Official: Big year for event

LITTLE ROCK — Tournament chairman Jay Allen believes the future of the LPGA P&G Beauty Northwest Arkansas Championship is in good shape but acknowledges this is a crucial year.

The 2009 tournament will be played Sept. 11-13 at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers in the third year of a three-year contract with the LPGA.

"It is an important year," Allen said. "Our focus right now is just trying tomake this tournament as good as it can be."

Circumstances are not the same as when the event wasf irst announced three years ago. The LPGA To u r has undergone dramatic changes, cutting back its schedule and purses and fighting tohang on to remaining events.

Meanwhile, weather problems have deterred attendance in Northwest Arkansas, making it difficult to evaluate the success of the event.

The 2007 tournament was canceled after completing only one round due to heavy rain. In 2008, the tournament worked through several rainrelated delays before finishing up outside the allotted window for network television.

Octagon, a marketing firm that owns and operates the tournament, estimated 25,000 tickets - including daily and weekly passes - were sold for last year's event. Allen said he wasn't sure how many spectators walked through the entry gates.

Because of the 2007 washout, tickets from that year could be used in 2008. In addition, children 17 and under were admitted free with a paying adult last year.

"If you have six, seven days of a tournament, you're going to get some rain," Allen said. "The first year was virtually washed out. And we had some rain last year over July 4th weekend.

"We do think there's a lot of upside to this tournament. Hopefully, this year we'll see it."

While attendance numbers are important, sponsorship numbers likely will make or break the tournament. Most of the sponsorship agreements run year-to-year. The current deals with Proctor & Gamble and Wal-Mart, two of the larger sponsors, run out after this year.

John Q. Hammons, a Springfield, Mo., businessman who develops hotels and resorts, started as the event's presenting sponsor, and Proctor and Gamble was added last year.

"We don't have anything to announce right now, but I will tell you that I am very optimistic about the future of this event, based on discussions with sponsors," Allen said. "It's because of who's here: Wal-Mart, Tyson, P&G, Sara Lee, other big companies that have offices here. I don't want to speak for the LPGA, but I think I can. They see the potential for this event."

The LPGA Tour and Pinnacle Country Club first courted each other in 2004, but were unable to match up available dates, sponsors and required money to make the event happen. They came to an agreement in 2006 with the LPGA announcing a three-year deal with Pinnacle Country Club.

At that point, the LPGA was in a more stable position. Tournament purses were on the rise, and the tour was expanding around the world.

Since then, economic issues have forced the LPGA to lose the Fields Open in Hawaii, the Ginn Tribute in South Carolina and the SemGroup Championship in Broken Arrow, Okla. Purses were cut by $5 million. The Corning Classic, a tour event since 1979,announced 2009 would be its final year.

In response on July 13, LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens resigned amid pressure from tour players. Marsha J. Evans has replaced her on an interim basis.

The Northwest Arkansas Championship started out as a September event with a $1.2 million purse in 2007, growing to $1.7 million last year, when it was played in July. The purse has increased to $1.8 million this year, but economics continue to play a role.

"We're very blessed to be here, and there certainly has been an impact to Northwest Arkansas, but not to the degree you've seen in other parts of the country," Allen said. "We have lost a couple of sponsors this year. Not huge ones, but due to the economy. A few other sponsors have lowered what they're doing. But given the economy, I'm real pleased with our support."

With much anticipation, the 2007 tournament was scheduledfor September. But it never really got started. Heavy rain throughout the week caused postponements. Ultimately, the players only were able to get in one round.

Then-Arkansas Razorback Stacy Lewis was the first-round leader as an amateur at the time the event was canceled. She got the trophy, but not the victory. LPGA officials announced the tournament wouldn't count in the record books.

Last year, more rain delugedPinnacle Country Club. The tournament was able to be completed, but the schedule was off the entire weekend. That, coupled with the tournament being played on the Fourth of July weekend, likely contributed to what appeared to be low crowd numbers.

Pinnacle Country Club underwent an extensive renovation last winter, making it unavailable early in the year.

Tournament officials were able to secure Sept. 11-13 for their event and feel they picked the right time. The Arkansas Razorbacks football team has an open date that week, and the lack of events this time of year in the LPGA schedule means higherranked players are likely to participate.

"If you step back and look at the best time to do it - the weather, the condition of the course, the things going on at Pinnacle, other events in Northwest Arkansas," Allen said. "We do want to have a home at some point so people know this is the week. Kind of like people know that the first week in June is the Wal-Mart shareholder's meeting."

And Allen believes early September is the right time.

"I think our opportunity is that if we stay in this time frame, we could be the premiere event on the tour after the U.S. Women's Open in July," he said. "It really could be one of the best stops on tour for the fall. I think it's really doable."