LPGA could lose 1 major

By Compiled from Time wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 28, 2000

AYLMER, QUEBEC -- The LPGA Tour could have only three majors next year if a new sponsor isn't found for next month's du Maurier Classic, commissioner Ty Votaw said.

The event, one of the LPGA's four major tournaments, is in jeopardy of dropping off the schedule if organizers can't find sponsors willing to pay the estimated $5-million it takes to put on the tournament and the du Maurier series, a developmental tour for Canadian women.

With the LPGA a few weeks away from setting its 2001 schedule, time is running out.

"If a replacement isn't found, we'll soon have to make a determination as to whether we want to have four majors in 2001 or just go with three" Votaw said. "We're not going to rush into the situation."

The search for a sponsor to replace du Maurier became necessary because of laws that limit tobacco advertising at sports and cultural events in Canada. Du Maurier, a brand of Imperial Tobacco Group PLC, created the event through its sponsorship in 1973. It was designated as a major six years later.

The LPGA, which completed the year's third major tournament, the U.S. Open, last weekend, has had four majors on its schedule since 1983, when the Nabisco Dinah Shore Invitational, now the Nabisco Championship, was added. The tour's other current major is the LPGA Championship.

The job of finding a new sponsor has fallen to Jean-Paul Blais, a former du Maurier president who left the company in February and acquired the rights to the tournament and the development series.

Blais, who said he initially contacted more than 100 companies, continues to speak with at least eight possible sponsors. Several U.S.-based companies were surprised that the tournament would soon be nameless, he said, and intrigued by the opportunity.

He declined to name the companies.

DEERE CLASSIC: Paul Curry shot 8-under-par 63 for a two-stroke lead after the first round of the PGA Tour event at Silvis, Ill.

He had a bogey-free round at the Tournament Players Club at Deere Run, which opened last month.

"It was just one of those days when the putts go in," Curry said. "When you have days like this, you wonder why you don't do it all the time."

Curry, who is from Essex, England, played on the European tour until 1997, when he had to take six months off because of a back injury. Since then, he has been on the Nike tour.

Six players were tied for second. Two, Tim Herron and David Frost, were 7-under going to their final holes but bogeyed.

"That kind of doesn't taste too well 10 minutes after the round," Herron said. "But I know I'm right there in the tournament, and I have a chance to post a good score in the morning."

John Daly was five shots back.

SENIOR BRITISH OPEN: Australian Noel Ratcliffe shot 4-under 67 to take a one-stroke lead after the first round at Newcastle, Northern Ireland

American Hubert Green and South African John Bland were tied for second, a shot ahead of defending champion Christy O'Connor of Ireland on the 6,614-yard Royal County Down course.

Three-time winner Gary Player of South Africa had 76, and two-time champion Bob Charles of New Zealand shot 75. Two-time champion Brian Barnes withdrew after five holes, citing rheumatoid arthritis in his wrists. The 55-year-old former Ryder Cup player said he was thinking of retiring.

DUTCH OPEN: Stephen Leaney's 6-under 66 tied him with Richard S. Johnson after the first round at Noordwijk, Netherlands. One stroke off the lead were defending champion Lee Westwood, Roger Winchester, Mark Mouland, Anders Hansen and Ralph Miller.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

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