LPGA won't return to Tulsa next year

[RecycleMichael]

http://www.southcentralgolf.com/index.php?option=com_recentnews&id=1500&Itemid=622

LPGA Event Not Returning To Tulsa
By Ken MacLeod

Officials with Octagon, which owns and operates what had become one of the premier events on the LPGA Tour, were unable to find a title sponsor to replace the $3.5 million commitment of SemGroup and former CEO Tom Kivisto. SemGroup withdrew after the company lost $3.2 billion in oil futures trading, forcing the privately held company to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy while the public side of the company remains in financial peril.

Although Octagon officials had some success in getting other companies interested, they were unable to secure commitments for the money needed to keep the event at the level it had reached under SemGroup. The purse for the 2008 event was $1.8 million and it had been scheduled to rise to $2 million. The event had expanded to four days in 2008 for the first time and the 2009 date was May 28-31, an ideal time slot for course conditions at Cedar Ridge Country Club.

"No one was in favor of cutting back on the quality of the event in order to keep it going," said Buddy Phillips, director of golf at Cedar Ridge. "We'd built it up to a certain level and didn't want to go backward."

"The support of the Tulsa community has been tremendous throughout this process," said Doug Eibling of Octagon. "However, given our current economic climate, finding someone to commit the needed money has proven to be an extremely difficult task. While we are disappointed that we will not be on the LPGA's 2009 schedule, we continue to believe in Tulsa as a future home for professional golf tournaments. It is a tremendously supportive market that has been a great hit with the LPGA and its players for the last eight years."

Talks are underway about a possible LPGA pro-am or special event featuring LPGA players that would be held during the 2009 golf season at Cedar Ridge Country Club. Octagon will continue to have an office in Tulsa, and is currently assisting Southern Hills with preparations for the 2009 U.S. Amateur

Cleve Stubblefield, general manager at Cedar Ridge and previously general manager at Tulsa Country Club when the event was held there, said there is a good possibility of an LPGA Pro-Am being held in Tulsa this summer. Also he said depending on member input, the club may pursue bringing a USGA championship to Tulsa such as the U.S. Senior Open. "We'll just have to wait and see but there are a lot of possibilities," Stubblefield said.

Phillips said the club would miss the event but was looking forward to co-hosting qualifying this summer for the 2009 U.S. Amateur at Southern Hills and to other events in the future. "We enjoyed it and the membership enjoyed it," Phillips said. "I know the community certainly did. I was asked about it constantly all summer. Everyone wanted to know if it was coming back or not."

The Tulsa event started as The Williams Championship at Tulsa Country Club in 2001, won by Gloria Park. Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb won at TCC the following two years. Financial problems at Williams forced a sponsor change to the John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic for 2003-05 and the event moved to Cedar Ridge beginning in 2004.

Sorenstam dominated the field in 2004 and 2005 and finished second to Cristie Kerr in 2006. Kerr took advantage of benign conditions  and center pin placements to shoot a phenomenal second-round record 61 on her way to a 14-under total of 199. Winning scores since have been 3-under by Mi Hyn Kim in 2007 and 2-under by Paula Creamer in 2008, both among the highest winning scores on the LPGA Tour in their respective years and much more indicative of the difficulty inherent in Cedar Ridge when normal pin placements are used.

The loss of the Tulsa event is another blow for the LPGA Tour, which could lose up to four title sponsors for the 2009 season, including ADT, which was the sponsor of the tour's season-ending championship.

LGPA events are completely dependent upon sponsors for their financial solvency, as there is no lucrative television contract to fall back on and ticket sales and concessions wouldn't come close to covering expenses without the purse.

[inteller]

not surprised.  Oh well, traffic won't be hell on S garnett next year.

[Composer]

Yeah and revenue in Tulsa and Broken Arrow will be less.  Hopefully it will return in 2010.

[tim huntzinger]

So it makes $18M for region and no entity can come up with $3M to make it happen? There must be more to the equation then we cannot afford them gals.

[TURobY]

I'd almost like to see the City of Tulsa or the Chamber of Commerce step up and sponsor it. That would be a good investment of tax dollars as I see it, where an investment of $3-4 million nets $18 million.

[inteller]

quote:Originally posted by TURobY

I'd almost like to see the City of Tulsa or the Chamber of Commerce step up and sponsor it. That would be a good investment of tax dollars as I see it, where an investment of $3-4 million nets $18 million.

rest assured if we have that in the sinking fund KKT will be there to write the check.

[Wilbur]

It really is too bad that event won't be here next year.  I went every day this year and had a blast watching the women play.

Let's hope it makes a comeback.

[rwarn17588]

quote:Originally posted by Wilbur

I went every day this year and had a blast watching the women play.

As long as your wife didn't find out. []

Badda-boom, badda-bing.

[RecycleMichael]

I went every almost every day. We had set up recycling bins at the course for the first time.

We usually set up chairs near the first tee and watched them hit their first ball.

It was amazing how far many of them could hit it.