For
Good
The Of The
Game?
Sex
C
is in,
Commissioner, arolyn Bivens is out
—what’s next for the LPGA Tour?
40 December 2009
thegreenmagazine.com
By
Naimah
Jabali-
Nash
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December 2009 41
There is a trite
fierceness associated with
modeling.
There is a trite fierceness associated with modeling. That sentiment, however, was muted when stepping off the elevator at 300 Park Avenue and replaced with a magnetic energy. An energy magnified twice a year, for fashion’s coming out party known as New York Fashion Week. Fresh faces sat on the lobby’s bench, portfolios clinched. Their eyes instinctively darted toward every newcomer that approached the receptionist’s desk. From around the corner the clanking of wooden-soled shoes drew closer. ‘Are you comfortable doing lingerie? How long ago was this picture?’ asked an agent as he flippantly skimmed through a rail-thin model’s catalogue. This is Wilhelmina Models. And a week before the first tent was pitched in Bryant Park, I was here to talk, of all things, golf. “Welcome,” said the stocky, spike-haired, Rodney Fetaya, Director of Wilhelmina Sports. A division that began last year, once former Wilhelmina Chairman, Dieter Esch, attended a LPGA Tour event. After which, he told reporters, “…the Tour has done a pretty pathetic job marketing its product…” So, the modeling management powerhouse wasted no time in capitalizing on the niche market of women’s golf. “You buy on Park Avenue before it becomes Park Avenue,” Fetaya quipped. “It’s an investment. There’s so much opportunity to grow. It’s such an undervalued, under marketed commodity.” The minds behind Beverly Johnson and Rebecca Romijn formed golf’s first Charlie’s Angels—Wilhelmina 7 (W7). Its mission, according to Fetaya: “To provide the best service to our talent as possible. Whether that’s building their personal brand and images, making sure that how they’re viewed by their fans and their public is manicured and measured.” Its members: Sandra Gal (Germany), Anna Grzebien (USA), Kim Hall (USA), Minea Blomqvist (Finland), Johanna Head (England) and Mikaela Parmlid (Sweden). The search for the seventh member continues. Gal earned her Tour card in 2008 after graduating from the University of Florida with a degree in Advertising. She signed with Wilhelmina in hopes of alternative business ventures. “I always thought that in my off time I could do something else 42 December 2009
on the side,” she said. “And the other side is I feel like it could help to promote our sport. If you look at women’s tennis, how it’s become more feminine and popular, I think that with Wilhelmina we’re stepping in that direction.” Gal competed in 17 events in the 2009 season, making 13 cuts and finishing tied for fifth, a season’s best, at the LPGA Corning Classic. Coco Chanel liberated women from binding whale-boned corsets into jersey knitted sportswear. Since then, sport and fashion have been inextricably linked. Flo Jo’s one-legged unitard, Serena Williams’ catsuit—even the Olympic opening ceremonies serve as an athletic runway. But, golf and fashion? Not so much. Most outfits would land golfers on the next episode of What Not To Wear (Hello, Ian Poulter). The only thing hot about golf is the climate. “The question is, ‘Does sex sell?’ Well, to a point,” said Fetaya. “It’s about saying, ‘Let’s build your personal brand so that manufacturers and retailers and sponsors can get behind you.’ At the end of the day I think it comes back to the fact that a lot of the manufacturers, or retailers, or sponsors don’t see positive ROI (return on investment) by getting into the LPGA business, which is a scary thing—and it’s a sad thing.” Golf lags behind its country club counterpart. Threetime Grand Slam winner, Maria Sharapova, is among the retouched beauties in the glossy pages of Vogue. She sealed endorsement deals with the likes of Cole Haan, Canon and Tiffany & Co. who designed a pair of signature earrings for Sharapova’s stint at the 2009 US Open. Michael Stich, former Wimbledon champion, told a London daily, “The role of women tennis players is as much about “selling sex’’ as it is about winning matches.” To which 11-time Grand Slam winner, Serena Williams, told BBC reporters, “Sex sells! It’s great for Angelina Jolie and it’s true across the board.” The women of W7 have not been the only LPGA Tour professionals to tap into their natural assets. Tour player and member of this year’s victorious Sohliem Cup team, Natalie Gulbis, tested her boardroom prowess on The Apprentice and was recently plugging product on The Price Is Right. No worries. But, in the wake of the 2004 US Women’s Open,
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Sandra Gal / Wilhelmina Sports
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December 2009 43
Gulbis was penalized by the United States Golf Association (USGA). The USGA banned the selling of Gulbis’ 2005 calendar, which featured shots of her on the course and racy shots of her in swimsuits. Apparently in the month of May, Gulbis grounded her club in a hazard—tsk, tsk. In an article by GOLF Magazine, one Tour player (who opted not to share her name) stated, “Why do we have to take our clothes off to get noticed? At least with Natalie [Gulbis] and her bikini calendars you could dismiss it as just an aberration. But now there’s seven more of these girls and just because of the sheer number it sends the message that this is all the tour is about, which is untrue and unfair.”
