04end of an era in springfield
when the lPGa is a category on Jeopardy, yani
tseng will be the answer to a couple of “last” questions. In 2009 the budding hall of famer won the
final corning classic, 30 years after it debuted;
yesterday she won the last State farm classic,
which likely ended a run on the lPGa schedule
that began in 1976. with the loss of towns such
as corning, n.y., and Springfield, Ill., the tour is
transitioning away from the kinds of communities
that have been the backbone of the lPGa since it
was formed in 1950. In their place is a more global
schedule that this year includes stops in Singapore,
thailand, china, france, Scotland, korea, Japan,
malaysia, taiwan and mexico. although this is good
for the growth of the game worldwide, you have to
wonder what impact it will have on girl’s golf in the
United States. with so few domestic events and
with the overseas stops being limited-field tournaments, how can a young player work her way up the
money list and rolex rankings? It would be a shame
if talented young female americans started to turn
their attention to other sports because of the lack of
playing opportunities at home. —Ron Sirak
chr IStIan PeterSen/Getty ImaGeS
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