With the LPGA finishing up the McDonald’s LPGA Championship in Havre de Grace, Maryland yesterday, the nearby Philadelphia Inquirer took the time to look at the current state of the LPGA. It’s much of the same ground that’s been covered before: they’re losing some long-time sponsors, including McDonald’s—sponsor of aforementioned LPGA Championship; nineteen tournament sponsors are up for renewal; the economy is stagnant, and the LPGA is demanding larger fees from its those same tournaments.
But it’s not all bad news. The LPGA has new television deals. Fourteen of those nineteen tournaments are likely to renew.
Most importantly—and this is The Golf Blogger editorializing here—the LPGA has a bevy of young, good looking stars. Natalie Gulbis, Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel and the Brittanies—Lang and Lincicome have unlimited marketing potential for the Tour in the same fashion as the PGA Tour’s “Young Guns” like Camillo Villegas. The Tour just needs to figure out a way to get more of them out in front of the public.
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They need someone to step and start winning a lot of tournaments. Superstars make news. A different excellent golfer winning each week does not register on the radar. It looked like Lorena Ochoa was going to step into Annika’s shoes quite nicely but lately it seems she has lost some of her luster.
The LPGA was making news when Annika was shooting 59, playing in the Colonial and winning 10 times a season. I don’t see any of the young guns of the LPGA filling the roll of superstar except maybe Michelle Wie, should she ever get her game straightened out, or Lorena Ochoa when she gets back on track.