LPGA takes shortcut to Minor League Tour

While bouncing around the major magazine golf sites this morning, I came across some wag’s response to a news item:

GolfBiz:
“LPGA Commissioner Bivens hasn’t been
able to increase LPGA purses, so what
does she do? ‘Buys’ the Futures Tour
that has an even worse purse structure.”

By my way of thinking, this is a move of near-brilliance, wherein Commissioner Carolyn Bivens and the LPGA Tour need not invest the time and energy to develop their own tour. Instead, they acquire the Futures Tour, a series that moves through Florida, Texas, New York, New Hampshire, Maryland, Connecticut, Illinois and Ohio, to name most of the states involved.

Does this mean that the tournament purse structure is as bad as forecast? Nah, everyone should play for spit before making it to the big leagues. That’s capitalism. The guys have shown that they can make fairly sizeable bucks on three tours; now the ladies will have a chance at a second LPGA tour.

The LPGA had shied away from associating itself with a senior ladies’ tour for years, but now seems to have some sort of loose relationship with it. It seems to me that this tri-fold approach to women’s golf in the USA cannot help but benefit women’s athletics. Advice: take expansion SLOWLY.