Behind the Green: Sponsor needed to keep LPGA in Arizona

If you are a fan of the LPGA and the Safeway International, you’ve got to be a little bit scared. Four tournaments into the 2008 season and already two of those four events are on the endangered list and need sponsors if they are to return in 2009.

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For those keeping track, the Fields Open in Hawaii — the second tournament of the season won by Paula Creamer — reportedly is not only searching for a new title sponsor, it also needs a new course to host the tournament.

Closer to home, the Safeway International announced last week that its title sponsor — America’s third-largest grocery store chain — is bagging it after next week’s tournament at Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club, which is willing to hang around if a new sponsor can be secured.

The Safeway International had made record-breaking crowds on the LPGA its calling card, much like its big brother, the FBR Open, does on the PGA Tour. Granted, the numbers were dramatically smaller, but 151,000 fans came out last year to watch Lorena Ochoa win the tournament, and that’s about double the average galleries on the LPGA.

What sponsor would walk away from a tournament that has produced champions like Annika Sorenstam, Cristie Kerr and Ochoa in the past four years, all the while attracting record crowds? And what about Superstition Mountain, voted as the “best-conditioned course on the LPGA’’ the past three years by the players?

According to Safeway, it was more a question of balance, as in how does it sponsor two tournaments — the Safeway International and the Safeway Classic near Portland, Ore., — and justify the $9 million to $10 million it spends while laying off 400 employees, as Safeway did last month?

As Safeway’s marketing guru, Mike Minasi, spun it recently to Golf World: “Both tournaments have rapidly grown to the point that we feel that, in order to maintain the quality experience for the players, fans and other sponsors, we need to consolidate our sponsorship and focus on our event in Portland.”

OK, opting for your No. 2 event might make sense when you consider Safeway will move it to prestigious Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club outside of Portland next year. But I’m not buying it, chiefly because the Safeway International is more like a major championship when you factor in strength of field, fans, course and facility, as well as outstanding volunteer support through the tournament’s charity, the Banner Health Foundation.

Even Ochoa was taken aback when I informed her of Safeway’s plans during a teleconference call on Wednesday.

“You’ve got me surprised,’’ she said. “I heard they wanted to make bigger the tournament in Portland. I didn’t know that it was the last year for Safeway in Phoenix.

“We only play in Arizona once, and we have a lot of fun coming and it’s a great golf course. I’m surprised to hear that, but hopefully we’ll get a new sponsor for the other years.’’

This was strictly about the money, which historically has always been tight on the LPGA but even more so now that we’re in the midst of a recession.

Sure, Tom Maletis and his Tournament Golf Foundation, which runs both of the Safeway events, say they are “optimistic’’ that the LPGA will return here next year. But I’m guessing it’s closer to 50-50 at best.

“There’s a great enthusiasm between our organization, Banner Health and (developer) Lyle Anderson and his people at Superstition Mountain,’’ Maletis noted. “That’s a lot of firepower, so I hope it goes forward.’’

Key word in Maletis’ summation: “hope.’’ But he’ll need more than that if the LPGA is to maintain its history in the Valley, which dates back to 1980.

Chiefly, Maletis and Co. will need a commitment from one or more sponsors to the tune of $4.5 million to $5 million annually.

Now if this were the PGA Tour, I suppose Tim Finchem would just reach into his commissioner’s hat and pull out a new sponsor. But this is the LPGA, where Carolyn Bivens rules with reckless abandon and sponsors are much harder to sell on the concept of watching women play golf.

But it’s not about gender. The largest obstacle in securing a sponsor —for men’s or women’s golf — is finding the right fit in the community, or that elusive chemistry known as “bang for your buck.’’

Unfortunately, the Phoenix-Scottsdale area has proven time and again that it does not have the type of big corporate money it takes to support a professional golf tournament.

The FBR Open had to go out of town to get its millions. And while the LPGA once relied on Phoenix-based PING, it’s gone through six other title sponsors.

There is an eerie twist to the LPGA tournament needing help at Superstition Mountain, and it’s not a good memory. In 2002, The Tradition lost its title sponsor (Countrywide) and ultimately moved to Portland after failing to find a sponsor that wanted to keep it in the Valley.

Could it happen again? The LPGA certainly is much more popular at this point in time than the Champions Tour ever has been. But when Safeway rode to the rescue here six years ago, it almost was like a last-minute miracle.

Chances are the LPGA does not have the “right fit’’ to save the Safeway International despite the tournament’s popularity. So in the end, it will be up to TGF, the Banner Health folks, Superstition Mountain and the local golf community to solve what presently looks like a doomsday scenario.