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@jasonsobelgc U say never a doubt about her being approved…and that = controversy? I see your point miss and raise you contrived tension!

 JasonSobelGC

• LPGA still benefited: If the Let Lexi Play campaign was ‘overhyped’ and ‘pointless’, I’m quite sure just fine with the LPGA.  And it wasn’t pointless at all.  It mobilized the golfing community to CARE, (even passionately you could say) about the LPGA, something that many have not done for some time.  
• LPGA compliance in hype: Sobel basically points the finger at Lexi’s sponsors and management company for driving the ‘pointless’ campaign…which is true they were the engine. But he paints the LPGA as, at worst, inept handlers of their response by saying: “That’s not to say the LPGA isn’t completely without blame in its handling of this situation. When Thompson won two weeks ago, the organization issued a quixotic release stating that if she advanced through Qualifying School, she would have the ability to become a full-time member.  Quite simply, the immediate reaction could have been much less formal. If Whan or another high-ranking official had simply said, “Look, she’s going to be an LPGA member very shortly; as soon as we receive her petition, we’ll approve it,” they could have avoided the negative backlash that occurred in the wake of her victory.”

Pretty reasonable idea right…why wouldn’t the LPGA have done just that? Possibly because they saw the upside of an ‘overhyped’ and ‘pointless’ marketing campaign that grabbed the attention of (at least) their core golfing community, if not a broader audience?  Even if it meant the LPGA had to play the heavy in the campaign for a couple of weeks, the beneifts likely outweighed any downside to their rep, which has not been stellar anyway.

At any rate, all of this is just swirl around the bigger story which is that the LPGA may (emphasis on may) finally have its next big star to help elevate interest in their product. 

And if not, then there’s always another overhyped and pointless marketing campaign for the next potential superstar that can try again.