Kapalua Land Company, the organizers of the LPGA Kapalua Classic played at Kapalua Resort in Hawaii, informed the LPGA the company will not honor the remaining four years on its sponsorship contract with the tour.
That means the tournament, scheduled for Oct. 15-18, is dead. Unless the LPGA can force the company, through legal proceedings, to live up to the deal - probably not likely, but something LPGA Tour commissioner Carolyn Bivens said in a statement the tour will try to do:
"We are extremely disappointed with their decision not to conduct the October 2009 event, and we will vigorously enforce all our legal rights under the contract due to this breach. While we understand the difficulties faced by all businesses due to the recession, the Kapalua Land Company, the contract holder, is continuing to conduct business. We are extremely confident that we will be successful in pursuit of our legal remedies."
According to the Associated Press, Kapalua Land Company lost more than $70 million in the last quarter of 2008.
The tournament joined the LPGA Tour schedule in 2008 with much fanfare. The Hawaii venue helped players transition into the Asian part of the late-year LPGA schedule; the event was played at the marquee venue of Kapalua Resort; and the Resort also signed on Morgan Pressel as its tour representative.
Kapalua the title sponsor for the 2008 tournament, but the AP reports the organizers were trying to find an outside sponsor and have been unable to do so. A representative with the company claimed it suggested skipping the 2009 tournament with the hope of returning in 2010 with a new sponsor, but also claimed the LPGA rejected that idea.
The death of the Kapalua tournament means that the LPGA Tour has lost all three of its Hawaii events within the past year (the SBS Open and Fields Open both folded earlier).
Golf World's Ron Sirak, twittering away, points out that Kapalua is the third event on the 2009 schedule to be canceled after that schedule was announced; and that only 10 tournaments based in the United States are currently on the LPGA schedule for 2010, but two of those are currently without sponsors. Among the prominent North American events that are currently without contracts for 2010 are the Michelob Ultra Open, the Wegmans LPGA and the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.
Comments
As I mentioned in your forum and I hope others will come there to discuss in more detail, this is another sign of how poorly managed the LPGA is and how poorly their commissioner makes decisions. The tour has become a joke under Bivens. Remember her “English only” policy which was later abandoned. My favorite golfer of all time, Annika Sorenstam, got out just in time.
Sadly, the “Asian Invasion” of golfers has resulted in US fans not even knowing who is winning or contending in most tournaments. This has resulted in a loss of fan support not only at the tournaments but in interest generally. The answer? Better marketing of the US born players and more fan friendly events, more interaction with the players and fans before, during and after the play.