Modest Votaw a hard act to follow

Adam Candee

Wednesday, April 13, 2005 | 9:31 a.m.

It's great that the LPGA is on the upswing, its outgoing commissioner says, but Ty Votaw refuses to take too much of the credit.

No, he's too smart for that.

"I think commissioners get more credit than they deserve when things go well," Votaw said. "And I think they get more blame than they deserve when things go poorly. The success of the LPGA in the past seven years is not because of me."

If not him, it is Votaw's vision that has driven the tour from obscurity to stability since he stepped up from within the organization to become commissioner in 1999. He is a realistic minimalist who tried to maximize his best assets, acknowledging the tour's position as a niche sport but striving to get the most of that position as what he calls a "value proposition" for sponsors and fans.

Votaw will step down as commissioner by the end of the 2005 season and the search for his replacement is long under way. Replacing the man who slashed the number of LPGA events but increased the quality of the ones he kept or grew will be challenging, especially as Votaw receives so much of the praise for upping total prize money by almost $9 million and leaving the tour in the capable hands of Annika Sorenstam and a generation of young, talented and attractive stars.

Really, who wants to be the guy after the guy? Or does the new commissioner have to be a guy at all?

Plenty of players are ready to see the first female commissioner in LPGA history.

"It's time for a woman," said 31-year tour veteran Jan Stephenson said. "Women are coming into their own and golf has always been a man's world. Things have changed so much that I think it's time for us to be the leaders.

"I think it sends a message that we believe in women."

Eight-year tour veteran Heather Daly-Donofrio, a Yale graduate and Oxford student, is the president of the LPGA and co-chair of the search committee. With the assistance of recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles, the committee is in charge of identifying and selecting candidates for the job.

Daly-Donofrio said there is "no added value" being placed on selecting a woman as the next commissioner.

"We are keeping it so open-minded," Daly-Donofrio said. "We are looking at so many candidates over a wide range of specialties. We don't want to limit ourselves by saying, this is the type of person we want."

Ideally, the search would be completed at some point during this season, Daly-Donofrio said. That would give time for a smooth transition between Votaw and the incoming commissioner.

That a search is happening is a surprise. Votaw, 42, unexpectedly announced before the season that he would leave after spending the past 14 years with the LPGA. He first joined the organization as general counsel in 1991 and moved up to the commissioner's role in 1999.

Votaw, though, decided that after spending the better part of his adult life with the LPGA, the time was right to move on. He declines to elaborate on future plans, labeling them "unformed and irrelevant" and avoiding speculation that he could be in line for a high-ranking job with either the PGA of America or the PGA tour.

Taking over from Jim Ritts, Votaw felt the LPGA was getting watered down with too many tournaments and not enough star players in each of them. He helped cut the number of events down to 32 by this year, with the average purse up to a record $1.4 million.

Votaw grabbed attention among players with his "Five Points of Celebrity" initiative. While the most debated aspect was his encouragement for players to maintain a good personal appearance, the plan also established guidelines for dealing with fans and media. Votaw also implemented the "1 in 4" rule, whereby each player is required to play each tournament at least once every four years.

The organization is in good shape with the dominance of Sorenstam and the emergence of teen star Michelle Wie grabbing headlines. The LPGA will have a full-time national TV presence this year as well, with every event being televised on ESPN2 or on a major network.

Corporate sponsorship is in place with the likes of ADT, Rolex and Mastercard, and Votaw is acknowledging the tour's growing international presence by extending tournaments into overseas markets.

While the tour has experienced stellar growth during Votaw's tenure, players see room for improvement. Promotional efforts through marketing and public relations top the list.

"We need to get to the point where the average household can name 10 to 20 LPGA players," Daly-Donofrio said.

Stephenson, a pioneer in the marketing arena with her controversial cheesecake calendar shot in 1986, feels that the next commissioner can take on such tasks as part of her job.

"Ty's done a wonderful job and he's tried to market and PR, but I think we really need to go another step up," Stephenson said. "Media's going to be the key. They're only going to learn it from media.

"There's so many beautiful, talented women out here that everybody needs to learn them, their names. I think it's time for us to get to the next level with more marketing and PR."

While that might include efforts like Natalie Gulbis' pinup calendar and racy photo spreads, it definitely extends to the golf and youthful attractiveness of the Wie Generation that encompasses Paula Creamer, Erica Blasberg, Brittany Lincicome and other teen starlets.

Votaw saw opportunities for young stars to make an impression and did not stand in the way of the 15-year-old Wie garnering sponsor's exemptions or PGA tour berths. In fact, he all but encouraged it.

And while he may have more ideas for the next LPGA commissioner, don't expect Votaw to push his views in the search or leave a to-do list on his desk.

"I'm not going to assert myself," Votaw said. "But I'm available."