The LPGA will end its season next year with a $1 million prize for whomever shoots the best score over the final 18 holes of the season.

That’s just one of several changes that new LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens has planned for the ladies tour. The 2006 season will feature:

* 34 events, with prize money totaling $49.3 million, a 9.4% increase from 2005
* A second event in Hawaii, which will give the LPGA two straight weeks in the islands to kick off the season.
* A return to Orlando with the $2.5 million Ginn Clubs and Resorts Open.
* A new sponsore for the Canadian Women’s Open - CN, the Canadian National Railway, which will increase the purse by $400,000 to $1.7 million
* Five events with a purse of at least $2 million
* New host venues added to the 2006 schedule – Black Hawk Country Club (Longs Drugs Challenge), Ko Olina Golf Club (Fields Open), London Hunt Club (CN Canadian Women’s Open), Newport Golf Club (U.S. Women’s Open conducted by the USGA), Reunion Resort and Club (Ginn Clubs & Resorts Open), Royal Lytham and St. Anne’s Golf Club (Weetabix Women’s British Open); and
* The launch of the LPGA Playoffs at The ADT, which features a $1,550,000 purse.

More on the playoffs

When Annika Sorenstam begins her defense of her ADT Championship title this week, she will be in pursuit of her tenth victory of the year—a haul which includes two majors.

That’s quite a year.

Doug Ferguson of the AP has a story on how Annika once considered early retirement, and her pursuit of Kathy Whitworth’s LPGA record 88 victories.

Faced with four teenaged professionals—and possibly more to come—LPGA Tour Commissioner Carolyn Bivens has convened the commissioners of other major sports to figure out how to deal with teen pros and to make sure they are ready for professional life.

The others invited include David Stern (NBA), Gary Bettman (NHL), Don Garber (MLS), Bivens and Larry Scott, chairman and CEO of the WTA Tour.

This is forward thinking, because it’s inevitable that more teens will press forward into the professional ranks. And I envision more lawsuits charging that professional sports leagues are denying teens an opportunity to make money. My understanding is that right now, it’s the collective bargaining agreements that are keeping the teens away in the NBA, NHL and NFL. But I wonder how that applies to voluntary associations like the PGA and LPGA.

Perhaps some lawyers out there can give us a better understanding of the situation.

The Golf Channel has a roundup of different player reactions to the Wie disqualification. The consensus seems to be that the DQ was warranted, but that the timing was all wrong.

“I’ve never been a big fan of that,” Woods said Tuesday when asked about people outside of the ropes calling violations. “But unfortunately it’s part of the game. And the problem I thought, it was a day late with Michelle.”

“I think it was really fair of the guy who did it. It (just) should have been handled differently; he should have called it before she signed her scorecard,” said world No. 2 Vijay Singh.

Sean O’Hair offered himself as an example of how it should have been handled. Apparently during the WGC-American Express Championship two weeks ago, playing partners Singh and David Toms brought to his attention a bad drop before the round was over, allowing him to avoid signing a bad card.

I have to agree with many of the players that it’s the timing of the thing that makes it look so bad. 

I’ve been reading about last weekend’s disqualification of Michelle Wie, and the more I think about it, the more I think it smells.

Now, I wasn’t there, but I find it hard to believe that no one at the time—no one in the audience, or the announcers, or the guys in the booth watching the feeds, noticed that it was closer to the hole. I can’t seem to find any evidence that people were calling in from home, as they have with other televised rules infractions.

And clearly, Wie didn’t think it was. Nor did her caddy. If they had any doubt at all, it would have been no matter to resolve the problem at the time.

No, it took a Sports Illustrated reporter a whole day to figure it out. And even after a review of the tape, it still wasn’t clear.

Now the truth may be that the ball was closer to hole. (Although it strains credulity that they could determine that a day later). But it certainly looks an awful lot like LPGA officials doing their best to put the 16-year-old non-LPGA member in her place.

If would have been a lot better for officials to decide that the evidence was inconclusive (I dont’ see how, a day later, it could have been otherwise) and defer to the honesty of the player. Instead, they cast a shadow on Wie’s first professional experience.