Paula Creamer’s win an important victory for the LPGA Tour

If you tuned into the P&G Beauty Northwest Arkansas Championship a few weeks ago on Fourth of July weekend, and let's just pretend that you did for arguments sake, a quick glance at the leaderboard probably sent you searching for the remote, most likely pressing the return key and getting back to Federer-Nadal at Wimbledon.

On that Sunday afternoon the LPGA Tour first page was populated by the likes of Seon Hwa Lee, Jane Park, Meena Lee, Karen Stupples, Ai Miyazato, Kristy McPherson, Angela Park, Na Yeon Choi, Eun-Hee Ji and Inbee Park; not exactly the cast of characters required to carry a network telecast. 

Seon Hwa Lee, who would go onto win the event and pick up her second victory of the year, is a rising star on the LPGA Tour but even the avid golf fan would have trouble recognizing her name. Inbee Park just won the U.S. Women's Open at Interlachen but she isn't Lorena Ochoa, Annika Sorenstam or Natalie Gulbis in terms of public appeal. McPherson was one of two Americans to finish in the top 10 but the 2007 rookie and former University of South Carolina golfer is still years away from a fan base; she also placed in the top 10 at this past week's Jamie Farr Classic.

This summer the LPGA Tour has a real, tangible opportunity to make some headway for women's sports and actually capture some of the golfing public's attention with a certain someone named Woods relegated to the sidelines. However, if the leaderboards continue to consist of players we've never heard of and whose names we can't pronounce, the LPGA will lose a golden opportunity. Call it our society's Xenophobic attitude toward athletes not representing the Red, White and Blue or call it the well-defined gap between men's and women's sports in this country but players named Miyazato just aren't the public relations muscle needed by the LPGA.

That's why Paula Creamer's wire-to-wire victory last week at the LPGA Jamie Farr Classic was the biggest win of her career and the most important result on the LPGA Tour this season. It broke a string of five consecutive wins by players of Asian descent and put an American back into the spotlight. This is in no way a commentary on the lack of talent by foreign players from the Far East or an attempt to render their abilities meaningless and unworthy of our attention but for women's professional golf to ascend to another tier the Inbee Park's of the world need players like Creamer to share the spotlight with them on Sunday.

Creamer, the 21-year-old American, who will turn 22 in August, finished with a 16-under 68 to beat fellow American Nicole Castrale by two strokes at the $1.3 million tournament. Better yet, she made national headlines by flirting with the LPGA Tour record of 59 held by Sorenstam. She finished with a 20-foot birdie putt and signed for a 60 on Thursday.

With Sorenstam's impending retirement, women's golf needs players like Ochoa, Creamer, Gulbis, Morgan Pressel and Stacy Lewis to be in contention every week. On the contrary, this has been a very good year for superstars on Tour. Sorenstam, Creamer and Ochoa have combined for twelve wins thus far but most of that damage was done when the golfing public was captivated by talk of a possible Grand Slam by Tiger. No time is better than the present for that trio to make its presence known or for some young American players to make a name for themselves.

"I just think that there's so many opportunities out there, and it's just a matter of time that, you know, when the Americans can come in and come through," said Creamer at a press conference prior to the event in Arkansas. "Last year was a great year for us, probably the best year that we've had in a long time, and you know, it's coming around. It's difficult to say, you know, what's the reasoning behind it all, why it doesn't happen, but it's coming."

A successful summer by American women would be better now than later. But if the worldwide influence continues on the Tour, the LPGA won't necessarily take a step back but women's professional golf won't get ahead. Without Tiger, the PGA Tour might have to settle for a long string of pars for the rest of its season. The LPGA can't afford to miss any short birdies putts.

This week the LPGA Tour visits Springfield, Ill., for the LPGA State Farm Classic. The field is headlined by Michelle Wie, Christina Kim, Nancy Lopez as well as McPherson, Erica Blasberg, runway model Anna Rawson, Brittany Lang, Allison Fouch and Pat Hurst.