Geoff Shackelford points out this column from the East Valley (Phoenix) Tribune which mentions that the Fields Open has lost its sponsor AND its host course.
Goes to show you that a lot can change in only ten days. Here is my revised list of Endangered Events:
1. Fields Open
2. Corona Championship
3. Safeway International
4. Longs Drugs
5. SBS Open
6. MasterCard Classic
7. Jamie Farr
8. Samsung
As the Fields jumps to the top, I move SBS down - the LPGA will surely try to keep one of the two February Hawaiian events alive as a travel bridge to-or-from Singapore. I still believe Corona is dead, more so than the sponsor-abandoned Safeway International.
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6 comments:
What if the LPGA offered to co-sponsor one of those early season Australia events and moved their surviving Hawaii event up a bit to make it possible?
Actually, here's my ideal early-season schedule: kick off the season with the MasterCard--what a test of rusty games Bosque Real is--then move to Hawaii for one event, then head to Australia, Singapore, and back to Hawaii before returning to the newly-named Safeway International (Phoenix is DEFINITELY going to step up to keep the LPGA event there, especially if prominent graduates of Arizona colleges and universities get deployed in a charm offensive).
Call it the Snowbird Express or something. Whatever you call it, the LPGA needs a much better lead-in to the stretch we're about to enter with the Kraft at one end and the Open at the other.
The Australian Ladies Masters was an LPGA event from '97 to '00. Not a bad idea to resume that arrangement, given the Tour's recent inclination for global expansion (Bivens is an imperialist?). I'm guessing the ALM was dropped because too many LPGA regulars wouldn't make the trip.
Phoenix has a good track record of finding sponsorship - they done this three times before successfully - so its event isn't necessarily doomed. If it doesn't survive, the early-season Tour schedule will stutter more than it already does.
Did you catch this GNN piece? What do you think of RB's take on Phoenix?
You're forgetting Thailand will be back in 2009. It will be played before or after Singapore. It was part of Bivens state of the tour address at the ADT.
Bill
I agree with RB's 50/50 assessment on Phoenix finding a sponsor. The odds may be even better than that.
I hadn't forgotten about Thailand. I think the Tour will still want a Hawaii event either before or after the Asian ones.
The column about the Safeway, the writer lists three former winners- Ochoa, Sorenstam, and Kerr. Kerr hasn't won the Safeway. Two Hall of Famers have besides Annika since 2003, Se Ri Pak and Juli Inkster.
Bill
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