There is no question the current state of the economy will in some ways creep its way into the golf industry. This can be said for the LPGA who currently has cut $5 million in prize money since last year and also downsizing from 34 to 31 events this season. With this being said, the PGA continues to hold strong and their prize money is up $8.5 million from last year, and thats not even including majors. With the continuation of the LPGA growing into a more "globalized" tour, yet continuing to lose sponsorships, would it make sense for them to reach out to the Ladies European Tour? or might it be beneficial for the PGA to step in a merge with them in order to build a more "American" tour to help showcase some of the great young talent we currently have here?

How about scheduling them at the same course, same weekend and playing a Guys and Dolls

Throw in some long drive and closest to to the pin contests.

That is because most of the deals were already in place prior to the fast sinking economy. It has been stated in several golf news articles the real test will be when those are up and next year rolls around if they are still hurting.

The LPGA had the bad luck of thier contracts being up at the same time as the economy hit.



Burn

I would be very cautious about a union with the PGA. There is too much history of disrespect from members and leaders of the PGA. And at the present time I hear too much private disrespect shown by too many PGA members about the women of the LPGA. Until there is no fear of losing to a woman by members of the PGA, there can be no equality and respect which are necessary for a union to succeed.

Folk have been arguing this topic or variant (LPGA in trouble) forever. The LPGA is better off on it's own and the rationale has been beat to death. It's the economy, Stupid, and the LPGA gives women a place to compete simply because as good/great as these women are, they wouldn't be competitive on the PGA or any of its feeder tours. Way back under Votaw, the Tour was paring back on its tournaments for lots of reasons ("Less is more."), not the least of which was teeny tiny purses. The better players just didn't show up and the tournament directors would whine and the LPGA said, "Show me the money". Those lesser tournaments were also played on courses that were far from "high end". As any business person will tell you, loyalty/friendship only goes so far -- including longstanding tournaments. The tournaments that remain are attractive to the LPGA field -- well, accept for that goat track in Mexico (MasterCard?), which is serious considering a change of venue to make the stop more attractive. The economy stinks, expendable income is scarce... The PGA is in jeopardy of loosing several tournaments as well just because the venue/purse isn't attractive enough. Those of us that are fans of the LPGA and/or women's golf are certain the that product has value -- at least as much as the Tigerless PGA. Unfortunately, there are too many folk only interested in ogling vs appreciating the really outstanding play (shot making, course management, great swings and rhythm) that more closely resemble their own "best" round potential. Lots of morons are convinced that these ladies are playing from the forward tees vs accepting that they are playing from distances equivalent to the tips at most courses. Is your course longer than 6500 yds from the tips and when did you break par from anywhere? With a bit of faith and perseverance, the LPGA will survive and thrive as the economy improves. Patience!

Good and valid points Debit.

However, that being said, I think it would be in the best interest of the LPGA to look to more creative ways to grow their game and fan base. If that means swallowing some pride and working with the PGA, even on a one time basis, to co-host a tournament with the men..not compete against them mind you, but play the same venue, ladies against ladies and men against men. This would give them a real shot at grabbbing some of the PGA viewers and get some solid, consistent TV exposure for at least a weekend anyway.

Mike Wilbon said it best in the Feb Golf mag....he loves to watch the LPGA, he just can't find it. Same here. I love to watch the LPGA, especially with my daughters as I try to get them interested in the game, but try finding one of their tournaments on TV. It's next to impossible.

I'm not sure what that would accomplish. Remeber, the LPGA, PGA, LEPGA etc. are all businesses whose goals are to make money.

Partnering with the PGA would not accomplish anything. The sponsors are already committed to PGA events. If they were willing to sponsor the ladies, they would already be doing so. The PGA is certainly not going to "give" the LPGA anything - why would they?

Same thing with the Euro Tour. In what way would a parnership benefit The Euro Tour so that they would be willing to pay for the LPGA?

As it stands, the LPGA is probably as viable as ever. As someone mentioned, their bulk of their contracts simply came up for renewal at the worst time.

mrb, You are correct in that the LPGA is hard to "find". It has only gotten worse since TGC entered into its agreement to carry the Champions Tour. You may recall that the Champions Tour was in the same predicament before The Golf Channel gave them a regular home. The LPGA has had a horrible time and not done a swell job advertising their events. I'm uncertain whether the LPGA is still "paying" for television coverage whereas the PGA has networks bidding to cover them. Your idea of concomitant events is swell -- in theory. In reality, coverage wouldn't be equal. There just aren't enough cameras and commentators to provide equity. One of the better events was an ancient silly season event sponsored by JC Penny, which was a team event with an LPGA and a PGA player on each team. Long gone. What this tournament did was to show case the abilities of the LPGA players and to show the level of respect that the PGA players held for those women. The Wendy's 3-Tour was pretty good -- at the beginning-- as the players from all Tours were among the top players. IMHO this is no longer the case, but at least the women are somewhat competitive in that event.

I'm a big fan of the LPGA. I was actually happy with the amount of coverage on TGC last year when compared to the year before. I'd like to see it all but remember only a handful of events that were not televised.

I agree that they need to find a way to market themselves better. But I also think that the amount of young female golfers is growing (at least in my local). I see much more participation by young girls on high school teams that never had a golf team before. I hope that this will help increase the popularity of the LPGA in itself and keep it going. There would be a lot more fans of LPGA golf if there were more locals to cheer for. I'm certainly not against international players at all but everyone likes to cheer for the home team.

The Navistar classic is played in my area and I attended for the first time this past year. I really, really enjoyed it but was surprised by the lack of crowds. I plan on making it an event next year and bring out a large group of friends to help support it as much as I can.