Tennis promoter Jim Westhall and the ATP announced
yesterday the sale of the men's singles tournament, The
Pilot Pen Int'l in New Haven, CT, from Westhall's control to
Butch Buchholz, according to John Altavilla of the HARTFORD
COURANT. Buchholz has built the annual Lipton Championships
in Key Biscayne, FL, "into a highlight event." At the same
time, ATP Tour Exec VP J. Wayne Richardson confirmed that
operational control of Westhall's other tournament, The
Phoenix/ATP Tour World Doubles Championships in Hartford,
would be handed over to its title sponsor, Phoenix Home Life
Mutual Insurance Company (HARTFORD COURANT, 4/18).
MIND THE GAP: Prize money at Wimbledon this summer
will be a record $11.2M, with the men's purse at $5.68M and
the women getting $4.75M (MIAMI HERALD, 4/18). A statement
from the Corel WTA Tour said "although we are pleased to see
that the percentage increase for '97 is the same as the men,
it is nonetheless disappointing that the gap between men and
women has not narrowed from the quarterfinal stages onward."
(Corel WTA Tour). The Corel WTA Tour researched the top ten
earners of prize money for individual sports January 1-April
15, 1997 (Corel WTA Tour).
1) Martina Hingis $1,225,395 6) Dale Jarrett $808,684
2) Steve Elkington $1,059,070 7) Thomas Muster $727,254
3) Tiger Woods $ 966,070 8) Pete Sampras $723,778
4) Mark O'Meara $ 850,843 9) Michael Chang $677,399
5) Jeff Gordon $ 831,164 10) Jesper Parnevik $632,510
