tour reads: "To inspire, empower, education and entertain by showcasing the best professionals in the world -- The members of the LPGA. To be a leader in the world of sports and to promote economic empowerment for our members. We will also serve as role models on and off the course."

While an international tour would make it more difficult for American players to have an arena to compete, it's always been my understanding that professional sports are meant to provide an arena for, simply put, the best to compete. While there is an obvious xenophobia about the LPGA Tour, it is a misguided notion to believe that its purpose is to house American female golfers.

The LPGA needs to go to a more stringent international schedule or they will continue to face economic instability. Particularly, as it seems that many American corporations are going to cut down on wasteful spending (I'm not labeling LPGA Tour affiliations as wasteful, but rather implying that there are, perhaps, better uses of that money) it seems unlikely that corporations will be adamant about maintaining their title sponsorships.

Jason also asked Annika if the LPGA Tour needs another dominant figure (as she was) or if it would be better served by having a core-group of 20 players who compete well with each other week in week out. Annika's response was noncommital, but she did point out that during her time some criticized the tour and labeled it as boring because she was winning all of the time.

On a side note, I interviewed Jason Sobel last week for a project on the future of golf journalism and golf media. Obviously, he was incredibly well informed, but, most importantly, he was kind and generous to offer me so much time late in the evening -- our conversation lasted until after midnight.

I encourage my readers to follow him (at his ESPN blog) and the work that he does; not only is he setting the quo for the future of online golf media (which, frankly, is the future of golf journalism), but today he is doing great work and providing great insight.

Photo(s): LPGA Tour