The people, the ones that really matter, the heart and soul of the LPGA coming to the desert are the fans. “The foundation has already been established. "The golf here is incredible, the people here are amazing, the culture here is fun, it’s artsy, it’s inclusive, it’s diverse and it fits right in with the ethos of the LPGA so there’s no reason why they shouldn’t have a tournament here. But the reality is we’re not coming back.”Īfter a slight pause, Kim added “For now at least," with the 38-year-old going onto say: “Maybe a big corporation will step up and see - like the American Express did for the men - that the women belong here in the desert. “But it did not work for the region here either, so unfortunately, it would be easy to say there’s no one to blame other than Augusta National, but that’s neither here nor there. Everyone could have worked… I’m sure everyone did everything they think that they could’ve done to keep the tournament here. “I know there were attempts made to try and see if the date could change because Augusta was doing what Augusta does,” explained Kim. “It barely qualifies as the bare minimum of allowing those girls one practice round and giving them a playoff to see who’s going to make the cut into the final round at that place,” Kim states.Īway from Augusta National, the three-time LPGA Tour winner appreciates the effort and support from Chevron stepping in, but Kim would have liked to have seen more of an effort made to give recognition to the history of the event and its legacy with Mission Hills. The way that the ANWA is run also annoys Kim, with amateurs allowed just one practice round at Augusta National, before then having to qualify inside the top-30 to play a competitive round on the iconic layout.
“And I think it’s absolutely disgusting what they’re doing and I have no problem saying that. It’s bull hockey what they’re doing.”
#Lpga on tv today professional#
There’s no reason why we couldn’t continue to have this tournament (The Chevron Championship) be the first Major in professional golf,” Kim said. Kim, who is never afraid to speak passionately on the matter, has pointed some of the criticism towards Augusta National, with the 38-year-old believing the names behind the Masters, in essence, pushed the desert tournament out by creating a counter programme to The Chevron Championship, with the ANWA being played from Thursday to Saturday. Many of the game's stars have voiced their thoughts on the move away from California, with a mixed reception being taken by the world's elite. The reason that the company has stepped in is that, over the past few years, the event has struggled to stay afloat, with ticket sales struggling even before the pandemic started.Īs well as ticket sales, TV ratings have also dropped severely, partly due to the introduction of the Augusta National Women's Amateur, an event that began in 2019 and that runs at the same time as The Chevron Championship. The tournament’s numbers were clearly aided by a schedule move away from the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and into a better timeslot against the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic.For starters, Chevron have boosted the prize money to $5 million, a significant rise to that of last year's $3.6 million. Yin went in the water as the two played 18 again in the playoff, and Vu dropped a birdie putt to capture her first major title. The final round of coverage from The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands averaged 941,000 viewers across all platforms, including NBC Sports, the NBC Sports app and Peacock, which is up considerably from the 349,000 average viewers when the event was on Golf Channel last year.īut things really heated up when champ Lilia Vu and Angel Yin went to a playoff, with a peak of 1.54 million viewers or a 1.0 rating between 7:15 and 7:30 p.m. The Chevron Championship’s move from California to Texas might not have been popular with LPGA players, but the tour’s first major of the year was a bona fide success in terms of its television audience, according to numbers that were unveiled early this week.
0 kommentar(er)
