Amy Alcott blasts LA Times on coverage of women's golf

we had it as the lead of the golf roundup each day and run more of it in the roundup, but that's about it for us.

 

Knowing Amy -- and having worked an event she hosted three years ago -- I'm going to tread lightly here. But this is not surprising. She may be years removed from her last truly competitive round of golf, but the woman is still passionate about the game -- both for the men and for the women.

I've seen her at events; she's a Riviera member who coached Philly Mick on some of the course's nuances before this year's Nissan. She also hosts a radio golf show with another woman, who I've rustled up guests for at a couple events.

Nor am I surprised the Times didn't cover it. They've cut way back on their golf coverage, cut back to the point where they don't have preview stories on the Champions Tour event in Orange County until Wednesday of tournament week. And that's in their backyard.

Not only that, but they've had a smorgasboard of people not named Tommy Bonk, Chris Dufresne (who doubles on tournament coverage) or Peter Yoon (their local golf writer) cover events.

Speaking of Bonk, who happens to be one of the most talented wordsmiths among golf writers in the country, he used to write an excellent golf notebook every Thursday. That has morphed into a "Five Things to Watch For" this weekend, for -- I presume -- space reasons.

It's yet another loss for the readers of the LA Times.

 

I gather the LA Times mentioned that Amanda Beard posed nude in Playboy. What does that say?

 

DL III A DOORKNOB?

Yeah, I'm good with that.

 

Bit of a threadjack, but I'd be curious to see what the credential count is like at Wimbledon this year -- seems as papers consider travel cuts, that's a trip that some might cut back on.

As long as the LPGA allows the Wie silliness -- where an 18 over results in a season DQ, and she keeps withdrawing at 17 over -- they're losing a lot of their credibility with me. We've got some compelling locals that probably raise our interest and coverage levels, but I doubt that's the case in most major markets ...

 

While its interest lags far behind Tennis and the major three sports in this country, it has never been more popular.

 

I'm with you there.

I though the previous post was referencing the Times possibly not "covering" the event as it was ongoing.

 

Let me add that the Times has covered the U.S. Women's Open in the past -- four years ago when it was at Pumpkin Ridge outside Portland. I can't remember if they covered the '05 Open at Cherry Hills, but I don't think they covered last year's at Newport CC (I was on vacation that week, getting ignored by the Toronto chapter of SportsJournalists.com ;D )

The paper has done many things on women's golf. Back in the flush times (key words, there) of 2000, it sent Peter Yoon to Sacramento to chronicle Annika when she was threatening Nancy Lopez's record for consecutive victories. It has written on local juniors like Jane Park.

It just hasn't done much lately, most likely because of space and budget reasons.

 

...and reader and public interest (which subsists somewhere between feculence and foot).

 

Nothing in the WEDNESDAY paper for a tournament that began on THURSDAY?

Methinks Amy needs to be glad there was something (at least I assume there was) in the Thursday paper.

 

Good point.

 

No, it's not. It's just what we do when we don't like what somebody says -- we turn on them.

Amy Alcott's getting up in years. Apparently, she didn't qualify to play. Maybe she was injured. Maybe she had some other pressing engagement. Y'all don't know.

Anyway, let's turn it around: What better reason to want something in your paper about the Women's Open than the fact that you weren't able to be there yourself?