It was bound to happen. In recent months, we’ve had innovative formats for tournaments, a return to team competition and discussions about how to take some of the perceived “stuffiness” out of the sport.
Now the US LPGA Tour has taken its already strong commitment to social media promotion to a new level by awarding its final sponsor’s exemption in the Shoprite Classic (2-4 June in Galloway, New Jersey) to one of four players taking part in a vote among fans.
The tournament worked with MVP Index – a media tracking firm founded by Jordan Spieth's father Shawn – to determine the four candidates based on their popularity: Blair O'Neal, Sharmila Nicollet, Carly Booth and Susana Benavides.
O'Neal is a Golf Channel host and former Big Break winner; Nicollet, an Indian golfer who has more than 350,000 Twitter followers and played an exhibition match with Tiger Woods in India in 2014; Scottish-born Booth, a two-time Ladies European Tour winner; and Benavides, the only Bolivian-born golfer to play in an LPGA event.
