Raising the roof

The 2010 LPGA season hasn't started yet but seems like it will be a total success. The players are close to wrapping up the offseason and ready to begin one of the most challenging years in the tour's history. If you think of 2009 you might recall a troubled season with sponsors dropping out and bad decisions from former Commissioner Bivens, terrible enough that she had to leave in a hurry.

Commissioner Michael Whan has a lot of work ahead and seems like his nailing it.

Today the LPGA announced a new tournament after battling with this year's schedule, which wasn't good enough, at least by September 2009. Now, there's a new whole ambiance sorrounding the tour and the sponsors are coming back, maybe not fast enough, but the important thing is they're committed to keep the business going, even when they had lost the confidence and faith they used to have in the LPGA.

As you might remember, May was one of the worst months in this year's calendar; today Sybase gave us a surprises after announcing the Sybase Match Play Championship, which will be held at the Hamilton Farm Golf Club in Gladstone, New Jersey, from May 20-23.

The field will introduce 64 of the top LPGA professionals, who will battle for a $1.5 million purse. All the matches will be organized in a bracket-style format. The winner will leave the course with a $375,000 paycheck.

This event will take Corning Classic's spot in the schedule, after being part of the LPGA for 30 years. Sybase used to sponsor the Sybase Classic from 2001 to 2006 and from 2007 to 2009 ShopRite became the representing sponsor, still tha name remained the same.

The Sybase Match Play Championship will bring back a format that was abandoned in 2007 after HSBC decided to sponsor a new event in Singapore, the HSBC Women's Championship, instead of the HSBC Women's Match Play.

The Hamilton Farm Golf Club held the 2005 and 2006 HSBC Women's Match Play