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Shore will always be major to LPGA

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Posted: Monday August 09, 1999 04:00 PM

One of the most memorable moments in women's professional golf happened in 1991 when Amy Alcott coerced Dinah Shore to jump into a murky greenside pond after Alcott captured her third Nabisco Dinah Shore title in Palm Springs, Calif. Shore was always the perfect hostess. And she singlehandedly turned her event into the most prestigious major in the LPGA.

Shore passed away in 1994 but the LPGA -- and its players -- have not forgotten what she did for women's golf. The organization made her the only non-player member of the LPGA Hall of Fame. Many a great player has uttered the words, "I would love to win the Dinah."

THE SHAG BAG Mardi Lunn , the winner of the areaWEB.COM Challenge, prepared for the tournament by dining at the Charthouse in Newport Beach, R.I. on Monday night with fellow tour player Beth Daniel and her mom, Val, who is visiting from Australia. ... Rachel Heatherington , who finished third behind Lunn, tested her wedding vows last week by allowing her husband, Dean Teske, to caddie -- a guest appearance that will not become a recurring role. "I think we're just too close." Heatherington said. "I say things to him and blame him for things I wouldn't dare say to a regular caddie."... The last time the LPGA played at Pleasant Valley, in 1974, Pat Bradley was a rookie and earned $512.50 for finishing 22nd. A quarter of a century later Bradley made the cut but only finished 42nd. She made $3,873. ... Laurie Rinker-Graham got a little help from her older brother, Larry, last week even though he was at the Buick Open in Flint, Mich. Larry, who had played Pleasant Valley for 16 consecutive years on the PGA Tour, lent his little sister his yardage book. ... With hometown Prince Edward Island, Canada, only a 10-hour drive away from Pleasant Valley, Lorie Kane 's gallery was filled with family and friends, including her high school basketball coach, Dave MacNeil . MacNeil, who doesn't know much about golf, works with her on the mental side of the game. "After I made a bogey on 13 he said 'if I was caddying I would have asked for a time out'," Kane said.

Last week, Nabisco -- the sponsor for the event for the past 17 years -- announced it was taking Shore's name off the marquee, as AT&T did when it removed Bing Crosby's name from the PGA Tour's Pebble Beach event. I understand sponsors want more bang for their buck, but let's have some respect for tradition. No matter what the official title of the tournament becomes, the players, the caddies and the fans will always call the first major on the LPGA schedule "the Dinah."

Nabisco says it is making every effort to preserve Shore's memory. The tournament organizers are erecting a statue of her and renaming the pond "Champions Lake." It also wouldn't surprise me if they filled that lake with milk and had the winner jump in with the mascot for Chips Ahoy.

Small time

The sight of players trying to pile into Saabs during a rain delay last Thursday in Sutton, Mass., probably best exemplified the problem with the organizers -- Entertainment Sports Equities -- of last week's areaWEB.COM Challenge. ESE was just like the Saabs -- too small to handle the LPGA.

A week earlier at the du Maurier Classic, it looked like the ESE-run tournament wasn't going to happen. LPGA Commissioner Ty Votaw called an emergency players meeting to inform them that ESE had only raised a quarter of the $800,000 purse and was prepared to pull the plug on the event. The event was somehow saved but the squabbles between ESE and the owner of Pleasant Valley, Ted Mingolla , got big play in the Boston-area newspapers.

Mingolla, who has hosted the PGA Tour for 32 years, accused ESE of unethical promotions. ESE ran a picture of Karrie Webb on the program cover and used Webb, Kelly Robbins , and Se Ri Pak in commercials to promote the event -- but none of the three played at Pleasant Valley. ESE said that the players were on the commitment list and blamed the LPGA for the error.

This whole fiasco can be blamed on former commissioner Jim Ritts , the king of the song and dance. Ritts made the agreement with ESE, which wasn't qualified to run a pro-am -- let alone a tournament.Look for the LPGA to return to Pleasant Valley -- which is a great venue -- with Mingolla at the helm . . . and vans to bring players out of the rain.

Tom Hanson, a contributor to Sports Illustrated's Golf Plus section, caddies for Sara Sanders on the LPGA tour. His column will appear weekly on golfplus.cnnsi.com.

 

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