STINA: On the heels of the men's Open Championship, all eyes (or at least those of true golf fans) turn to Evian-Les-Bains, France, for the 18th playing of the LPGA Tour's Evian Masters later this week. The Evian is getting extra attention this year, since the LPGA is expected to announce any day now that the tourney will become the tour's fifth major by 2013. In my opinion, this is a bad move on the LPGA's part. I understand the need for publicity and the desire to hold on to big sponsors, but it seems like a desperate move. Adding a major to a tour that takes weeks off between events because it's lost so many? That's like increasing the best-movie Oscar category to 10 nominees: it dilutes them all.
The 10th hole during the final round of the 2010 Evian Masters. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)ASHLEY: I hear what you're saying, Stina, but the positives of appointing the Evian Masters as the tour's fifth major clearly outweigh the negatives. The French event currently awards $3.25 million in prize money, which ties the U.S. Women's Open as the richest purse on the LPGA Tour. In the eyes of many Ladies European Tour players (and even some on the LPGA Tour), the Evian is already a major. And rumors suggest the Evian will move to the fall when it becomes a major. That'll lengthen the LPGA's primetime season and offer fans a reason to continue watching. This year, three majors and the Evian are played in a six-week span. Most fans lose interest in the LPGA Tour after the Ricoh Women's British Open, which currently is the last major and takes place in July. Plus, crunching these events into such a short time period means that one player who's on a hot streak could conceivably gain unfair ground on the money list and the Rolex World Ranking. Lastly, the Evian Masters Golf Club is a pristine course that offers beautiful views of Lake Geneva. Attracting more eyeballs to the venue might be just the drama the LPGA Tour needs to drum up more attention.
STINA: That's all nice and sweet, but then why don't we just call every
tournament a major? The Evian is a fantastic event, and I don't disagree
that it might, on paper, deserve to be labeled a major--but only if you
get rid of one of the other four. You simply cannot have five majors
without hanging up a sign that says: "We're selling out, and we don't
care what it does to the history books." If you're a player in your 30s
who's been on tour for a while, how do you get a career Grand Slam with a
new major slapped on top of the other four this late in the game? And
what about the career Grand Slams that came before--are they no longer
good? As blogger Ryan Ballengee said on Twitter last week, "I can only
assume that if Karrie Webb wins the Evian Masters as a major, she would
have the Super DUPER Grand Slam." If the LPGA would be willing to
demote, say, the LPGA Championship, then one could argue that it's a
decent proposition. But I don't see that happening; it's the LPGA
Championship. And nobody's touching the Kraft-Nabisco, U.S. Women's Open
or RICOH British Open either. It'll be interesting to see what's next
in the promotion line; my money is on the CN Canadian Women's Open. Hey,
it's a global tour these days, right? Let's have a major in every
country.
ASHLEY: Whoa, never realized you've become a cynical grump.
ASHLEY: Whoa, never realized you've become a cynical grump.
