LPGA plans international expansion amidst strong opposition
Ladies Professional Golf Association of America might be considering an international expansion of the tour, but the odds of such a consideration are overwhelming and disappointing. LPGA currently holds many events outside of the United States and with the
future expansion plans, the tour might end up having more events played internationally than locally.
Tour commissioner Mike Whan remains a strong opponent of such an expansion and cites that such an expansion will subsequently throw the tour in the lap of phenomenally strong Korean and Chinese players.
“I really have a desire and, quite frankly, an ability to expand our international schedule, but I’m holding off the pace of that expansion because I really want to make sure we grow our domestic base,” Whan said two weeks ago at the Sybase Match Play Championship.
“We don’t want to wake up and not have a home. This is our home, in the U.S. I want to make sure we continue to grow that.”
But Whan’s logical opposition of the expansion is not the only hurdle the tour will be facing on the international front. After the conclusion of Ricoh Women’s British Open in July, many of the top ranking LPGA players were sorting out their schedule for
the event at Imperial Springs in Guangzhou, China, only to drop their plans later on after the Chinese Government imposed a ban on the event. The government is currently in the process of reviewing its stance on the promotion and development of the sport in
the country and is coming down hard on the sprawling private golf courses.
China imposed a strict ban on golf courses sometime back, but the infiltrations within the system helped nurture many of the private courses in the country. Shanghai and Beijing being the centre of these courses, the government was reluctant to take action
against the influential club owners, many of whom were the politicians or rich industrialists. The government cites the environmental and economic fall out of the sport in the country and considers the manicured courses a misuse of industrial and agricultural
land.
Whan was also hopeful of the event's return in the Imperial Springs although he remains an ardent opponent of the overseas extension of the tour.
“I’m 100 percent committed to having an event with Imperial Springs and the China LPGA,” Whan told Golfweek. “Time will tell whether or not we’ll be able to start that in 2011.”
LPGA has an international presence across the globe and is quiet often dominated by the non-US players. Se Ri Pak's early success on the tour opened the doorway for the young Korean golfers who thronged the courses on LPGA events.
By the year 2009, there were 122 foreigners playing on the tour out which 44 were from South Korea. The same year, Americans won five events on the calendar while the Koreans recorded 11 victories.
Tags: