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Post by HappyFan on Sept 6, 2015 21:44:37 GMT
IMO...it seems like the JLPGA has larger galleries than the KLPGA. Not sure that's right, but keep in mind that the JLPGA contains most of the top Japanese stars. Imagine if the KLPGA retained the stars who leave, and added the ones on the LPGA? The crowds would be insane, like they are when they show up for the Hana Bank each year. |
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Post by philknj on Sept 7, 2015 1:01:11 GMT
mr3putt: Only on the Internet. Too bad I didn't live in Colorado in 2011...I would have attended the USWO and seen these "visitors from Mars": BML, Sharon, Ryu, Hye Youn Kim, SJ Yang, Jeong Mi Jeon, etc. BML made the cut, but withdrew after the 3rd round (77-72-76). I can only hope she's at Trump/Bedminster for the 2017 USWO. I think her golf travels outside of Asia are almost non-existent. Sharon has gotten around a little bit more...made the cut a couple times at Evian and played the ANA in 2011 (MC). mr3putt: I assume you mean Hikari Fujita, who picked up her first career win earlier this season  mr3putt: I don't think they're as feverish as they once were...with Ai Miyazato's game going down the tubes, she doesn't have the same army of photographers following her like in the old days. At the 2013 USWO, I remember seeing a dedicated media crew following Momoko Ueda inside the ropes, but I didn't see anything like that for Erika Kikuchi or Rumi Yoshiba at LCC this year. ------ I just started watching the Round 3 replay...great sound crews in Japan.. early on, Teresa Lu hit an iron and immediately said in a calm clear voice, "Oh sh&@".   |
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Post by johnboy on Sept 7, 2015 10:13:55 GMT
IMO...it seems like the JLPGA has larger galleries than the KLPGA. Not sure that's right, but keep in mind that the JLPGA contains most of the top Japanese stars. Imagine if the KLPGA retained the stars who leave, and added the ones on the LPGA? The crowds would be insane, like they are when they show up for the Hana Bank each year. |
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Post by johnboy on Sept 7, 2015 10:17:21 GMT
Not sure that's right, but keep in mind that the JLPGA contains most of the top Japanese stars. Imagine if the KLPGA retained the stars who leave, and added the ones on the LPGA? The crowds would be insane, like they are when they show up for the Hana Bank each year. Sorry Happyfan but i don't agree, the JLPGA galleries far exceed the KLPGA, you only have to watch the SBS golf coverage or the gettyimages of the JLPGA to see that Most KLPGA events don't even have a grand stand on the 18th green while just yesterdays event on JLPGA which had heavy rain had a gallery the KLPGA would be envious of. I think the KLPGA will struggle in 2016 as most of it's stars in the last two years have left or leaving for the LPGA. |
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Post by philknj on Sept 7, 2015 17:57:34 GMT
johnboy: They didn't have a grandstand at the 18th green for the Golf5. Check out Bo Mee's crazy fairway bunker shot (1:09 thru 2:05) on Saturday, and you'll see a huge open space between the back of the green and the clubhouse. The scoreboard was on the far left, out of view: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v9mKsaakeEI'm not keeping count of grandstands from one tour vs. another. Most golf courses were not designed with "stadium" golf in mind. The Golf5 was wise NOT to have a grandstand behind the 18th green...that huge open space was jammed with people during the playoff. We'll have close to an apples-to-apples comparison this coming week as both tours are having majors. We'll see if location is an issue...the JLPGA will be about ten miles out of Nagasaki, while the KLPGA will be in the middle of nowhere. |
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Post by HappyFan on Sept 8, 2015 5:12:57 GMT
Sorry Happyfan but i don't agree, the JLPGA galleries far exceed the KLPGA, you only have to watch the SBS golf coverage or the gettyimages of the JLPGA to see that Most KLPGA events don't even have a grand stand on the 18th green while just yesterdays event on JLPGA which had heavy rain had a gallery the KLPGA would be envious of. I think the KLPGA will struggle in 2016 as most of it's stars in the last two years have left or leaving for the LPGA. Exceed? Maybe. Far exceed?
I doubt it. 
I watch a fair amount of the KLPGA on SBS. I will agree that the crowds are often sparse on the weekdays and especially the past few weeks have been less stellar, but when a big star like Hyo Joo Kim was setting records, they were quite good.
Last September:
The tour does seem to be having a bit of a downturn with the stars leaving and having injuries lately, as I mentioned before. I do sometimes wonder what will happen when In Gee leaves, if Jin Young Ko does not fill the gap and no other new big names arise right away (I think there will be someone eventually). There could be a lean year or two ahead, at least by recent standards...
Also, I found several examples of events with 18th hole grandstands. The NH Ladies Championship earlier this year had one (I found a photo on a blog and I couldn't post it, alas).
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Post by bangkokbobby on Sept 8, 2015 12:50:14 GMT
While we can point out a particular tournament where there was a huge gallery or another one where there wasn't...heck, you could do that on the LPGA or LET too...my sense from following both the JLPGA and KLPGA is that on average, the Japanese tour has larger crowds. I'm not making a value judgement in saying that larger crowds makes the quality of play any better, I'm just giving my opinion based on what I see. For that matter, there are times I think the Japanese tour and the Korean tour pull crowds as large or larger than some small LPGA events. Sometimes I watch the smaller LPGA events and worry that the crowds are basically following a handful of players and everybody else is playing in front of their families and a few die hard fans.
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Post by philknj on Sept 8, 2015 13:48:41 GMT
bkb:
BINGO!
