PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas - Stacy Lewis brings more value to the LPGA Tour that just her golf.
Along with becoming the first American in 18 years to win LPGA player of the year, and then rising to No. 1 in the world for four weeks, the former Arkansas Razorback had a direct hand in bringing two tournaments to the LPGA Tour. One of them is this week, the Bahamas LPGA Classic, which grew out of her partnership with Ohio-based title sponsor Pure Silk.
She also aced what amounted to a pop quiz by the chief executive of Marathon Oil, which now sponsors a tournament in July.
That’s what led LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan to jokingly say Wednesday that Lewis was better at sales than he is.
“Your stars drive your sport,” Whan said. “Your athletes generate the momentum, and your job is to turn that momentum into business.”
Still, Lewis isn’t good enough to dictate weather.
A storm the locals haven’t seen in some 20 years pounded Paradise Island through the night, dumping about a foot of rain in an eight-hour span that flooded the Ocean Club. There was so much water on the course - the entire 18th fairway was covered - that the tournament was reduced to 54 holes.
The first round is scheduled to start Friday with a Sunday finish, leaving some flexibility in case more showers cause problems.
“I’m happy I got 18 holes of practice in yesterday,” Suzann Pettersen said. “We’ll play whenever we can.”
The rain wiped out the pro-am, so the LPGA Tour hastily arranged for players to meet at a restaurant at The Atlantis for a question-and-answer session with the amateurs. The group of players included the top three in the world ranking - Inbee Park, Lewis and Pettersen, along with Brittany Lincicome and Natalie Gulbis.
It was an example of how the LPGA players try to do a little more, and it goes back to the pop quiz for Lewis.
She had a marketing sponsorship with Marathon, and the company was thinking about sponsoring a tournament. Lewis was playing in a pro-am with the CEO when he turned to her and said, “Why should I sponsor an LPGA event?”
“It caught me off guard,”Lewis said. “I said it was a different experience than the PGA Tour and your customers will love it. I think that’s more why they did. They do a big customer outing. You get your name out there, but mostly they take care of their customers. And our pro-ams are better than any out there.”
The LPGA stars all turned out for a pro-am party Tuesday night at The Atlantis, with its massive aquarium as the backdrop.
As for the golf? No chance.
The rain fell so hard and for so long that on Wednesday morning the tip of a red hazard stake down the right side of the 18th fairway was barely visible. The entire hole was a water hazard except for the tee and the green. On the adjacent ninth hole, water covered a deep bunker on the left side of the green - two turtles were swimming in what had been a bunker - and it was nearly coming onto the green.
Lewis is trying to get back to the top spot after winning the LPGA Founders Cup in Phoenix in March to reach No. 1 in the world. Not since Beth Daniel in 1994 had an American won LPGA player of the year, and Lewis was on an upward trend by winning the HSBC Champions in Singapore and the next week in Phoenix.
Park won the Kraft Nabisco Championship and replaced Lewis at No. 1. Now there is a three-way battle - and it could grow - as the LPGA Tour heads into the heart of its major championship season, including a return to St. Andrews.
Lewis is getting recognized more often. She also gets some of the largest galleries.
“The hardest for me is the extra stuff, being the only American up there,” she said. “That adds to the media requirements, sponsor requirements, doing extra things at tournaments. Managing my schedule has been the hardest thing.”
Professional golf this week
PGA TOUR EVENT
Crowne Plaza Invitational SITE Fort Worth SCHEDULE Today-Sunday COURSE Colonial Country Club (par 70, 7,204 yards) PURSE $6.4 million WINNER’S SHARE $1,152,000 DEFENDING CHAMPION Zach Johnson ARKANSANS ENTERED John Daly, Ken Duke, Scott Gardiner, David Lingmerth, Bryce Molder, Tag Ridings TV Golf Channel, today-Friday, 2 p.m.-5 pm.; Saturday-Sunday, noon-1:30 p.m.;CBS, Saturday-Sunday, 2 p.m.-5 p.m.
CHAMPIONS TOUR EVENT
Senior PGA Championship SITE St. Louis SCHEDULE Today-Sunday COURSE Bellerive Country Club (par 71, 6,959 yards) PURSE $2 million WINNER’S SHARE $378,000 DEFENDING CHAMPION Roger Chapman ARKANSANS ENTERED None TV Golf Channel, today-Friday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.; NBC, Saturday-Sunday, 2 p.m.-5 p.m.
LPGA TOUR EVENT
Bahamas LPGA Classic SITE Paradise Island, Bahamas SCHEDULE Today-Sunday COURSE Ocean Club Golf Course (par 73, 6,644 yards) PURSE $1.3 million WINNER’S SHARE TBA DEFENDING CHAMPION First-year event ARKANSANS ENTERED Stacy Lewis, Stacy Prammanasudh, Karen Stupples TV Golf Channel, today-Friday, 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 2 p.m.-5 p.m.
EUROPEAN PGA TOUR
EVENT BMW PGA Championship SITE Virginia Water, England (par 72, 7,302 yards) SCHEDULE Today-Sunday COURSE Wentworth Club PURSE $6,142,700 WINNER’S SHARE $1,023,800 DEFENDING CHAMPION Luke Donald ARKANSANS ENTERED None TV Golf Channel, Thursday-Friday, 4 a.m.-11 a.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 6:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
WEB.COM TOUR
EVENT Mexico Championship SITE Leon, Mexico SCHEDULE Today-Sunday COURSE El Bosque Golf Club (par 72, 7,696 yards) PURSE $700,000 WINNER’S SHARE $112,500 DEFENDING CHAMPION Lee Williams ARKANSANS ENTERED Ron Whittaker (Note: Glen Day is an alternate). TV None
Sports, Pages 21 on 05/23/2013