Stat profiles for 1500 golfers
Ji-Yai Shin wins the big shootout and the $1 million dollar first place check, the biggest on the LPGA Tour. The question is, does anyone object that a non LPGA member could win their biggest prize?
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Over the course of the last couple of months, I have been using this line a lot for the LPGA Tour, especially this week. It's really funny what can happen in the course of just 12 months, last year when Lorena Ochoa won the ADT Championship we all thought that the future was so bright not only for this event, but the LPGA with it's cast of players that brought lot's of excitement and drama not only in the season ending event but throughout the year.
But things have changed and this week is a perfect example. It seems that the LPGA Tour can't do anything right and if I was a member I would be seriously scared at what the future could bring. First is the overall thought that LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens could be playing Russian Roulette with it's most popular event. The plain facts are that this event had a popular format which has put it on the golfing map, a great sponsor, a great course and being the last event of the year, the drama and excitement of the money race being decided on the final day.
We had that kind of drama this year as Paula Creamer could of claimed the money title with a victory. But all of this could be changing, first in 2009 this event is not at the end of the year and the drama of having a knockout, you've got to watch it finish won't happen. Another bummer is that its identity will be lost as ADT will not be the sponsor and with the way things are going on the financial front we have no idea right now who could sponsor this event when it returns in 2010. Another big loss could be of Donald Trump and all that he brings to this event not only with a great course but the way he treats the girls with parities on his estate in Palm Beach. We have to shake our heads on the way Bivens has change the future of this jewel, yes ADT and the LPGA are talking again and if Bivens is smart she should do everything in her power to make sure that they return. But as of today we have to look at all of this as if Bivens is trying to change the Mona Lisa and put a smile on her face.
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A big example of this "have no control over this" moment came on Sunday with it's winner, Ji-Yai Shin. How could the LPGA Tour allow a non-member to win one of their crowning jewels? We would never see a non-member win the FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour, in the Race to Dubai on the European Tour you have to me a member to win that grand prize but on the LPGA Tour anyone that qualifies can win this event, even a non-member?
We agree that Ji-Yai Shin, who at just 20, has the potential of being the best woman golfer on the planet and she showed that potential with a neat two-under-par 70 and a one shot victory over Karrie Webb.
Shin has made a big name for herself in Korea, where already she has won 20 times on that tour and 27 wins around the world and she has done that before her 21st birthday. Shin made her mark on the LPGA this summer with her win in the Ricoh Women's British Open and won last month at the Mizuno Classic but the fact according to LPGA officials is that she won't be a member of the Tour until January, her prize money won't count as official this year and to make matters worst even though she has played in 18 LPGA events in the last couple of years, she will still be considered a rookie in '09 and even though she starts off with three LPGA wins could be the Rookie of the Year next year. In pressing the LPGA on why she didn't get membership after her British win I was told that it didn't take effect until the start of the year. Adding to the mystery was one LPGA member that told GolfObserver that Shin declined membership until 2009, but again that is rumor.
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So there wasn't many positives that came out of this week, even TV on Sunday was a downer. We know about tape delay shows but in this age of the Internet I was putting up the picture of Shin with the trophy about the same time that NBC was running it's opening at 3pm. Why couldn't we have a 5pm finish and have the event live? If we had to get a 6pm finish, why not help the drama a bit by having play finish at 4:45? Of course the answer is probably that it's easier for NBC to do a tape delayed show with a 3pm finish to help edit things but still the interest level decreases when the results of your show is all over the internet including LPGA.Com.
So 2008 is in the record books, Annika Sorenstam has retired and we just have to wonder what is wrong with Lorena Ochoa. After a great start to her year in which she won six of her first nine events, she won only once in her next 13 starts and in her last three finished T14th, T14th and T17th. No too ways about it losing both Sorenstam and Ochoa deflated this event. Even when the story line shifted on Paula Creamer and the possibly of her winning her a fifth title of the year making her the first American to win the money title since 1993 that became a near impossible task. Creamer got sick over the weekend and despite making it to Sunday, she wasn't in the best of shape after having to spend Saturday night in a Hospital getting tests to find out she had peritonitis, an inflammation of the abdominal wall. Creamer still played on Sunday and gutted it around to a 74 and a T3rd finish.
So now you can see why "after all tomorrow is another day" comes into play. We just hope that for the LPGA things will get a bit better and in the future we can write more about the great accomplishments of its players instead of all these unfortunate moments that we are experiencing more of.
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