As I was watching the US Women's Open last week, I was reminded of something that I have been very curious about for a while. I watched many of the players, and even looked back at some video of earlier events, and the evidence was staring me in the face like a hungry wolf....and I could no longer ignore it.
Equpiment manufacturers practically IGNORE LPGA players from a "staff player" perspective. Rather than try to argue my point however, I will let the facts speak for themself. I put together this chart which shows the major equipment companies (TM,Titleist,Ping,Callaway,etc) and a list of their LPGA STAFF players (players who are sponsored by the equipment companies). Don't confuse this list with one which shows which players USE which company's gear - this shows who actually has LPGA players as sponsored "Staff" players. Check it out (no, I don't expect to make any friends with this list by the way...)
| Equipment Company | Staff Players |
| Titleist / Cobra | None |
| TaylorMade | Creamer,Gulbis |
| Callaway | V. Hurst, Lindley,Gal,Pressel,Ueda |
| Cleveland | Blasberg |
| Adams | Lang,Leon,Lincicome,Tseng,Wright,Loudon |
| Ping | Delasin,Friberg,Hjorth,P.Hurst,Koch,Nordqvist, Ochoa,J.Park,Stahle,Stanford,Steinhauer,Ward,I.K.Kim |
| Nike | Blumenherst,McKenzie,G. Park, Pettersen,Wie,Simon |
Now,compare this list of 33 LPGA players with the PGA Staff players for just ONE of the companies above....interesting,huh. Rather than try to draw any conclusions from this (other than Ping really supports the LPGA), I think it is much more meaningful to use this in a positive manner. As more and more women are playing golf at the amateur level, these companies are seeing more opportunities to sell them product. In a time of difficulty for the LPGA, wouldn't it be great to see several of these companies step up and show some strong support for the LPGA ? Perhaps one of them could sponsor an event that's looking for a one ? Or how about committing to sponsor at least 5 LPGA players ? Maybe a 2 year sponsorship deal for the top 5 qualifiers from the Duramed Tour ? There is a lot that these companies can do to help support the LPGA even more thasn they already do, and there could not be a better time for them to step up.
