Michelle Wie and The LPGA Are Back, Finally

by Jeff Skinner

It is a big week for golf in Alabama, both The Champions Tour and The LPGA Tour are back in action on courses from The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.  There are plenty of great courses down in ‘Bama and I am anxious to see the ladies of The LPGA get back in action.  This season the LPGA has been seen about as often as Bigfoot but The Bell Micro LPGA Classic starts the heart of their season with ten tournaments in the next three months.  All the top players are in the field and Jiyai Shin will be playing in her first event as the new world number one.  Ai Miyazato is looking to add to her three wins on the tour already this season.  Thanks to some television coverage on The Golf Channel, even if it is delayed, we’ll get to see some wonderful pairings: Pressel, Stanford, Kerr; Wie, Webb, Inkster; Lewis, Shin, Tseng; McPherson, Gulbis, Pettersen; Lincicome, Lang and Miyazato are some of the star studded pairings for the first two rounds of play.

The Tour needs some big names and exciting play to build some buzz for a season that had its biggest moment of the year seen by no one in America.  Lorena Ochoa’s retirement tournament in Mexico two weeks ago had no television coverage in America.  The best outcome for the tour would be for Michelle Wie to contend again.  That would bring a much needed jolt of publicity to a tour that really could use some good news lately.

The LPGA family is playing with a heavy heart this week as they mourn the loss of Erica Blasberg.  While the details of her untimely death are unknown her passing is weighing on the minds of many of the players.  Blasberg was a popular player and a good friend to those who knew her.  Randall Mell talked to some of her friends on tour. It will be a difficult week for many on The LPGA Tour.