The new alliance announced last week between the PGA Tour and LPGA "sounds like a potential game changer for the women," as the "resources and audience the men possess can boost the women’s game in ways previously never experienced," according to Randall Mell of GOLFCHANNEL.com. The women can "only benefit" in the partnership, "especially with the PGA Tour serious about 'exploring the potential development of joint events.'" While both tours "made it clear there is no transfer of ownership or control, and that the PGA Tour and LPGA remain 'wholly separate and independent,' it’s only natural to wonder if this is some sort of courtship that might ultimately lead to a marriage." But LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan said, "It hasn’t even come up in the dialogue. Nobody at the PGA Tour, at any level, has ever brought it up.” PGA Tour Exec VP/Global Media Rick Anderson said that formalizing a working relationship with the LPGA was a "natural next step given how much the organizations have been teaming together in growing-the-game initiatives." Mell noted Friday’s announcement was a "stunner among long-time devotees to the women’s game." The LPGA "has been around since 1950 without any formal cooperative effort in place with the PGA Tour." There are a "lot of industry insiders who never expected this." But for golf industry insiders, the alliance "is a gold star for Whan, who in six-plus years as commissioner has rebuilt the LPGA from the withering entity he inherited." LPGA Tournament Owners Association Chair & President Rob Neal: "The PGA Tour wouldn’t do this if the LPGA was an unhealthy organization" (GOLFCHANNEL.com, 3/4). GOLFWEEK's Beth Ann Nichols wrote this is "fantastic news for the women's game." The LPGA product is "as good as it’s ever been; the women simply need more exposure." Having the might of the PGA Tour "behind the women’s game in areas of television, marketing and digital media cannot be overstated." Nichols: "Not to mention the importance of schedule coordination" (GOLFWEEK.com, 3/5).
COME TOGETHER: In California, Larry Bohannan noted the partnership could "perhaps clear the way for some joint tournaments." Perhaps it "won’t be like the old J.C. Penney Mixed Team tournament, where one PGA Tour player and one LPGA member played together in an event." But it could "also mean having an LPGA and a PGA Tour event at the same site the same week (limited field events, probably) or even having the LPGA and the PGA Tour playing at the same site in back-to-back weeks" (Palm Springs DESERT SUN, 3/5). Golf Channel's Geoff Shackelford said, "A lot of people would like to see the idea of a mixed couples element to team golf in the Olympics someday. The only way that can happen is if there first is an event played annually that the IOC can look at and say, ‘Oh yeah, we’d like to have that in our game.’ So my hope is that that’s the original and ultimate great thing that comes out of this” (“Morning Drive,” Golf Channel, 3/7).