-------
The SBS broadcasts can be misleading regarding gallery sizes. For the KLPGA, they'll show the marquis groups play the whole course over a five-hour period. As a result, you'll see many vacant areas behind the ropes here and there. But, the 90-minute JLPGA broadcast usually starts with the leaders at the 15th hole and all the spectators have funneled down with them to #18. For the scrubs who began their day at #10 and are finishing up on the front nine, it's probably just family and friends following.
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Post by HappyFan on Sept 8, 2015 16:39:08 GMT
Of course, I could keep posting photos of a bunch of different KLPGA events, many of which have galleries like the ones above; it's more common for them to have big galleries than you imply. But the point is, I think the KLPGA does very well for itself. It does depend who they show in a broadcast, though. The leaders and popular players will always have a sizeable crowd. Even on a slow Thursday a few weeks ago I noticed In Gee Chun's group had a few hundred following her, where most of the other groups had a dozen or fewer fans. And I think the idea that the JLPGA has galleries which "far exceed" the KLPGA is not exactly spot on regardless. |
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Post by mr3putt on Sept 8, 2015 17:16:20 GMT
Sorry Happyfan but i don't agree, the JLPGA galleries far exceed the KLPGA, you only have to watch the SBS golf coverage or the gettyimages of the JLPGA to see that Most KLPGA events don't even have a grand stand on the 18th green while just yesterdays event on JLPGA which had heavy rain had a gallery the KLPGA would be envious of. I think the KLPGA will struggle in 2016 as most of it's stars in the last two years have left or leaving for the LPGA. Glad you agree with me. Ya...the gallery this past weekend with all the rain was still very strong. The attendance to JLPGA majors would out pace any standard US event. |
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Post by mr3putt on Sept 8, 2015 17:23:38 GMT
Sometimes I watch the smaller LPGA events and worry that the crowds are basically following a handful of players and everybody else is playing in front of their families and a few die hard fans. Prattville is one of the worst...and it's only $10 ticket with free admission for children and the military. The Founders was dormant on Thurs/Fri a few years ago. And I don't buy any of the economy tanked stuff. The PGA WM Phoenix Open can draw crowds in excess of 600,000 just miles away from the Founders |
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Post by mr3putt on Sept 8, 2015 17:32:56 GMT
I never thought the galleries at the Hana Bank were all that huge...yes it's well attended but I think the attendance should be men's major like.
Sky 72 is located in metro Seoul (8+ million), Koreans are GOLF NUTS and women's golf is more popular that men's pro golf in S. Korea.
I had never attended a men's major until this year at Chamber's Bay.....the infrastructure build had my jaw dropped...it was crazy huge....the 18th grandstand was a monster...too bad it will go down in history as THE MOST FAN UNFRIENDLY event.
But then again with a deeper LPGA tour, this year's CP CWO had 1/5 the gallery than 2012...it's un-explainable.
And considering how GOLF NUTS Korean are...one would think that the KLPGA would have a larger and richer tour than the JLPGA.
The largest galleries I've seen for women's golf was 2011 Sunrise in Taiwan (that was so exciting watching Yani win) and Lancaster this year...that was nuts.
The 2005 USWO had 125,000...but I can't remember what I saw on TV.
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Post by HappyFan on Sept 9, 2015 16:49:07 GMT
I never thought the galleries at the Hana Bank were all that huge...yes it's well attended but I think the attendance should be men's major like. Sky 72 is located in metro Seoul (8+ million), Koreans are GOLF NUTS and women's golf is more popular that men's pro golf in S. Korea. I had never attended a men's major until this year at Chamber's Bay.....the infrastructure build had my jaw dropped...it was crazy huge....the 18th grandstand was a monster...too bad it will go down in history as THE MOST FAN UNFRIENDLY event. But then again with a deeper LPGA tour, this year's CP CWO had 1/5 the gallery than 2012...it's un-explainable. And considering how GOLF NUTS Korean are...one would think that the KLPGA would have a larger and richer tour than the JLPGA. The largest galleries I've seen for women's golf was 2011 Sunrise in Taiwan (that was so exciting watching Yani win) and Lancaster this year...that was nuts. The 2005 USWO had 125,000...but I can't remember what I saw on TV. Your memory is failing you. On Sunday at the Hana Bank they were literally hanging from cliffs on some of the holes watching the action. Even the commentators talked about how crazy it was. Keep in mind that the KLPGA has been growing from a much smaller place than the JLPGA. The JLPGA has been a major tour for some time. Even ten years ago, the KLPGA had fewer than 20 events; 20 years ago I think it had fewer than ten. If you look at the growth of the tour, it's been quite impressive, especially in the past four years. And that's despite the fact they almost always lose their biggest stars to the LPGA and JLPGA. Imagine if they could hang on to those women like the JLPGA does with their stars? The KLPGA is more like Symetra 1.5 than LPGA when you consider how many of their stars leave (ie, better than Symetra but not quite LPGA). Yet they still attract extremely strong crowds. I'd say this proves Koreans love watching them. |
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Post by mr3putt on Sept 9, 2015 17:57:37 GMT
Your memory is failing you. On Sunday at the Hana Bank they were literally hanging from cliffs on some of the holes watching the action. Even the commentators talked about how crazy it was. The commentators often say how large the crowds are at LPGA events and zoom in on a specific gallery.....when indeed the galleries might only be average at best. I've posted this before.....but this article demonstrates how the media can and will elaborate things. 2013 was Safeway's last year of their sponsorship and they didn't build the infrastructure like previous year's and attendance was poor.....maybe 25,000 all week....not 71,500 as reported. Vern was there and he can verify a weak attendance. www.oregonlive.com/golf/index.ssf/2013/09/safeway_classic_tournament_dra.html |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2015 21:53:47 GMT
What is an average purse on LET, KLPGA, JLPGA and LPGA? I assume the LPGA is generally much higher otherwise, why bother coming hers? It certainly isn't for fame.
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