The soon-to-be-unveiled ‘12 LPGA schedule “will show an increase of two or three events over the final 2011 docket,” according to a source cited by Ryan Ballengee of GOLFCHANNEL.com. The tour “will add three tournaments that were missing from last year's schedule.” The LPGA is “co-sanctioning the ISPS Handa Australian Women's Open (Feb. 9-12), debuting the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic in Waterloo, Canada, (June 21-24), and returning the Jamie Farr Toledo (Ohio) Classic (Aug. 9-12) after a one-year hiatus.” An Olympic-style team competition “has been in the works, but does not appear definitively on the schedule.” Two tournaments in Mexico and China that were pulled from the initial ’11 schedule “appear unlikely for ’12, as well.” The Tres Marias Championship in Mexico was canceled “because of drug cartel violence in the region, and conditions do not appear to have improved enough to allow the tournament to be played” (GOLFCHANNEL.com, 12/30). In Sacramento, Steve Pajak notes the schedule is not expected to contain "any pleasant surprises as it pertains to Sacramento or Northern California.” Bruno Event Team VP Brian Flajole, whose company manages LPGA events, said, "I talk to (LPGA representatives) about Northern California, whether that's Sacramento or the Bay Area, probably once a week. Sacramento is still a prime market, probably more than the Bay Area, of where the LPGA would like to be.” He added, "It's purely a title-sponsor situation. The LPGA didn't leave because it wasn't a success with the community." Pajak notes a “tentative LPGA schedule making the rounds features a blank slot over Labor Day weekend.” Speculation is that a California venue “is being lined up since the LPGA is on the West Coast (Oregon and Vancouver, British Columbia) the preceding two weeks.” Flajole said that the event “would be in Southern California” (SACRAMENTO BEE, 1/4).
NO CHANGE-UP: The AP’s Doug Ferguson reports after “crunching numbers using different models, the PGA Tour has decided to leave the points structure alone” for the FedExCup. The system “was changed after each of the first three years in existence,” but this “now is the third straight year with no tweaking.” PGA Tour Exec VP/Communications & Int’l Affairs Ty Votaw said that “even though FedEx Cup points will start being awarded this week at the Tournament of Champions, changes could be made at the next policy board meeting in March.” But he added, "I would say that's unlikely" (AP, 1/4).
