ROGERS - The pairings were much different than they usually are for a Thursday at an LPGA Tour event.
While Inbee Park, Yani Tseng and Stacy Lewis were included, most of the groups that teed off at Pinnacle Country Club consisted of golfers who didn’t have household names.
And many of them were men.
Rather than the Wal-Mart NW Arkansas Championship beginning Thursday morning, like most other events, the tournament held a pro-am for a second consecutive day.
That gave LPGA players more time to get a feel for the course and less room for error once the tournament officially starts at 7:30 a.m. today.
Along with being sandwiched in between two majors, the Wal-Mart NW Arkansas Championship has the distinction of being one of only four LPGA events - not counting the Solheim Cup - that’s 54 holes.
It’s only three rounds instead of four like the vast majority of tournaments on the LPGA schedule this season.
And with the clout that Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble wield as corporate sponsors, there are no plans to make this tournament another 72-hole event anytime soon.
Save the fourth round for some other event.
“At the end of the day, we do what works best from a business model for the sponsor,” LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan said.
“In this case, between Wal-Mart and P&G, there are so many pro-am teams that it would be almost impossible to get all of those teams in and do a four-day event.”
The ShopRite LPGA Championship, which ran from May 31 to June 2, is the only other three-day tournament on American soil.
The other two events to go from Friday to Sunday - the LPGA-KEB HanaBank Championship in October and the Mizuno Classic in November - are played in Asia.
The change in schedule allowed players to arrive to Northwest Arkansas, spend Tuesday on the practice range and then have two more days to work on their putting and mingle with sponsors. And weekend warriors.
“We do what’s best for the business,” Whan said. “If you want to be playing in Rogers, Arkansas, long-term, you do what works for Wal-Mart, not what works for the LPGA.”
And there it is.
If you ever had any doubt as to how important Wal-Mart’s partnership is with the NW Arkansas Championship, Whan cleared it up. The fourth round of an LPGA event was eliminated to make room for a second day of a pro-am.
But Whan said he has never heard any complaints from players who disagree with the three-round format in Rogers.
The first-rate accommodations and large purse size are more than enough to attract a field that, before a few last-minute withdrawals, featured 98 of the top 100 players on the LPGA’s money list.
Players must adjust to having one less day to make a move at Pinnacle.
Mistakes are amplified, and with 18 fewer holes to work with this week, golfers know they can’t afford to have a bad round. Bogeys will weigh more on their scorecards than at a four-day event.
It’s no different than the NBA playoffs. An ugly showing in Game 1 of a seven-game series doesn’t matter as much as it does in a five-game series.
And the room for error is even smaller on a 6,389-yard golf course.
“The first day is key because scoring low would give me an opportunity to win the tournament,” said Ai Miyazato, who posted three consecutive rounds under 70 and finished at 12-under par to win last year’s Wal-Mart NW Arkansas Championship.
“Scoring low on the first day will make me play more aggressive the next two days.”
On the flip side, one bad day could knock a player out of contention, as Lewis said Thursday after taking part in a -am
But the former Arkansas All-American had an extra day to worry about that. Rather than playing with a group of fellow pros on Thursday morning, she chipped and putted with three mostly unknown golfers.
After all, the opening round could wait another day.
Sports, Pages 23 on 06/21/2013