MIKE WHAN
EVIAN-LES-BAINS – What did Mike Whan have to lose?
Already handed a ship on a slow descent to the professional sports league graveyard, the LPGA commissioner pulled the trigger and announced Wednesday the Evian Masters would become the fifth major championship on the women's tour beginning in 2013.
In terms of keeping tradition, this is a horrible move. The PGA Tour will not follow suit, nor will you see tennis jump on the five-major bandwagon either. Will horse racing make the Travers Stakes an addition to the Triple Crown or should I say Quadruple Crown? No chance.
Seriously, what are you even going to call it when Yani Tseng winds up winning the Evian Championship (that's what it will be known as) and the Women's British Open to close out titles in all five majors? The Fantastic Five? Because it isn't a Grand Slam anymore.
But when it comes to the state of the LPGA, you can throw away tradition like the United States women's national soccer team did in the World Cup final against Japan.
Tradition doesn't doesn't pay the bills. Sponsors, advertisers and money do.
And because of that, Whan had no choice but to make this move strictly for economic concerns. Whan has watched event/tour sponsors continue to vanish since taking over for ousted commissioner Carolyn Bivens. Television ratings and spectator attendance numbers continue to plummet. Needless to say, something had to be done and done quickly in attempt to spark and, potentially, save the sport.
However, what no one wants throw out there is the fact the LPGA could easily lose another major-championship sponsor in the very near future. Kraft Nabisco could easily pull out as sponsor of the Kraft Nabisco Championship. And Wegmans is only signed on as the LPGA Championship sponsor through next year.
So, in actuality, this looks more like a savvy business move than anything else by Whan and the tour. It will assure four major tournaments in 2013 if someone such as Wegmans or Kraft Nabisco pulls their sponsorship and, at the same time, keeps the folks with the deep pockets at Evian more than happy.
And as Whan knows, the LPGA can't afford to lose Evian as a sponsor after seeing at least a half-dozen corporations bail on tournaments over the past three years.
This week's purse at the Evian Masters is a whopping $3.25 million, tying it with the U.S. Women's Open for the tour's largest total purse. That's right. Evian shells out more prize money than the Kraft Nabisco Championship ($2 million), Wegmans LPGA Championship ($2.5 million) and next week's Women's British Open ($2.5 million).
Whan told reporters that field and qualifying criteria for 2013 have not been finalized. He also added that other majors, specifically the Kraft Nabisco, aren't under threat of removal in the future.
"Kraft isn't going away in 2013 and there is no hidden agenda," Whan said. "Kraft Nabisco is going to be a time, a place on our schedule as long as I'm commissioner. The plan is to have five truly mega events."
Truly, an optimistic thought, but in reality, one of the other major sponsors will fold its tent and take its business elsewhere.
That said, the bottom line is this. Am I for five major championships in women's golf? Absolutely not. Adding the Evian Championship to the mix takes away from the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the first major of the season. It also shows Kraft Nabisco is heading out the door or losing its title of "major tournament."
But what I am for is the tour's survival. The LPGA needs to look toward the future and keep doing things to generate excitement for a sport that so dearly needs it.
It has done that with this decision and, when it comes to the big picture, Whan's decision was the right one for the tour.
- Jeremy Pond, LPGA Tour Live
- Photo courtesy of Getty Images
