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| A Look Back: Nov. 16 1959: Corey Pavin, winner of the 1995 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, is born in Oxnard, Calif. 1965: Glen Day, PGA Tour member, is born in Mobile, Ala. 1980: Charlie Sifford wins the Suntree Senior Classic in the Senior PGA Tour's inaugural season. |
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Tours
The 2002 schedule
for the Ladies Professional Golf Association features a total of 34 events
-- 31 official events, two unofficial events and The Solheim Cup. An average purse
of $1.19 million, the highest in the tour's 51-year history, will be offered at
the official tournaments.
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more...
Equipment
From an oversized
driver with a composite head to high-performance premium golf balls, seven new
products from Callaway Golf debut for both average and skilled golfers.
The new products, which all conform to USGA and R&A rules, are the Big Bertha
C4 Driver; Big Bertha Steelhead III Driver; Big Bertha Stainless Steel Irons;
HX Blue, HX Red, CTU 30 Blue and CTU 30 Red golf balls; and Odyssey's White Hot
"2-Ball" Putter and Rossie Putter.
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more on new introductions...
For
more on C4 Driver...
For
more on Steelhead III Driver and Fairway Woods...
For
more on Stainless Steel irons...
For
more on Odyssey White Hot "2-Ball" and Rossie Putters...
Putting
Greens International, installer of synthetic bentgrass putting greens, plans
the release of a new shock pad system in spring. The system makes hitting shots
into the green more realistic than any other synthetic surface on the market because
they hold shots better.
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more...
Courses
Four courses
managed by Billy Casper Golf have raised more than $15,000 for disaster funds
following the Sept. 11 attacks. Deer Run Golf Golf Club in Maryland, Cranbury
Golf Club and High Bridge Hills Golf Club in New Jersey and Cobblestone
Creek Country Club in New York gathered the money through charity tournaments
and member donations.
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more...
People
The Ladies Professional
Golf Association brings former Executive Sports International president Chris
Higgs on board as its senior vice president and chief operations officer.
Starting Jan. 1, Higgs will oversee all activities associated with tournaments,
including tournament business development, tournament sponsor relations, player
services and international affairs.
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more...
The late
Elmore Just, founder of persimmon wood company Louisville Golf and author
of "The Persimmon Story," is inducted into the Kentucky Golf Hall of Fame. Just
also owned Persimmon Ridge Golf Course and founded the Professional Clubmakers
Society.
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more...
Apparel
Golf
sportswear maker Ashworth is ranked as the best overall golf apparel supplier
in a survey conducted by Golf World Business magazine in its October issue. The
company was also rated most effective in terms of retail margins, managing distribution
channels, order fulfillment, and management of product cycles.
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more...
Business
Fotoball USA
decides to close its Rawlings Golf operation by the end of 2001. Fotoball
will exercise its early termination rights under the license agreement in exchange
for payment to Rawlings Sporting Goods of the minimum royalty for 2002.
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more...
Publications
New book
"A Different Game: Golf After 50" (Burford Books, $20) draws on advice
from teaching and touring pros, fitness specialists, nutritionists, psychologists
and physicians to help seniors enjoy the game longer. Authors Hershel Sarbin and
Jim Brown provide tips on equipment and health, strength and flexibility exercises
and strategies for older players.
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more...
Accessories
Award and
tournament prize supplier Garth Products introduces "Field and Stream"
watches for the golf industry that can be ordered with an event logo on the face.
A special package is also available that includes a watch and multi-purpose golf
tool in a pine box with the "Field and Stream" logo embossed on the lid.
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more...
Five Questions
Ty Votaw, LPGA Tour
Commissioner
The LPGA Tour wraps up its 2001 season at this week's Tyco/ADT Championship, capping one of the Tour's most successful seasons ever. Thursday, Tour commissioner Ty Votaw spoke about the year that has been as well as the coming year. The 2002 season will feature a reduced schedule, but the average purse per tournament will be at an all-time high.
Q: Talk about the year the LPGA Tour has had and also about the schedule for 2002.
A: I wanted to start off by, before we talk about some of the exciting things that are happening with the LPGA for 2002 and beyond, I wanted to do a little recap of how successful 2001 has been.
I think you have to start any of those discussions with the performance of Annika Sorenstam this year. She's had an absolutely phenomenal year, which may go down as probably one of the best -- if not the best season -- in LPGA history. As we all know, eight victories so far, the opportunity this week to make it nine victories, which would be the first time since 1978 and Nancy Lopez's rookie year that that has happened. She has the chance to become the first player to break $2 million in season's earnings. Her 59 in Phoenix, her four victories in a row, setting almost every financial and scoring record the LPGA has, clinching her fourth Rolex Player of the Year, and her fourth season money title, her fourth year trophy, all been sewn up with the performance this week.
Obviously, Annika's year has been stellar and one that, as I said, will go down in LPGA history as one of the best, if not the best.
(This has been a year) in which you had two other players who had remarkably phenomenal years as well: Se Ri Pak and Karrie Webb. I think that the emergence of those three players in one year's time, when in each of the past four or five years only one of them has dominated, I think really reflects the emergence of them as a true victory in bringing the competitive nature of the LPGA to the highest level in a couple generations.
Se Ri Pak, obviously her five victories this year, winning the women's British Open; and Karrie Webb, winning two majors and becoming the youngest LPGA player to win a career Grand Slam, and to become the fastest to achieve this feat for either a man or a woman shows that Karrie Webb, while perhaps having a lesser year than her previous two years on Tour, is certainly still at the top of her game.
I think it can best be summed up, at one point this year after Pak won the women's British Open, it could be said that Annika had the most victories, Karrie had the most majors, and Se Ri Pak had the most money. Karrie's certainly overtaken the money as well, but ...
So those performances coupled with the fact that we've had some remarkably consistent performances of players throughout the entire year that have perhaps not won: Maria Hjorth, for example, Laura Davies, Dottie Pepper, and also in a year where Dorothy Delasin has two victories, and an American veteran in Rosie Jones winning twice this year, as well as having four Rolex first-time winners in a row at the tail end of our summer and September schedule, I think really do reflect the competitive balance on the LPGA Tour is as deep as it's ever been.
The LPGA has also had quite a bit of success this year off the golf course -- a number of business successes that we've had for the first time in LPGA history. We've had three of our players, Lorie Kane, Janice Moodie, and Cristie Kerr, featured on the cereal box of Multigrain Cheerios. This is a first for Multigrain Cheerios. Before this year, they had never had a female athlete featured on its boxes. The fact that we had three LPGA players featured this year is something that we're very proud of and we know that Multigrain Cheerios is very pleased with.
Click here for the complete interview with LPGA Tour Commissioner Ty Votaw.