AROUND THE GREENS
Sponsorship, or lack of, tricky for tournaments
By Bill Kwon
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| With or without sponsorship, the Masters, with defending champion Tiger Woods, will be a big draw for CBS.
Advertiser library photo • April 14, 2002 |
Ah, to be the Augusta National Golf Club and not have to worry about sponsors for its Masters tournament. Over the years, the tournament has simply been called, the Masters. Never the Buick-Toyota-Volvo-Kemper-Advil-AT&T-Shearson-Lehman Masters.
When it comes to television commercials, the Masters has been the least intrusive of golf tournaments. Its advertising sponsors — Citygroup, IBM and Coca-Cola — are allowed only a combined four minutes per hour during each telecast.
Now, the 2003 Masters will be totally commercial free because Augusta National has decided to go it alone rather than expose its sponsors to pressure by a women's group demanding that the prestigious club admit a woman.
Without sponsors to lobby, civil rights groups will now target CBS, the network carrying the Masters for the past 47 years. But it is doubtful if CBS would ever relinquish first dibs to golf's highest-rated tournament.
Especially with Tiger Woods defending his title next April.
Augusta National's don't-tell-us-what-to-do stand isn't surprising. It has always struck that pose. As a private club, it has every right to do whatever it wants with its own tournament. After all, it is an invitation-only event despite the great public appeal.
Still, its decision to go without sponsors is such a luxury in this day and age in sports that you have to admire the club's intransigent stand.
That it is financially able to do so is even more admirable, with 11 PGA Tour events now searching for sponsors.
That position seems even more difficult to fathom for local golf fans, considering that no sponsor has yet to step forward to save a full-field LPGA tournament here next year.
Japan's Takefuji company decided to end its sponsorship of the LPGA Takefuji Classic on the Big Island, leaving Hawai'i without an LPGA event for the first time since 1982 when the Women's Kemper Open came to Ka'anapali, Maui.
With the inaugural Hawaiian Ladies Open at the Turtle Bay Resort in 1987, the LPGA had two tournaments in Hawai'i until 1992 when Kemper stopped sponsoring women's golf. The Ladies Open ended a 15-year run last year when Cup Noodles — the tournament's sixth different title sponsor — dropped out, again leaving the Islands with only one LPGA event.
Now, there is none on the LPGA's 2003 calendar except for an unofficial money LPGA Skins Game at Wailea, Maui, in late January.
According to an LPGA official, Waikoloa and another property are definitely interested in hosting tournaments again in 2004 and beyond if title sponsors can be secured. The LPGA would like nothing better than to open its season with back-to-back events in Hawai'i.
Thos Rohr, who heads the Waikoloa Resort, says he is working hard in trying to line up a sponsor for a future LPGA event at his golf course.
"Times are tough for the women's tour. I'm working on it and Ty (Votaw, the LPGA commissioner) is working on it. It's not over," Rohr said.
He added that it is a $3 million commitment on the part of a sponsor, not including tying up a golf course for a week. The latter should not be a problem, according to Rohr.
"We're willing to do that to get national exposure for Hawai'i," Rohr said.
In the meantime, the Waikoloa Resort will be hosting a 36-hole women's amateur tournament Oct. 26-27 in conjunction with the Hawai'i State Women's Golf Association.
Cindy Rarick, a former University of Hawai'i golfer who represents Waikoloa on the LPGA Tour, will be conducting a clinic following Saturday's opening round at the Kings' Course. The final round will be played at the Beach Course. The format calls for a two-lady combined net bestball for the overall championship.
Besides a practice round Friday, a chefs' cook-off dinner and auction will be held Saturday night to benefit the HSWGA.
The tournament entry fee of $775 includes two nights accommodations at the Outrigger Waikoloa. For more information or a sign-up packet, call (808) 886-7888.
Blasts from the past
Interestingly, the first of Cindy Rarick's five LPGA Tour victories came in that inaugural Tsumura Hawaiian Ladies Open at the Turtle Bay Resort in 1987. She also went on to win the LPGA Corning Classic that year.
Rarick still regards her Ladies Open victory as something special because it was her first win on the tour and it came in Hawai'i.
Speaking of the past, I'm sure you have noticed that Gene Sauers' victory in the Air Canada Championship on Sunday was his first on the PGA Tour since the 1989 United Airlines Hawaiian Open.
It ended a 13-year drought for Sauers, who had not had a full PGA Tour card since 1996. The victory gave Sauers, who had been scuffling on the Buy.Com Tour, a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour, which he said was "bigger" than winning the biggest paycheck ($630,000) of his career.
How much was his winning purse at Waialae in 1989? Only $135,000.
Sauers holds the distinction of being the Hawaiian Open's only 54-hole champion as heavy rains delayed play for two days, resulting in the 36-hole cut not being completed until late Saturday. He chipped in for a birdie at the par-5 18th hole on a soggy Sunday to win by one stroke over David Ogrin.
King of aces
A golfer I am sorry I never had a chance to interview was Douglas Kim, who died Aug. 18 at the age of 79 after a battle with cancer.
Kim was probably Hawai'i's "King of Aces" with a remarkable 15 career holes in one at the Kahuku Golf Course, playing with his Tuesday gang.
More than a year ago, one of the gang, Roy Kimura, suggested, without Kim's knowledge, that his friend was deserving of a human-interest story.
"Douglas is a gem, a person who is highly respected and loved by the rest of us. Besides, I have never met a golfer who made 15 holes in one," Kimura said.
It is fitting to note the passing of Douglas Kim because the 52nd annual Korean Invitational Tournament is being held this weekend at the Pali Golf Course. Kim won the tournament in 1963. Another brother, Howard, won the tournament in 1953, while yet another brother Barney won it 10 times.
Their father, Turn Koo Kim, who was active in the Kahuku community association and taught his seven sons how to play golf, would have been proud.
Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net.