one’s watching the LPGA right now.” Based on the LPGA Trends report its overall reach (including internet, television and attendance at Tour events) has increased 41 percent from 2005-2008. The Tour has yet to begin its ten year contract with the Golf Channel, which will lead to a reliable viewing base. However, ratings have been fickle. When former LPGA Tour veteran, Dottie Pepper, joined NBC’s broadcasting team in 2005, USA Today reported that, “The LPGA on ESPN, its main TV platform, has averaged 0.3% of cable TV households—below what the women’s pro bowling tour averaged before folding in 2003.”
While the LPGA fights for face time, players continue to Though some traditionalists scoff at the idea of trading in rake in millions. Take LPGA Tour player, Michelle Wie. She box-pleated Bermudas for string bikinis, David Higdon, recently ranked twelfth on Golf Digest’s money list, earning Chief Communications Officer of the LPGA, believes that it’s $9,899 on the links and in her spare time a cool $ 12.5 positive for the brand’s image. “I think that if you look across million. Yes those numbers are correct. Trailing Wie was any form of entertainment you’re going to have a wide range recent retiree and mother Annika Sorenstam (15), and 2007 of promotional touch Player of the Year, points that help sell Lorena Ochoa (32). And the brand,” he said. while both players are “You don’t sell your destined to one day product the same way reach the Hall of Fame, to all people. We have Wie hasn’t a title to her kids we’re appealing name. The cause of the to, we have men and disparity has a lot to we have women. One do with how Wie looks misconception is that claims Legends Tour only women follow player Jan Stephenson. LPGA golf, and our “Everybody knows her figures show just the name, she’s pretty, the opposite. We have whole package…that’s a very strong male why people bend over following and that’s backwards to give her one of the things the exemptions she that’s a distinguishing might need.” characteristic on our Tour compared to other The idea of using Former Commisioner, Carolyn Bivans. Photo LPGA women’s sports.” LPGA scantly clad women to demonstrations alone sell a product isn’t a reflect an audience that’s 60 novel concept, but it remains percent male and 40 percent controversial. In 1974, the female. bubbly Australian rookie, Jan Stephenson, hit American “I don’t mean to throw soil. Then commissioner, the LPGA under the bus,” Ray Volpe, encouraged declared Fetaya. “But let’s Stephenson to spearhead a said Fetaya say, hypothetically, Calvin new marketing campaign, Rodney Fetaya, Director of Wilhelmina Sports Klein or Liz Claiborne one that hinged upon her says, ‘Let’s jump into the willingness to expose not LPGA because we can sell only her golf game, but good a lot of outfits if we work looks. From calendar shoots with the LPGA.’ They’re to club house appearances, not saying that because no Stephenson, became the
““The question is, ‘Does sex sell?’ Well, to a point,” .
