Money For Something; Chicks For Free
LPGA commish Michael Whan comes up with golf’s best idea so far this year
MIKE PURKEY
Get a load of this: Professional players – 132 of them, to be exact – will play
an official Tour event, competing for no
prize money. Sounds like something out
of World War II vintage where competitors played for war bonds and a chicken in
every pot.
No, this “aha” moment belongs in
modern times and these competitors
belong to the LPGA Tour. The Tour announced its schedule last week and the
third event of the season – the first in the
U.S. – will be the RR Donnelley Founders
Cup. The players will get no prize money
and, yes, you heard that right, believe it
or not. Instead, the purse will be donated
to Girls Golf, a joint initiative between
the LPGA and the USGA to promote the
growth of the game with junior girls.
This, of course, was born in the fertile
imagination of commissioner Mike Whan,
who could build a side business by giving
thinking-out-of-the-box lessons. He pre-
sented this idea at a players meeting last
June at the State Farm. Let Whan tell it:
“The end of the presentation, there
was no discussion,” Whan said. “Every-
body stood up and applauded. There was
a standing ovation. It was a strange and
exciting, just instant reaction.
“When the girls stopped clapping,
I said, ‘Do me a favor, and before you
sit down next year the night before the
bag, and you’re probably tired and you
could use more time with your playing
coach and you wondered what the heck
did I agree to do, remember why you’re
standing here tonight, because what you
heard brought you to your feet. Let’s do
that once a week for the betterment of the
game.’ I can tell you without any hesita-
tion, I’ve received at least 50 e-mails from
50 different players on their suggestions
on how to make the Founders Cup better.”
The event, to be played in Phoenix,
March 18-20, will also honor the 13 found-
ing members of the LPGA, and the five
living members – Louise Suggs, Marlene
Bauer Hagge, Bettye Danoff, Marilynn
Smith and Shirley Spork – are scheduled
to be on hand at the tournament.
booed out of the building. Tournament
professionals won’t scratch their backsides without an endorsement contract.
And while they are the best athletes in
sports at raising money for charity, rarely
do they come off the hip or stroke a check
out of their personal accounts.
This time, the women pros are dipping
into their collective purse, in both senses
of the word, to give back to the game
that has been so generous with them.
The money will be counted as “official” in
terms of the yearlong money list, as well
as player of the year and world ranking
points.
Critics have said this is a publicity stunt
for a damaged Tour that needs all the
attention it can get for its slender 25-event
schedule. But there is precedent, and it
occurred only a few weeks ago. In-Kyung
Kim, who won the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in November, donated her entire
winner’s check of $220,000 to Ochoa’s
charity, among others.
While this announcement has been
successful in getting people to notice
the LPGA, it’s not the sole reason for the
tournament’s being. One gets the sense
that Whan is pointing to a higher purpose.
He says that the first year of the Founders
Cup will generate upwards of $500,000
for Girls Golf, with incremental higher
amounts in the following years.
Which leads to the next big thing on the
schedule – the renaissance of the
Titleholders – which will be the final event
of the season in November at Grand
Cypress Golf Club in Orlando. The Title-
holders was first played in 1937 at
Augusta Country Club in Georgia and was,
in many ways, The Masters for women. It
was an invitational and most of the con-
testants in the early days were amateurs.
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