As the "First Lady of Golf," you would think that Carolyn Bivens, the first female commissioner in the 55-year history of the LPGA, would have time to play some golf.

"Not since I joined the LPGA, how about that? But I did hit two ceremonial tee shots. Does that count?" said Bivens, who is here for the SBS Open, which launches what she feels will be an exciting year for the women's tour.

"There are a lot of exciting aspects," she said. "We have a lot of talented, charismatic players from Natalie Gulbis, to Cristie Kerr, to Annika (Sorenstam), of course, all the way through to Juli Inkster. We've truly become a world organization and we can build on that diversity."

Her task, she feels, is to see that the LPGA, already the nation's most successful women's sports organization, continues its momentum and grows even more successful worldwide.

If her job is marketing the tour, the LPGA found not only its first female commissioner, but one with the business and media background to do so.

Before joining the LPGA, Bivens, 53, had been the president and chief operating officer of Initiative, a major media services company. She was also on the Gannett launch team for USA Today, working on national circulation and advertising sales.

Now, for Bivens, who calls herself more of a business person than a media person, it is a matter of selling the LPGA from a marketing standpoint — not just as a golf organization but one that is in the business of sports and entertainment.

"This is a sport that has an awful lot of momentum and I just could not be more pleased to come into a brand that's this strong and has this promising of a future as the LPGA," Bivens said when she was named Ty Votaw's successor last June.

The SBS Open, starting today at the Turtle Bay Resort's Palmer Course, and next week's Fields Open in Hawai'i at Ko Olina, reflect the international interest, according to Bivens.

With its weather, Hawai'i is an ideal site as evidenced by the two title sponsors of the back-to-back events opening the 2006 LPGA season, Bivens said.

The Seoul Broadcasting System of South Korea is sponsoring the tournament at Turtle Bay for the second year, while the inaugural Fields Open at the Ko Olina Resort is sponsored by a Japanese sports entertainment company.

"That only underscores the international interest in the tour," Bivens said.

Bivens said when she was named commissioner that the LPGA is an organization that is on the move, that is constantly contemporizing itself.

"It's hot, has a wide variety of personalities who are not only great golfers, but are pretty interesting people as well," she said.

She had in mind young stars such as Paula Creamer, the 2005 rookie of the year, and 17-year-old Morgan Pressel, who along with Japan's Ai Miyazato and Sweden's Louise Stahle, are among the record 37 rookies on the tour this year.

"We have a saying — these girls rock," Bivens said.

They will start rocking at the two Hawai'i events that will accrue points toward qualifying for professional golf's first playoff system — the ADT Championship — that will culminate the LPGA season.

It is part of the entertainment package as the LPGA launches a Survivor Golf Show with the eventual winner of a 32-player field collecting $1 million, the largest purse in the history of women's golf.

Unfortunately for Hawai'i's teen prodigy, Michelle Wie, it is for LPGA members only no matter if she wins a major, which is one way to automatically qualify for the ADT Championship.

Wie's decision to pass up the SBS Open and play only in next week's Fields Open in Hawai'i didn't surprise Bivens.

"Not at all," said Bivens when asked if it is disappointing that Wie didn't enter both Hawai'i events. "We all knew going into the season that Michelle had only six exemptions."

And there is no consideration to increasing that number, Bivens added.

"It would be unfair to the other women on the tour and the sponsors," she said.

As for Sorenstam not starting her season here, Bivens said she also wasn't surprised, pointing out that the LPGA's player of the year has limited her schedule to 20 events.