Ross said:
remember, this is a woman who only has scraps of a career left... this is the woman who missed the boat a long long time ago. There was all that fuss this year about the fact that Annika Sorenstam played in the PGA tour -- well guess what? years ago Jan Stevenson had the opportunity to do so and passed on it. She's old, she washed up and no one cares about her anymore. If she wanted to market the sport then maybe she should win some tournaments and give the cameras some airtime - but until she does, no one is going to pay attention to her (except for stupid reasons like this).
This is not a woman who competes regularly on the LPGA tour. At 54, Jan may not be able to be competitive with Anika, Lori, or Se Ri, but she did win 17 tournaments including 3 majors in her heyday (the late 60's and early 70's). As well she founded the Senior LPGA tour and currently spends most of her time promoting the LPGA and women's golf around the world.
I don't condone the comments...she is definitely guilty of being too general (or too specific) when referring to any or all of the Asian players as a group. There are definitely a few American players who should be included in the group as well. The bottom line is that these players are benefiting financially from the strides the tour has made in the recent years, all thanks to the efforts of pioneers like Jan and Nancy Lopez etc. They should at least aknowledge their obligation to building and promoting the tour by doing their part to be more than golfing machines.
I've been to an LPGA event (I like watching hot women play golf, and jello wrestle for that matter
) and I believe the comments are accurate to a degree. Not the part about the Asians killing the tour but the Asian players do not speak english generally on course, even though they can; they did not interact with the gallery and they were not available to the fans looking for autographs after the round. There were north american players who lacked personality and rapport with the gallery as well, but these ladies stood out because they are an ethnic group and it was even more noticable because they did not speak english. I left a little disappointed...
The LPGA's objective is to promote and grow the tour's presence in an effort to increase sponsorship opportunities and dollars so as to improve the overall wealth of it's players. They can't market the LPGA players purely based on skills (these Gals are Good?) because the men's tour would win every time. They have to look to sex appeal (and personalities when the golfers are ugly) to sell the tour. When you scan the top 30 money winners on the PGA tour you find maybe 12 players that are known by their first names or that you could pick out of a crowd and you see they have a similar problem. Fortunately for the PGA, Tiger's incredible drawing power makes up for the lack of notables outside of the top 10 golfers. They're good golfers but they're not Arnie or Lee Trevino.
The LPGA is going through the same trend to athleticism that the PGA tour went through 5-10 years ago, led by the likes of Se Ri and Grace Park (great breasts) and the golfers will only get fitter in the coming years. The LPGA and promoters of women's golf are not off base wanting to use this to develop the game and it is incumbent upon all of the players (especially the better ones) to do their part since they all gain from it. Fashion, fitness and a little playfulness will go a long way in making these ladies rich...and afterall, that's why we play the games these days.
Although inappropriate, these comments may just be the kick in the ass the LPGA players need and Jan Stevenson, being a non-north american, was probably in the best psition to make these comments from a purely golfing perspective. A little controversey never hurt ratings. Couple this with Sophie Gustaffson, the Commissioner's girlfriend' getting two, cout 'em two, favourable rulings in the final 5 holes to win the Samsung World Championships and I'm wishing there was another tournament this week just for the fireworks.
Coincidentally Ross, Jan didn't play in the Samsung because she was off playing the Turtle Bay tournament with the Champions tour. She did finish last, but to he credit, she
tied for last.
