LPGA Commish Takes The Hint

Something in this picture can save the LPGA

The talk around the LPGA (yup, a women’s golf related post, I’ll understand if you want to head out) in the recent days has been about the group of players who are calling for the commissioner’s job.  After having a few tour stops cancelled due to lack of sponsors and some other troubles I don’t remember, commissioner Carolyn Bivens is being blamed and given no free pass because of a down economy.  She does get a free pass from me considering I believe it to be common sense that if you are trying to save money, the first thing you cut out of the budget is women’s golf.  But the women who play golf evidently find themselves more worthwhile.  And Bivens is smart enough not to fight with them. 

Reportedly, Bivens is ready to negotiate a buyout of the final two years of her contract with the LPGA Tour Board.  She’s getting out while the getting is…not completely broke.  So let’s review this decision.  Bivens can either put up a fight and try to retain her position, and if successful, go back to the fruitless labor of desperately trying to find revenue for women’s golf, or she can step aside, get paid a tidy sum of money and be finished with the whole headache.  Besides, the way she’s been running the tour, are we even positive the LPGA would be able to pay her salary in the final year of her contract?  Paying her buyout might bankrupt them now.  At this point, it’s not a stretch to call the LPGA a sinking ship and Bivens is the first rat to jump off… not that that’s a bad thing. 

I completely understand that the players are unhappy about the tour’s current state and they want to do anything they can to improve it.  But if they really hate Bivens, wouldn’t it have been a better punishment to force her to sign a contract extension?

Tags: Golf, LPGA

No comments yet.

Leave a comment