LPGA at 50 still has some growing to do

WILMINGTON, Del. - The slogan for the Ladies Professional Golf Association is a catchy ''Hey, we can play.''

But a more pressing question facing today's LPGA might be ''Yeah, but does anybody care?''

While women's sports such as soccer, softball, tennis and basketball are enjoying popularity boosts and the men's golf tour rides Tiger Woods to unprecedented heights, the LPGA must shore up its spot on the American sports landscape. Indeed, 2000 has provided a mixed celebration for the LPGA's 50th anniversary.

Gaps in the schedule, declining TV ratings, purses that lag far behind the PGA and an sexual image are just a few of the troubling issues facing the LPGA:

- Schedule difficulties: Fearing complete anonymity, the LPGA does not even schedule events against such mainstays as the Super Bowl or The Masters. And last week, instead of going against the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, the LPGA shipped off to France for the Evian Masters.

Next month's U.S. Women's Open in Libertyville, Ill., will be played against the men's British Open when Woods again will grab massive attention.

- TV woes: The LPGA bounces from network to network with no real rhyme or reason. NBC, ABC, CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, The Golf Channel and Lifetime cable network all intermittently carry LPGA events. Yet the tour is never shown more than two consecutive weeks on any of the major networks.

As a result, ratings continue to sag (around 1.3 weekly up to 2.2 or so for majors), ranking below competing women's tennis and WNBA offerings. That figure is paltry next to the 8.8 Woods pulled for the final round of the U.S. Open.

Meanwhile, on-course attendance figures appear soft. During the first round of last week's McDonald's LPGA Championship, money-leader Karrie Webb teed off before perhaps 100 or so spectators (Tiger needs more security than that). The LPGA claimed 95,000 fans attended the event.

- Money issues: The LPGA says its purses have increased 112 percent in the 1990s. Nonetheless, they come up woefully short compared with the PGA. Webb's four wins in 11 events has earned her $953,463. That would place her 17th on the PGA money list, more than $28,000 behind the immortal Robert Allenby. Webb and chief rival Annika Sorenstam's combined $1,654,098 is barely more than 10th-place PGA player Stewart Cink ($1,457,218).

It gets worse. Inkster ranks third on the LPGA at $641,057. That's less than No. 39 PGA player Robert Damron ($649,183). With $183,731, Craig A. Spence is struggling to hold his PGA card at No. 125. That same figure ranks 27th on the LPGA list.

These problems are familiar to LPGA supporters, who insist their challenge is to spread the word.

''We can do more with publicity,'' Webb said. ''It's not until people are out there watching us that they realize how good we actually play.''

LPGA officials express frustration over their lack of publicity because they feel the sport should be popular with both women and men who play golf casually.

Though LPGA players do play from shorter tees, the yardage of their courses is comparable to those played by most male recreational players. The LPGA Championship was contested at the 6,408-yard, par-71 DuPont Country Club. Two par-5's were more than 500 yards while five par-4's were in the 400-yard range. Short that is not.

Meanwhile, the top 10 LPGA players in driving distance average over 256 yards, distances recreational players rarely reach. LPGA players increasingly use the five-, seven- and nine-wood for approach shots. These utility clubs are recommended by many teaching pros to male recreational pupils.

LPGA players compare favorably statistically to their PGA counterparts. Sorenstam's .753 greens-in-regulation percentage is better than even Woods. Amy Fruhwirth's .849 driving accuracy figure easily bests PGA leader Loren Roberts (.790). Webb's 69.54 stroke average is bettered by only seven PGA players.

The Webb-Sorenstam rivalry is golf's best. Those two have won seven of 19 LPGA events this year with the top-ranked Webb holding a 4-3 edge. Anybody challenge Tiger like that?

These are the things LPGA commissioner Ty Votaw wants folks to know.

''We're the healthiest we have ever been,'' Votaw said. ''We have our best pool of talented players ever. We're on (TV) 250 hours a year with 31 events televised - the most of any women's professional sport. All of our tournaments are in solid position. I'm more than pleased with the state of our sport.''

So why does the LPGA struggle for attention? Here come the murky, non-PC explanations.

Consider young tennis star Anna Kournikova. She never has won a pro tournament yet rakes in huge endorsement cash and recently made the cover of Sports Illustrated. Clearly, her blonde good looks make her lack of success irrelevant.

The LPGA has not had that kind of sex appeal since the late 1970s and early '80s when Jan Stephenson, Laura Baugh and Nancy Lopez among others had poster-girl looks.

Then there's the touchy issue of lesbianism. Though a few LPGA players have acknowledged their sexuality, the tour maintains an uneasy kind of don't-ask-don't-tell truce.

The HBO program ''Real Sports'' pierced that calm by airing a segment last month about the thousands of lesbians who gather near Palm Springs, Calif., each year for the Nabisco Championships (formerly the Dinah Shore Invitational) amid a spring break-like party atmosphere.

Pepper called the story ''a hatchet job'' while Votaw called it ''gotcha-journalism at its worst.'' He claims some in the media are unnecessarily fixated on the LPGA-lesbian storyline.

''As far as we're concerned, the whole thing is a non-story,'' Votaw said.

Mariah Hanson, a promoter of lesbian events that weekend, disagrees.

''There is definitely a lesbian appeal to golf,'' Hanson said. ''And so it works for us as promoters to associate ourselves with a golf weekend.''

Sexuality, however, is unimportant to some fans.

''That stuff doesn't matter to me. It should be personal,'' said spectator Mary Humphrey of Wilmington, Del., at the LPGA Championship. ''I come here to see the wonderful players who are role models for young women like Nancy Lopez. She's who I'm pulling for.''

The LPGA's future is tied to its youth. It desperately needs a young American star to galvanize interest as the 24-year-old Woods has.

And it wouldn't hurt if she were attractive or a minority. Currently, no American player under 30 is ranked in the top 20 of the money list.

''(A young U.S. star) would definitely help,'' Lopez said.

Simply winning consistently is no guarantee of attention, either. Webb, an Australian, has had a similar career to Woods but not nearly the acclaim.

''I think because Tiger and my careers have paralleled so much, I think the LPGA hasn't gotten as much attention,'' said Webb, 25, who has 10 LPGA victories over the last 18 months compared with Woods' 12 wins in the last 14 months.

''I think what Karrie has done on our tour is just as good as what Tiger has done on their side of the tour,'' said Inkster.

Meanwhile, Votaw will keep beating the positive drum.

''I'm a glass-is-half-full person so I'm very bullish on our future,'' Votaw said. ''If we need to improve one thing it's people's appreciation of our players' abilities. And I think we're doing that now. We just need to do a better job of it.''

John Lindsay writes for Scripps Howard News Service.