LPGA Major Opens Pro-Am To Public

From the Deseret News:

The downturn in the national economy will give local amateur golfers a chance to play with top LPGA pros in the Kraft Nabisco Championship’s two-day pro-am.

Gabe Codding, head of tournament operations for the Kraft Nabisco, said Thursday that tournament owner Kraft is cutting back on customer service aspects of the tournament in 2009, meaning Kraft won’t bring out as many clients or corporate executives to the event at Mission Hill Country Club.

In turn, the tournament now has about 200 berths into its pro-am that will now be available to the public for $10,000. The berths include golf for two days with an LPGA pro, one day each on the Dinah Shore Tournament and Palmer courses, as well as a pairings party, awards party and admission for the week to the LPGA major championship. The pro-am will still feature 20 to 25 celebrities.

I find it interesting that Kraft is the owner of the Tournament formerly known as the Dinah Shore, and not merely the sponsor. In that sense, it has the same independent status as the US Open, British Open, PGA Championship and Masters, all of which are men’s “Majors”, yet none of which are owned by the PGA Tour.

I’m hoping that the Masters runs into economic difficulty so I can buy a spot in a pro-am there.