Bold visions come into full focus only when backed by unflinching faith. When the Bank of Hope Founders Cup was launched in 2011, the LPGA desperately needed both vision and faith. Devastated by the Great Recession, the tour had only 22 events, half outside the United States. So, second-year Commissioner Mike Whan took a chance and followed his vision.
Whan’s plan had three prongs. First, it added a much-needed domestic tournament. Secondly, it returned the golf-passionate Phoenix market, a Tour stop since 1962 and every year from 1980 through 2009, to the LPGA schedule. And finally, it honored the 13 women who founded the LPGA in 1950.
The Founders Cup has been an unqualified success on all counts – and more. Not only are the Founders honored – Marilynn Smith, Shirley Spork, Marlene Hagge and, in the beginning, the late Louise Suggs, greet players as they come off the 18th green – but so are the Pioneers who built upon the vision of the Founders to make the LPGA the world's oldest and most successful women’s professional sports organization.
Each year past stars like Nancy Lopez, Betsy King, Patty Sheehan and Pat Bradley play an exhibition match. Each year, Pioneers like Kathy Whitworth, Judy Rankin, Carol Mann, Sandra Palmer and Barbara Romack are honored. Quite simply, the Founders Cup has become a stirring celebration of the LPGA and women’s golf.
When the tournament was first played, total prize money on tour was $41.5 million. This year, there are 33 tournaments, plus the Solheim Cup, $70 million in prize money and a $1.5 million first prize at the CME Group Tour Championship following the Race to the CME Globe.
But the Founders Cup did not become a beacon of the Tour’s past, present and future without risks. That first year, Whan proposed no prize money and when that idea was resisted suggested a $1 million purse with half going to LPGA*USGA Girls Golf and the rest to charities chosen by the top-10 finishers.
Some bold ideas take time to catch on while a precious few are embraced immediately. The Founders Cup is one of those. It went from 54 holes with no prize money to 72 holes with a $1.5 million purse in just one year.
“I had no fear in ‘the idea,’ as the concept was to simply build an event that allowed us to not only celebrate the philosophy and tenacity of our Founders, but also to re-commit that philosophy in the modern-day LPGA,” Whan says.
“I thought the ‘no purse, every dollar to the future of the game’ idea would enable us to break through sports clutter and get the media and fans talking about this event,” Whan says. “I knew it would be controversial, but at the core it reflected the philosophy of every LPGA player I knew.”
Fortunately, Whan found a sponsor that first year who not only shared the LPGA philosophy and but also understood the marketing value the tour and its players brought to his brand.
“On the Tuesday before we played the first Founders Cup, the CEO of RR Donnelley looked at me and said, ‘Next year, let’s have both a quality purse and a big impact in donation dollars to LPGA*USGA Girls Golf,'” Whan says. “I knew at that exact moment, we had an event – and an impact – that would last for many, many years.”
Also key to the event’s success is the quality venue. The Wildfire course at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa has produced an impressive list of winners. Karrie Webb won the debut and again in 2014. The other winners are Yani Tseng, Stacy Lewis, Anna Nordqvist, Hyo-Joo Kim and Inbee Park, the defending champion. The only non-major winner is Sei Young Kim, and she has seven LPGA titles.
“I didn’t see it coming,” Juli Inkster says about the growth of the Founders Cup. “I think it’s become one of our more formidable tournaments. The LPGA has done a great job running it and Mike Whan’s vision has been amazing. It’s great for the younger players to learn about the history of the game and not just the Founders but all of those pioneers who grew the tour.”
Webb bought into the idea from the very beginning. “The timing wasn’t all that great,” she says. “We had lost a lot of tournaments so there weren’t many opportunities to play, especially for the girls with limited status. In the end, the positive feedback that we played for no prize money and donated everything to Girls Golf was, in my opinion, part of why we were able to turn things around so quickly.”
Webb, an Australian who moved to Florida, became fast friends with Louise Suggs, which deepened her appreciation of the early LPGA players. “What I love about the Founders Cup is that not only do the younger players get to talk with our Founders but also some of our past greats as well. It’s so important to connect our future with our past! It’s how we will maintain the LPGA identity.”
Maintaining that sense of identity, that appreciation of history, has taken on an added importance as the LPGA has grown into golf’s global tour. Now, players from all over the world understand the courage of the 13 women who gave birth to the LPGA.
“It's always a great feeling to play in front of the Founders and show them our golf,” says Inbee Park. “It's because of them that we are here competing in such a high level of golf. Women's golf has grown so much since they founded the tour.”
Like the creation of the LPGA itself, the Founders Cup was an idea that defied all odds. “I really believe this event reflects who we are, where we came from, and our commitment to the future,” Whan says.
“The cool thing is that I can already see players, and sponsors, and media personal today that will likely be recognized as Pioneers 20 or 30 years from now. That ‘Act Like a Founder’ mentality is alive and well in the LPGA today, and I hope that events like the Bank of Hope Founders Cup, keep it front-and-center for the next 70 years.”
There is no reason to doubt that won’t be the case. Like the LPGA, the Founders Cup was born out of vision and faith. And now it is a cornerstone of the LPGA of which the Founders can look on with pride.
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