Patty Sheehan calls LPGA Championship name change 'slap in the face'

By John Strege

The announcement Thursday that the LPGA Championship would become the KPMG Women's PGA Championship in 2015 was widely celebrated, but was not unanimously praised.

Hall of Famer Patty Sheehan, who won the LPGA Championship three times, via Twitter expressed her disappointment that the LPGA would no long be represented in the name.

In a later tweet, Sheehan wrote, "Diminish LPGA brand to uplift PGA."

Another Hall of Famer, Beth Daniel, applauded the move via Twitter, but also was disappointed that "LPGA" was stricken from the tournament title, a sentiment shared in a tweet by former LPGA player Laura Baugh.

The Wegmans LPGA Championship, meanwhile, will be played for the last time in August, ending a 38-year run where the LPGA has held a tournament in Rochester, N.Y. Needless to say, there are those in upstate New York who aren't pleased, including Democrat & Chronicle columnist Lee Roth. He wrote this:

"No LPGA in Rochester? It seems surreal. Like we're pulling a 1-iron from our backs. That nearly 40 years of goodwill, friendships, charity fundraising and history meant nothing to an ambitious commissioner with an inflated view of his tour and a new generation of players who've grown up feeling entitled to more."

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