jamie in the rough

Some argued that having the player revolt/ousting of Carolyn Bivens occur during one of the LPGA’s major championship was a bad thing, in my eyes it always seemed like the right time to have controversy. Have it during your tour’s biggest events, so, even if they are tuning it because of the Commissioner drama, they will be able to witness your tour’s best and brightest playing in one of their biggest events of the year.

This is why making an announcement tomorrow, on the eve of the Hana Bank * Kolon Championship 2009 seems a bit silly indeed. The event is in Korea, ie the tour’s elite are all in Korea (including current acting commissioner Marty Evans), and it’s not going to be televised in the United States. For a tour that’s screaming and needing more attention in it’s home country, making the announcement now, rather then during the LPGA Tour Championship a televised home event, is baffling.

It’s not as if Michael Whan will be beginning his tenure right away anyway. Marty Evans will be holding down the fort for the remainder of the season with Mr. Whan taking the lead beginning in January.

The LPGA jumped the gun on this one, timing could’ve given the LPGA Tour Championship some pretty big buzz.

Golfweek Magazine and Golf Digest are reporting that Michael Whan will be announced as the new LPGA commissioner at a special meeting in NYC on Wednesday morning.

See Golfweek’s report here.

Whan is a former executive at Taylor Made Adidas, and was recently a CEO of Mission-ITECH hockey.

More reports are coming out, but hopefully we’ll get a bigger look of it tomorrow morning.

Whan was not a name on the radar as a likely choice for the new LPGA commissioner, and hopefully he’ll prove overly fruitful for the LPGA economically and beyond. In the few short months acting commissioner Marty Evans was at the helm, she has added events back to the 2010 schedule, and secured a title sponsor for the LPGA Tour championship.

The role of LPGA commissioner has been a hot topic after a “player revolt” caused Bivens to step down during the spring.

Hi everyone!

As you may have noticed I haven’t updated in a while, but I have good reasons!

If you haven’t already heard, I have accepted a position to blog about the LPGA at SB Nation. Hopefully I’ll be able to reach out to a wider audience, then my dog and pony show here!

I just finished signing all the paperwork, and I hope the new site will be up very, very shortly.

All tennis posts + personal posts will be transitioned to Jamie Broke my Racket.

So, until the new site launches, please stay tuned!

Ochoa steadied herself after a double bogey at the par 5, 5th with four birdies coming in. Although Wie’s 6-under effort was able to snag her another runner-up finish Ochoa was never really in danger. Sandra Gal, paired with Ochoa in the final group, struggled and finished with a 3-over 75, dropping her out of the top 10.

In fact none of the players in the immediate chase pack could put any pressure on the world #1, as only Wie and Beth Bader were the only players finishing in the top 10 to break 70 on Sunday.

Lorena joins Jiyai Shin as the only players this year to win multiple times this year. The win also moved Ochoa to second place in the Rolex Player of the Year standings, only 5 points behind Jiyai. Ochoa also moved to 5th on the money list, but sits a fairly hefty $400,000 behind the South Korean.