LPGA's Corning Classic Latest Casualty of Slumping Economy

A tournament that had stood as a model of stability and comfort for the LPGA Tour and its players for the better part of three decades will be contested for the final time next month.

Monday afternoon Tournament President Jack Benjamin and the Corning Classic's Board of Directors announced that it had become "economically unfeasible" to sustain the tournament beyond 2009.

“This is a most difficult decision for all of us,” said Benjamin. “Everyone involved with the event is passionate about it and about the LPGA players who have been a part of it for more than three decades. But the realities are that the revenue opportunities in the marketplace will not support the components needed to successfully host a major event like this in our community moving forward.”

A part of the Corning, New York community since its inception in 1979, the LPGA Corning Classic is presently the longest-running event on the women's golf tour with the same title sponsor to be played at the same venue.

The Associated Press reported that the title sponsor, Corning, Inc., which specializes in glass and ceramics, had suffered a 65 percent drop in profit for the fourth quarter of 2008, lost $500,000 in sponsorship revenue in conjunction with the golf tournament and recently laid off 13 percent of its global workforce as a result of a January restructuring.

"It was an emotional and difficult decision for our leadership," Kirk Gregg, executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Corning Inc., told the AP. "We are proud to be the longest-running title sponsor on the LPGA Tour. We have had an incredible run."

Corning joins a growing list of companies ended their association with LPGA events in recent months. Prior to the release of the 2009 schedule it was known that the ADT Championship, The Fields Open in Hawaii and South Carolina's Ginn Tribute would be left off the schedule.

New sponsors have stepped in, with J Golf and Mirassou Winery coming together to foot the bill for the Tour's stop in Phoenix, and recently embattled Stanford Financial sponsoring the November Tour Championship.

But the cancellation of such a long-standing event that had become so intertwined with a small, rural community has a different tone than the previous endings.

A column in the Elmira Star-Gazette spoke to the relationship the LPGA Tour had developed with host city and Corning Country Club.

"The LPGA Corning Classic is not just another golf tournament. Not to the Twin Tiers, and not to the Ladies Professional Golf Association. The Classic had become a Memorial Day weekend tradition in this area and on the LPGA Tour, but next year at this time, we'll be talking about the Corning Classic in the past tense.

"The three-pronged effort put the Corning Country Club on the sports map, drawing fans from throughout the Northeast and attracting millions more through national television coverage. The LPGA Corning Classic brought in tourism dollars, provided exciting entertainment and, above all, built prestige for this rural area of upstate New York."

LPGA Deputy Commissioner Libba Galloway echoed that sentiment saying, ""We understand the challenges of this difficult economic environment, and we respect the decision to do the right thing for Corning and the community. "Corning has been a special stop on the tour. The community has been so welcoming to our players, our caddies, to our staff."

Since the event’s first year, the LPGA Corning Classic has paid out more than $5 million to the event’s beneficiaries – Twin Tiers area hospitals, The Rotary Club Camp STAR program, the Lions Club Sight Preservation services, The First Tee, Corning, and the George Douglas Scholarship Fund.

The Associated Press article stated that according to Gregg, Corning would help local charaties transition over the next two years.

Paula Creamer recently committed to play in the final edition of the tournament, joining defending champion Leta Lindley, Cristie Kerr, Brittany Lincicome and Natalie Gulbis, who had already stated their intention to be in the field.

Next month’s Corning Classic will pay out a total purse of $1.5 million.

“The tournament has had a great run,” said Benjamin. “We thank our legion of volunteers and sponsors for the past 31 years. While this will be our last tournament, we are committed to executing one of the finest women’s professional golf tournaments you will find on the LPGA Tour.”

For ticket information, visit www.corningclassic.com .

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