Published November 17, 2005
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Carolyn Bivens Leading
Major Changes At LPGA
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The LPGA formally unveiled details of its new season-ending LPGA Playoffs at The
ADT, which beginning next year, “will end with eight players staging an 18-hole
shootout” for a $1M top prize, “the biggest paycheck in the history of women’s
golf,” according to Randall Mell of the Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL. The ADT Championship,
which for ten years has featured the tour’s top 30 money winners, will now have
32 players selected from a “points-gathering qualification system.” Fifteen players
will qualify from the first half of the season, fifteen from the second half,
and two wild cards “off the money list.” The 32-player field will be cut to 16
after two rounds and eight for the final round, where all players will start at
even par. LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens: “Anytime there have been changes to
any of the major playoff formats in sports, regardless what it is, it’s not met
with a resounding click of the heels by everyone. But I would say at this point,
we have most people on board.” But player Juli Inkster’s concern “is that consistency
be rewarded.” Inkster: “If a player finishes 13th on the money list and doesn’t
make it, that’s not right.” The LPGA in ’06 will feature 32 events with a record
$47.2M in prize money, up from $43M this year (
Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL,
11/17). In Orlando, Steve Elling notes only LPGA members “are eligible to
earn points, which means notable teens such” as Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel,
“who are professionals but not card-carrying LPGA players because of their age,
cannot accrue points until they become official members” (
ORLANDO SENTINEL,
11/17).
