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Leagues and Governing Bodies

LPGA's First U.S. Tournament This Season Tees Off Amid Optimism For Breakout Year

The LPGA Tour “could be on the verge of a breakout season attention-wise after swimming against the tide for several years,” according to Ron Sirak of GOLF DIGEST. The RR Donnelley Founders Cup begins today in Phoenix and the tour will play tournaments “three weeks in a row, culminating with the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the first major of the year.” And “all three events, next week's Kia Classic included, will be live on Golf Channel.” Sirak wrote the “clouds are lifting.” The LPGA “has a legitimate star” in 23-year-old Yani Tseng, who “won seven LPGA events last year, five more times on other tours and already has five major championships.” Rookie Lexi Thompson, the “latest can't-miss American,” turned 17 last month and “became the youngest-ever LPGA winner last year at the Navistar LPGA Classic and proved that was no fluke when she won the Dubai Ladies Masters on the Ladies European Tour later in the year.” The victory by 18-year-old Jessica Korda to start this season “is further affirmation that the LPGA has a new wave of talent coming along.” There could also be “no more appropriate event to kick off the American portion of the LPGA schedule than the Founders Cup.” The event last year was “played without a purse, with the top-10 finishers getting money to give to their favorite charities.” Donnelley officials were “thrilled with the success of the tournament and this year $1.5 million is up for grabs” (GOLFDIGEST.com, 3/14). GOLFCHANNEL.com’s Tom Abbott wrote there is “certainly a sense this week that the LPGA has turned the corner.” Commissioner Mike Whan has “settled into his role, building a solid backroom staff who have been instrumental in adding new events in Hawaii, Canada and Virginia.” The tour has a “worldwide star in Tseng, whose talent seems endless,” and she is “grasping the English language and is working hard to build her profile in the U.S.” Golfer Michelle Wie “still has the ‘x-factor’ that draws galleries, television viewers and new fans to the LPGA, but her presence on the tour is slowly dwindling.” Wie finishes her studies at Stanford this month and with college “behind her, she has the chance this year to right the ship” (GOLFCHANNEL.com, 3/14).

GETTING THE WORD OUT: Whan said of marketing around Tseng this season, “The most important thing we’re doing this year with Yani is just kind of opening the floodgates. She does so much off the course. Sometimes I worry -- I’ve talked to her and her agent about it -- we don’t want to overwhelm her with all the different media opportunities.” He added, “We kind of get out of her way. She loves it. She really embraces being No. 1. It’s a tough task” (“Morning Drive,” Golf Channel, 3/14). Tuesday’s edition of PBS’ “Nightly Business Report” profiled Thompson, with PBS’ Susie Gharib noting, “You may not know her name, but she could be the next big thing to hit the golfing world.” Thompson is sponsored by Cobra, Puma, Red Bull and Rolex and she said of taking her brand global, “It’s important to be known around the world. You can’t be just known in one spot. I just came back from Australia and Thailand so I’m all over. I love travelling just to see different cultures and different people” (“NBR,” PBS, 3/13).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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