44 December 2009
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Kim Hall / Wilhelmina Sports
Tour’s pin-up doll. For what was perceived as her most risqué shoot, Stephenson posed in a tub full of Maxfli golf balls, sans clothes. “I didn’t think it would have that much negative affect with the players,” she remembered. “A few players questioned why we should be doing this. Why are we selling the sex and not the golf? Everybody was saying at first we were going backwards with women’s sports. The commissioner sat everybody down, saying if this brings 1020,000 more people, you guys are going to benefit from that. It was a great thing for the Tour…at the time I had no clue what it would do.” Although she caught flack from her peers, no one could question her aptitude after Stephenson won her first event. At the end of her career on the LPGA Tour,
Stephenson won 16 times, three of which were majors. The Tour is at the forefront of what Higdon describes as a transition period. A week before the 2009 US Women’s Open, several top Tour players including Cristie Kerr, Lorena Ochoa, Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel convened at an undisclosed location in Toledo, Ohio. Although specifics of the discussion have remained confidential, when the women emerged from the ‘secret meeting’ they drafted a letter calling for Commissioner Carolyn Bivens’ resignation. Play continued at the Open, but Bivens was out. “Everyone will acknowledge that she did some amazing
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Sandra Gal / Wilhelmina Sports
46 December 2009
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“I think she was put in a position that she almost had
no choice but to fail. She really didn’t have the tools for that job.” -Jan Stephenson things for this Tour and for these players,” remarked Higdon. “Ultimately there were some things that conspired against her, a little bit of a perfect storm with the economy and some other things. And the players voiced their opinions to the board, which is what they should do as a player’s association… and she made the decision that it would be in the best interest of the LPGA to resign.” Bivens left her position as President and Chief Operating Officer of Initiative Media North America and was announced LPGA Commissioner in 2005. She became the Tour’s seventh commissioner and the first woman to hold the position in its nearly 60-year history. During her term, Bivens enacted the LPGA’s first drug-testing policy, secured a ten-year partnership with the Golf Channel, contracted a five-year TV rights deal with J Golf and acquired ownership of the LPGA Championship. Many questioned Bivens’ business tactics, claiming that her aggressive approach to sponsors was the cause of loosing contracts. Since 2007 the Tour has lost seven tournaments. The most notable came in May when Corning ended its 31-year sponsorship with the LPGA Tour. President of the Corning Classic, Jack Benjamin, stated, “the loss of over $500,000 in sponsorship revenue made it economically unfeasible to sustain it…in these economic times.” Shocked by the severed relationship Stephenson went to Corning to bid farewell to the Tour’s longtime sponsor. “They’ve been so supportive and I was surprised she [Bivens] couldn’t work a deal with them because they’ve been there for so long and they love to support the LPGA,” said Stephenson. “I felt like even though Carolyn wasn’t really as bad as everybody was saying, I felt like it was more because she didn’t understand the situation. She was trying to be tough and I know she cared about the LPGA. I hope the next Commissioner not just has knowledge of golf, but understands the tradition, and the personal contacts of players and how important it is with sponsors and with fans to be able to relate to them and have emotion with them,” she continued. “There almost needs to be someone who understands the Tour life and what it’s like to be a professional athlete as well as having a good business acumen. I think she was put in a position that she almost had no choice but to fail. She really didn’t have the tools for that job.”
After several attempts, Bivens declined to comment. After this year’s record-breaking 34 tournaments, players and fans will see a decline in events for the 2010 season. According to Higdon, the Tour expects to have a more normal schedule of 25-27 tournaments for next year. He isn’t fazed by the numbers. “I think that we’ve got a lot of young players coming up and I’ve seen this in other sports where there’s often kind of that transition from when you had the well-known, established star, in our case with Annika,” explained Higdon. “Her retirement had a bigger affect than I think most people would have expected, combine that with the fact that Lorena has had a very sub-par season and that has made for a real transition in terms of who is going to step up. The reality is that a lot of people have stepped up on a weekly basis, but overall nobody has grabbed the mantle and said, ‘I’m number one.’” How will the LPGA Tour put the pieces back together again? The vitality of the Tour is questionable if it is contingent upon one player’s shoulders. Tiger Woods has been the saving grace for the PGA Tour, but before Woods there was Nicklaus, Palmer, Watson, Trevino and Player. The Tour thrived on the art of the rivalry—a spirit that eludes the LPGA Tour. “When Lopez was doing really well in the 70s and 80s it was always somebody against Lopez whether it was me, Patty Sheehan or Pat Bradley,” said Stephenson. “The same with Tiger. People come up and challenge him for a while, might be Phil, Padrig Harrington, or the other headliners. Now when these guys win the majors, it isn’t that they won, it’s that they beat Tiger on Sunday. That is huge.” “Sometimes when somebody is so number one like Annika was, people almost don’t want you to win. Annika was like a machine. She was a fantastic golfer, one of the best I’ve seen in any era. I do believe she’ll come back and I think that would be good for the Tour with Lorena [Ochoa]. I think that’s why everybody leans so much on Michelle Wie. Because she would make the Tour again and somebody with that star power is what the LPGA needs again.”
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