Is the LPGA a part time tour? The New York Times seems to think so. In an article on the state of business on the LPGA, the Old Gray Lady is not kind to the young ladies of the green:
With their tour’s smaller television presence and lighter schedule, the women have not had the same reach in professional golf as the men even in the best of times. This year, with many of the sport’s core sponsors in finance, real estate development and luxury automobiles reeling, the L.P.G.A. has scrambled to fill its schedule. The PGA Tour is down one full-field event, and the women’s tour has lost five, to 29 from 34 in 2008, and is in danger of losing more.
The L.P.G.A. players are like furloughed workers, taking weeks off without pay. Brittany Lincicome won her first major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, in April. She pulled out the victory dramatically with an eagle on the last hole, yet in terms of corralling momentum it was like lassoing air.
The tour went dark for the next two weeks and three of the next four. Lincicome has played twice since her Kraft Nabisco victory on April 5; she missed the cut three weeks later in Mexico, and tied for 63rd last weekend in Virginia.
The article does hit a high not, talking about the new Korean television deal, and the effort to become more cosmopolitan and less mom-and-pop. But the overall tone is pretty negative.
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