Ochoa Failing To Connect With Consumers Despite Dominance

Ochoa Failing To Create Marketing Buzz Despite Dominant Start

AUTOGRAPH IN DEMAND: In Orlando, Chris Olds reported Ochoa's autographed trading cards are "on fire." Upper Deck began including LPGAers in its golf trading card sets in '03, and Ochoa's qualification for the HOF after winning the Corona Championship on April 13 "has sparked a feeding frenzy for her autographed cards." Beckett Sports Card Monthly values her '03 SP Authentic autograph at just $10, but prices on eBay "are proving to be much, much higher." Copies of the card have sold for somewhere between $50-80, with a high reaching $103.50. It is "not just her rookie card from that set that's making waves -- it's her autographs across the board" (ORLANDOSENTINEL.com, 4/19).

OTHER GOLFERS CASHING IN: In Minneapolis, Mark Craig reported 12 LPGA Tour players in '07 "made seven figures from appearance fees and a diverse listing of endorsements," up from three in '04, a sign that "more women golfers are appealing to wider audiences." Cristie Kerr's endorsement portfolio includes "designer clothiers and the French watchmaker Audemars Piguet," while Paula Creamer is "designing her own clothes." Also, Natalie Gulbis has her own show on the Golf Channel, writes a guest column in FHM magazine and sells a swimsuit calendar. Craig wrote the Tour in the '70s promoted golfer Jan Stephenson "more as a sex symbol than a talented ... champion," including supporting a poster "in a bathtub with nothing on but some well-placed golf balls." But LPGA HOFer Betsy Rawls said, "I don't object at all to how these girls market themselves. I haven't seen anything that's been in bad taste." Rawls: "What [Gulbis] did with the calendar wasn't as risqué as what they did with Jan" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 4/20).

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