Braced For The Storm

Many players have adopted a don't-ask, don't-tell policy about their retirement plans. "I just don't look at them now," said Lee Janzen. "My plan is to live long enough to collect it." Added Love: "I tell my wife, 'Just don't look at it. It will only make you angry.' "

As for the Ginn sur Mer Classic, its fate is very much up in the air, even though its contract runs through 2011. Ginn has four real estate projects in Florida, and the real estate industry everywhere -- particularly Florida -- is struggling.

"The [Ginn] Championship [on the Champions Tour next March] and the [LPGA] Ginn Open [in April] are happening," said Ginn spokesman Ryan Julison. "After we get past the Ginn Open, we don't know what the future holds."

The past performance of the tour -- it renewed 21 title sponsors in the 20 months after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and signed 18 new ones -- are reasons for optimism. "The PGA Tour has come through other recessions and tough times in as good a shape, if not better, than before," said Ty Votaw, the tour's executive vice president for international affairs and communications. "The best companies know that, especially in bad times, they always have to market, sell and entertain customers."

"No one is going to go out and look for another job," said Janzen. "We play golf because we love it. It's not like someone is going to give it up and become a real estate agent." Then, with a wry smile that betrayed the dark humor many are using to get through troubled times, he added: "I guess that's a bad example right now."

2010 Could Be The Key Year For LPGA

All indications are the LPGA will be down at least two tournaments in 2009, but with about one-third of its sponsor contracts (along with its TV deals with ESPN and Golf Channel) expiring after next season, and its sanctioning fees increasing as much as tenfold, insiders believe the real challenge for the women's tour will be the 2010 schedule.

The Fields Open in Hawaii and the Ginn Tribute in South Carolina are gone for 2009. Safeway is out as the sponsor of the Phoenix tournament, choosing to focus on its event in Portland, Ore., instead, but sources say the LPGA will fund a Phoenix tournament. And the ADT Championship -- the 32-player season-ending event with a $1 million first prize -- won't be played in 2009.

Tournament officials are pointing to a 2010 return, ideally as a February event to kick off the season, but so far lack a sponsor (ADT bows out after this year). The Stanford International Pro-Am will move from the Miami area to Houston (where Stanford is based) and become the new season-ending tournament, beginning next year. Neither scheduling proposal is sitting well with a significant faction of players, who feel starting the year with a $1 million first prize will skew the chase for the money title and that ending the season with a tournament with a 120-player field is odd since only the top 80 on the money list retain cards for the next year (in other words, non-exempt players for 2010 will be in the 2009 field).

"The best-case and worst-case scenarios are that we will be plus or minus two or three events next year," LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens told Golf World. "The next [few weeks are] a critical time." Bivens said she expects the tour's 2009 schedule will be released at this year's ADT Championship, which begins Nov. 20. She warned, however, that "in this economy, until you have a signed contract, nothing is buttoned up."

And in this economy, it is difficult to see adding tournaments. One addition for 2009 is a return of the stop in Thailand. But that means that as many as 11 of the LPGA's 31 tournaments next year could be played outside the U.S. And that is a whole separate discussion.