The PGA Tour will have its ninth tournament this week. The Senior Tour is on its seventh event.
The LPGA Tour opens its 2002 season this week at the LPGA Takefuji Classic in Hawaii.
Because of sponsorship and attendance problems, the women’s tour has revamped its schedule, eliminating its Florida swing and delaying the start of its season.
LPGA Tour Commissioner Ty Votaw says the emphasis will be on quality of tournaments, not quantity. The tour opted to concentrate on improving its existing events, although it did add the Kellogg-Keebler Classic at Stonebridge Country Club in Aurora on May 31-June 2.
“Quality over quantity is the way to go,” Votaw said. “Part of it is the economy, part of it is attrition. Part of it is strategic on our part not to break our necks to replace a struggling event with another struggling event.”
There will be an interesting sidelight to this week’s tournament. Michelle Wie, 12, earned one of the two spots in the Monday qualifier and will play in the event. The Honolulu native becomes the youngest player to qualify for an LPGA tournament.
Morgan Pressel qualified for last year’s U.S. Women’s Open at the age of 13.
Tap-in: A proposal is in the works for a new tour featuring major championship winners in the 37-to-55 age group. It calls for eight tournaments on classic courses such as Merion and Winged Foot.
