Before we get to the good news in this column — and the accidental benefit of the Marathon LPGA Classic presented by Dana’s new place on the calendar — a brake pumping is in order.
It is not time to uncross your fingers yet.
Our annual red-carpet rollout for the best women’s golfers on the planet remains very much up in the air, subject to the scheming whims of the coronavirus and the direction of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.
The equation is simple: If the state moves to allow public outdoor gatherings in advance of the late-July tournament, the eagles and birdies will fly as planned. If not, the Marathon Classic will be grounded.
Longtime tournament director Judd Silverman told us there is no feasible way to play the event without fans.
Consider his dilemma.
While leagues like the NBA and NFL and PGA Tour receive a big slice of their revenue from monster TV deals — and have motivation to salvage their seasons, with or without spectators in the studio audience — the arrangement is flipped on the LPGA Tour, where regional tournaments pay the networks for their air time. The Marathon Classic — a nonprofit operation that has donated $11.5 million to local charities since 1984 — derives all of its money from sponsorships, ticket sales, and the in-person experience.
“We've expressed to the LPGA that the business model is financially impossible without fans,” Silverman said. “We're a 501(c)(3). We only have so many reserves, and it would be a huge financial loss. It’s not possible.”
So, yes, let us keep our fingers crossed.
But ...
With that Surgeon General’s warning out of the way, let us also daydream.
Let us get up our hopes.
Because, if the Marathon Classic is played, it will be an all-timer.
We would not just be dipping our toes back into the sports pond. We would be diving into the deep end.
We would be putting Kotter’s welcome back to shame.
If the Marathon Classic plays through and is the first traditional LPGA tournament back on the schedule after a five-month absence, area golf fans would be treated to a star-splashed event nothing short of major championship ilk.
Who would be there? Well, everyone.
And it would be awesome.
Most years, as highly as the Marathon Classic is regarded in tour circles, its mid-July date — sardined between majors and in the dead of an exhausting summer schedule — can be a hard sell to players.
This is not to say the tournament lacks for drawing power.
Fans can count on annual visits from three of the biggest stars: Lexi Thompson, the long-bombing most popular player on tour; Paula Creamer, the last American to win the tourney (2008) and an enduring fan favorite here; and Stacy Lewis, the Toledo-born standout whose Lew Crew brings it strong every year.
And, really, when it comes to it, that is enough, with everyone else a welcome bonus. In a good year, we might get to see half of the top 15 players in the world.
But this is no ordinary year.
In the revised LPGA schedule released this week, a season that originally featured 33 events with with a prize fund of $75.1 million is down to 25 events with a purse of $61.9 million. That means players will be taking advantage of every opportunity they can, which, while a trivial consolation in the devastating grander scheme of a global pandemic, will lead to stacked fields at regional events like ours.
The tour is set to restart July 15 to 18 with the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, a team event in Midland, Mich., then I suspect the entire caravan would head south to Sylvania.
Chances are we’d see not only Thompson and Creamer and Lewis and the Korda sisters, but a who’s who of the top international talents, including reigning LPGA player of the year Jin Young Ko and Inbee Park.
It would be a civic celebration well worth the wait, and the best example yet of the new abnormal.
First Published April 30, 2020, 4:35 p.m.
