If there’s any player that can be called the female Tiger Woods, it has to be Lorena Ochoa.  Well, as long as Annika Sorenstam stays retired that is.  Otherwise, that unofficial title belongs to Ochoa, who just won her fourth consecutive LPGA Player of the Year, despite finishing second in the LPGA Tour Championship, which was won by Anna Nordqvist.  But a runner-up finish, and the fact that her main competitor for the title, Jiyai Shin, finished five strokes behind her, sealed the deal for Ochoa.
As well as being named the player of the year, Ochoa also captured her fourth …read more

When I first heard about this, two words came to my mind–holy and crap.  But it’s true, Michelle Wie has finally done something she’s never done on the LPGA, or in her ill-advised forays into the PGA–win a tournament.  It took ten years, and a whole lot of hype, but Wie shot a 13-under to win the Lorena Ochoa Invitational by two strokes over Paula Creamer.
Wie closed out the tournament in style, with a gorgeous greenside bunker shot that left her but a foot from the hole for birdie.  Of course, like many of today’s pro athletes, Wie was quick …read more

The LPGA Tour finally has a new commissioner–and his name is Michael Whan.  The 44-year-old former marketing executive takes replaces the embattled Carolyn Bivens, who was forced out after the tour kept losing sponsors and tournaments.  Whan previously worked for TaylorMade Golf and Wilson Sporting Goods, and was most recently the president of Mission-Itech hockey.
Whan faces a daunting task, as the tour has lost six tournaments over the past year.  But the forecast for 2010 is promising, which excites the new commissioner.
It took a three month search for the LPGA to decide on Whan.  Interim commissioner Marty Evans will continue …read more

I usually don’t write about the LPGA too often, except when they’re about to lose yet another tournament sponsor.  But this story is just too remarkable.  Think back to what you were doing back when you were a 14-year-old Grade 9 student, now compare that to Alexis Thompson, the youngster tied with four others, including golf star Lorena Ochoa, atop the leaderboard at the Navistar LPGA Classic.  Thompson fired a 3-under 69 on Friday to put herself amongst the leaders, as she attempts to become the youngest winner ever on the LPGA tour.
The current record for youngest winner on the …read more

The news just keeps getting worse for the LPGA.  The tour played only 27 tournaments this year, down from the 34 in 2007, as well as losing all three events in Hawaii and long-time sponsor Corning.  And now it was announced that Anheuser-Busch does not plan to renew its sponsorship of the Michelob Ultra Open, one of the tour’s marquee events, after a seven year run.  Executives at Anheuser-Busch have said that they plan to spread the wealth of sponsorship money over multiple pro golf tournaments.
Losing the Michelob Ultra Open will be tough for fans to handle, but it may …read more

It’s been a tough year for the LPGA tour, as it faced a myriad of problems, the least of which was the uncertainty of the future of many of their cornerstone events.  It looks as though the future is a little less cloudy, as it was announced that at least two events will continue on, even if it’s only for the upcoming season.
Last week came the announcement that the Wegmans LPGA event, whose future had been in doubt earlier this year, had extended their contract with the LPGA for an additional three years.  Interim commissioner Marty Evans, who took over …read more

According to a source close to the situation, Carolyn Bivens, the much embattled commissioner of the LPGA, has decided to resign rather than square off against the LPGA Board of Directors to try and keep her current position.  The news comes less than a week after revelations that a number of LPGA players, including U.S. Women’s Open leader Cristie Kerr, presented a letter to Bivens calling for her resignation.
Since Bivens took over as LPGA commissioner in 2005, the tour has lost seven events, and others are questionable due to the weakened economy.  Her contract was set to expire in 2010, and …read more

At the Jamie Farr Classic this past weekend, won by South Korean Yi Eun-jung in a playoff, the ladies were doing more than just playing golf.  According to a report in Golfweek, as many as fifteen of the top LPGA players met with player directors on July 2nd to discuss the apparent disrepair of the tour, and more specifically, the ousting of Carolyn Bivens as commissioner of the LPGA.
The meeting was attended by some of the top names in women’s golf, including Lorena Ochoa, Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel, Cristie Kerr and Natalie Gulbis.  After the meeting was over, a letter …read more

Pinehurst No.2 will play host to a first in the golfing world, after it was announced by the USGA that the course would be the site for both the U.S. Open and the U.S. Women’s Open in 2014.  The two tournaments will be played in consecutive weeks, marking the first time the ladies get the chance to share the stage with the men.
Besides the chance to see how the women fare on the same course as the men, holding both tournaments at the same course in back to back weeks will save both time and money.  Tents will still be …read more

The ladies of the LPGA are getting ready to tee off in the season’s second major, the McDonald’s LPGA Championship, set to be played at Bulle Rock Golf Course in Havre De Grace, Maryland.  But the optimism the golfers may have as they prepare to tackle Bulle Rock is being offset by the anxiety and uncertainty many of them are feeling as the future of the tournament remains up in the air.  As was announced last year by LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens, the championship is being taken over by the LPGA starting next year, a move that effectively ends a …read more