![\"Thrash](\"\/b\/imgs\/thrash_talk\/tt_title.gif\")
The following news, as reported by a variety of outlets, but quoted here as it appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, has worked its way through the system of the of the golfing media, both formal and informal, over the past few days:<\/p>\nThe following news, as reported by a variety of outlets, but quoted here as it appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, has worked its way through the system of the of the golfing media, both formal and informal, over the past few days:<\/p>\n
“A group of 15 players, including world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa, Suzann Pettersen, and top American stars Cristie Kerr, Paula Creamer, and Morgan Pressel, signed a letter demanding the resignation of commissioner Carolyn Bivens.”<\/p>\n
Good for them. Far from looking like rebellious children, the LPGA’s stars look, now, like they give a damn about the fact that their Tour is coming apart at the seams.
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\nWith respect to the ouster of Bivens, a variety of players, when interviewed at this week’s U.S. Women’s Open, avoided the issue altogether, labeling it an “internal issue”. (As a side note, what a mightily useful tool for the avoidance of direct confrontation. “Honey, are you cheating on me?”… “Sorry dear, that’s an internal issue.”)<\/p>\n
Indeed, it is an internal issue, as the Board of Directors must, of course, vote for her to be removed. It appears such a vote may be coming in the following weeks.<\/p>\n
I am no Trotskyite, as I believe a state of “permanent revolution” is socially unhealthy, however, with respect to the matter at hand, revolution (read: change of leadership, dramatic overhall) is a necessary evil.<\/p>\n
In a legal sense, I assume, and in some practical way, the LPGA Tour is a corporate entity. Therefore, I think there should be a precautionary appearance\/reality distinction and an avoidance of armchair quarterbacking. In short, no one outside of the boardroom knows what’s going in in the boardroom (perhaps those in the boardroom don’t either).<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, I am an eternal armchair quarterback, and will proceed undaunted. It certainly appears that since taking over as Commissioner in 2005 (leaving her position as CEO of a media company) Bivens hasn’t done a number of terribly constructive things. Doesn’t the LPGA deserve better, or at least, different? Perhaps, someone more concerned with making money than image makeovers?<\/p>\n
There is an element, of course, of “It’s the economy, stupid” in play here, to be sure. As a fringe entity in the world of popular\/televised sports, the LPGA was always going to struggle in 2008, 2009. However, when the most high profile executive of one’s Tour is making headlines for demanding that all players become proficient with the English language and mentioning that Tweeting during competitive rounds might not be such a bad thing for business, one has problems.<\/p>\n
At the rate things are going, the LPGA Tour event calendar for next year will feature the “majors” and about two other tournaments. Bivens’ inability to retain sponsors is inexcusable. However, with the high level strategic thinking demonstrated in the propositions mentioned in the last paragraph, it’s not a surprise.<\/p>\n
I envision Ms. Bivens trying to rally the troops with her estimation of the following as the LPGA’s chief problem: “There are too many Asians and foreign born players at the top of the leaderboards every week.” Then proceeding to: “I know how to solve this problem, team! As Americans, I know you want to see American girls on the leaderboard. The fans want to see American girls on the leaderboard! So here’s what we’re going to do: We’ll deport… err… make them pass an aptitude test in English, which they’ll fail. Americans rise to the top of the leaderboard. Viewers tune in to see Creamer and Gulbis, rather than Han and Park. All the sponsors I alienated magically come back and voilà, our problem is solved!”<\/p>\n
What xenophobic… I mean brilliant and dynamic… reasoning. The type that’s sure to save a Tour, or any business, in peril.<\/p>\n
Her other dynamic tactic, haggling and playing hard ball with sponsors who are already on the verge of ending their tenures as sponsors of LPGA events, has proven equally beneficial for the Tour.<\/p>\n
What fine stuff. Fine, fine business practices.<\/p>\n
Anyways, the pro-Bivens case seems to be pretty weak. It essentially boils down to not wanting to buy out the remainder of her contract – 18 months or about $1 million. Perhaps a second “pro” is that she’s the first female commissioner of a female golf tour. Those are so weak, in fact, that I’m not going to devote any serious consideration to it here. I simply don’t see how a struggling enterprise can continue to pay a figurehead who has has done little other than engage in public buffoonery aboard a sinking ship, in recent months.<\/p>\n
Really, it’s like any sports team, corporate structure, or, hell, any country. When things go sour, he\/she on the throne is held accountable. It may be a fallacy, but it’s a pretty well established dynamic.<\/p>\n
Given all this, Bivens should go, and sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Not content to wait until they no longer have a Tour to play on, LPGA players call for the resignation of Commissioner Carolyn Bivens. Good move.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[98,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hot_topics","category-thrash_talk"],"yoast_head":"\n