LPGA Players Resistant To Using Twitter During Rounds

Morgan Pressel Tweets She Will Not Support On-Course Tweeting

Plans for LPGAers to tweet during play may be short-lived based on a player meeting earlier this week and recent comments from players. Sources said players came out against any on-course Twitter policy during player meetings on Tuesday with LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens. Thursday, some of the LPGA's biggest stars used Twitter to convey those thoughts. Morgan Pressel told her followers Thursday morning, “NO I will not be tweeting while I play.” Around the same time, Paula Creamer posted, “I will not be twittering in my round. It should not happen in any sport. The players have already told the tour no way.” Last week, Bivens said to Bloomberg News that she would “love it if players Twittered during the middle of a round.” LPGA Chief Communications Officer David Higdon told THE DAILY that tour officials "haven’t even debated it internally beyond just some brainstorming. It’s not high on the priority list right now" (Jon Show, SportsBusiness Journal). Bivens Thursday "clarified her stance on the subject." Bivens: "While the LPGA does not support, nor has it ever encouraged, any kind of interaction with social media during tournament play, we do believe social media is as important to golf as it is to all sports." BLOOMBERG NEWS' Michael Buteau noted Bivens' comments supporting on-course tweeting "created a debate among golf fans, players and sports talk show hosts." About 30 LPGA players use Twitter (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 6/4).

TO TWEET OR NOT TO TWEET: ESPN’s Michael Wilbon said Bivens is "trying to find ways to make her tour more relevant, get more attention, draw more sponsorship. She’s trying everything." However, people need to "say to her, ‘Hey, chill. You can’t be involved in these desperate acts year after year trying to run the LPGA.’ … Tweeting is a waste of time and should not go on during competition." ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser: “This tour is dying. Competition alone is not going to make it survive. Here’s what will save it: the recognition that this is entertainment. You take your television cameras and before and after a shot, you ask the player what she is thinking and what happened. ... Twittering is step one to getting the players conditioned to having honest reactions" (“PTI,” ESPN, 6/4). NBC and Golf Channel analyst Dottie Pepper said golfers using Twitter on the course is "absurd, absolutely absurd." Pepper: "I just think this is turning things back incredibly. There are ways to use mediums like that to build a fan base, to keep up with what's hip right now, but I think it's absurd in a round of golf" (THE DAILY).