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Latest CarolynBivens Stories

Can LPGA Survive Without Marketing Sex Appeal?

Posted: Jul 29th 2009 12:55PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: LPGA

6 COMMENTS

(photos courtesy of Getty Images)

Anna Rawson has outlined her five-point plan for saving the LPGA, and, frankly, I think she's onto something. The tour is struggling to keep sponsors and it's without a marquee player to market to the masses. The former is due primarily to poor management decisions, the latter is just bad luck.

So can women's professional golf survive without a bona fide star? Will they need to rely on other, less traditional means of attracting fans? Rawson's strategy weighs elements of both while Golfweek's Alistair Tait wonders if the LPGA's future hinges on Michelle Wie.
Continue Reading Can LPGA Survive Without Marketing Sex Appeal?

Softball Game Breaks Out at Girl Fight

Posted: Jun 30th 2009 1:55PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Action Sports, Women's Sports, Youth Sports

0 COMMENTS
Here's something you don't see everyday. Or at least I don't (primarily because, other than the occasions when it's on my television, I've lost the remote, and I'm too lazy to change the channel, I happily admit to not following softball.): a fight breaking out during a game after a player was hit by a pitch.

But that's what happened yesterday at a girls high school game in Colorado Springs.
Continue Reading Softball Game Breaks Out at Girl Fight

LPGA Commissioner Would Welcome Players Using Twitter During Round

Posted: May 28th 2009 5:10PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: LPGA, PGA

3 COMMENTS
LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens made news last year for the tour's peculiar language requirement. The policy was short-lived, but it's one of those things you can easily point to as an example of why the LPGA struggles to remain both relevant and solvent.

Bivens understands as much (although misguided, her attempt to get international tour players to learn English was to help broaden the sport's appeal). Which is why she'd support LPGA players using their Twitter machines during their round.
Continue Reading LPGA Commissioner Would Welcome Players Using Twitter During Round

Anna Rawson Wants You to Call Her

Posted: Sep 11th 2008 10:15AM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Golf, LPGA

19 COMMENTS
This seems like a great idea: Anna Rawson, runway model and member of the LPGA Tour, has decided to give out her cell phone number, presumably to make it easier for all the, ahem, wackjobs and would-be stalkers to pursue their creepy hobbies.



Through August 24, Rawson was 150th on the LPGA money list ($26,586). In case it's not clear: that's a lot of bad golf. For some perspective, Lorena Ochoa, the world No. 1, has earned nearly 100 times what Rawson's pulled down in '08, which explains why the Aussie is looking to market herself off the course as well.
And when [Rawson's] not at the course, she keeps tabs on the other part of her professional life, which has included a two-page spread in the current issue of "Men's Health" magazine and a new venture - cell phone messaging. Rawson is the first professional golfer to establish a cell phone number her fans can call and leave messages for her.

Only four weeks old, the number - 213-785-7675 - allows her fans to leave personal messages. She said she has started listening to the messages and is going to return some of the calls.
Continue Reading Anna Rawson Wants You to Call Her

LPGA Backs Down From English-Only Policy

Posted: Sep 5th 2008 1:16PM by Shane Bacon (author feed)
Filed under: Golf, LPGA

14 COMMENTS

Well, that sure didn't take long. Ten days after the LPGA announced their plan to force players to speak English by the end of 2009, the tour has pulled back its guns.

The heavily criticized policy was to be put in place late in the season next year and penalize foreign players who failed to pass an English speaking exam. LPGA Tour commissioner Carolyn Bivens, fresh off a perfectly timed vacation, announced today that the policy will exclude penalties.
Bivens said Friday the tour would announce a revised plan by the end of the year. That plan would not include any penalties.
Bivens said there are other ways to achieve the tour's objective of ``supporting and enhancing the business opportunities for every tour player.''
This seemed to be inevitable, what with all the legal and discriminatory questions brought up, but the idea brought at least a little attention to a struggling professional sports organization. The whole idea was to allow sponsors to market better in an English heavy environment, but backfired when some current sponsors said they might pull out if this came to fruition.

It also probably didn't help the cause that the best female golfer in the world, Lorena Ochoa, spoke up against the policy.

Alas, the experiment failed miserably, so if you're planning on participating in a Pro-Am next year on the LPGA, it might, once again, just be about the golf.

LPGA's English-Only Rule Backfires, Could Lead to Lost Sponsors

Posted: Sep 3rd 2008 11:56AM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Golf, LPGA

15 COMMENTS

Apparently, taking shots at the LPGA Tour for their imbecilic English-only requirement never gets old. It's been more than a week since the announcement and the incredulous responses continue to roll in.

Allegedly, the rule is suppose to improve ratings through the magic of placating rich amateurs who have grown tired of not being able to communicate with the non-English-speaking professionals in their group during pro-am events. The genius lies in the unnecessary layers of complexity.

Commence ironical comedy: the tour had been bleeding sponsors in recent seasons and this new rule was somehow supposed to mitigate that. Turns out, it does just the opposite:
Saying it was "flabbergasted" by the Ladies Professional Golf Association's new policy requiring "effective communication in English on the part of all of our Tour members," State Farm is urging the group to reconsider -- or the insurer may reconsider its sponsorship.

"It's something we are dumbfounded by," said Kip Biggs, media-relations specialist at the insurer, which is a general sponsor of the league as well as of the State Farm Classic Tournament in Springfield, Ill. "We don't understand this and don't know why they have done it, and we have strongly encouraged them to take another look at this."
Biggs added, "This makes absolutely no sense AND I SPEAK ENGLISH*". It gets better: State Farm isn't the only sponsor stupefied by the decision.
Continue Reading LPGA's English-Only Rule Backfires, Could Lead to Lost Sponsors

English-Speaking LPGA Commissioner Has a History of Making Dumb Decisions

Posted: Sep 2nd 2008 9:42PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Golf, LPGA, PGA

3 COMMENTS
It's been a week since the LPGA brain trusts unveiled their grand plan to save the tour from obsolescence: implement a language requirement that will almost certainly have no bearing on ratings, but will guarantee that the amateurs in the pro-ams will have a good time. Well-reasoned.

Predictably, the blowback was immediate and relentless (well, except from Tiger, who was out of the country during the initial announcement and had no comment. I can only assume "out of the country" means "making babies," which, by the way, is an infinitely better answer).

There was the question of legality, not to mention the obvious issues foreign-born players might have with the new rule.

This all starts to make sense when you consider that LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens, apparently golf's version of Matt Millen, fancies making seemingly arbitrary decisions that benefit no one. From the Scotsman:
Continue Reading English-Speaking LPGA Commissioner Has a History of Making Dumb Decisions

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