Monday's Matches at Atlanta Tennis Championships

Monday's action at the Racquet Cub of the South will include the final four qualifying maches and the main draw gets underway.

Should be good weather again on Monday as more intense heat begins to build that will be coming later in the week.

Qualifying:

Matthew EBDEN (AUS) vs. Rajeev RAM (USA)
Tim SMYCZEK (USA) vs. Phillip SIMMONDS (USA)
Marinko MATOSEVIC (AUS) vs. Denis KUDLA (USA)
Yuichi SUGITA (JAP) vs. Olivier SAJOUS (HAI)

Main Draw:

Ryan SWEETING (USA) vs. Somdev DEVVARMAN (IND)
Donald YOUNG (USA) vs. Michael RUSSELL (USA)
James BLAKE (USA) vs. Ernests GULBIS (LAT)  *  Night feature match
Alex BOGOMOLOV JR (USA) vs. Gilles MULLER (LUX)
Michael BERRER (GER) vs. Tatsuma ITO (JAP)

SEC Basketball Tournament in Atlanta

The SEC Basketball Tournament takes over the Georgia Dome this week and if past history tells us anything about the tournament, it is that something remarkable will likely happen.

It might be tornadoes, it might be coaches getting ejected, it might come down to a team playing two games in one day to win the championship.

Kentucky is the defending champion. The Wildcats beat Mississippi State 75-74 in the 2010 finals.

The tournament schedule is:

Thursday, West No. 5 Auburn vs. East No. 4 Georgia, game one, SEC Network, noon

Thursday, East No. 6 South Carolina vs. West No. 3 Ole Miss, game two, SEC Network, 2:30 pm.

Thursday, East No. 5 Tennessee vs. West No 4 Arkansas, game three, SEC Network, 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, West No. 6 LSU vs. East No. 3 Vanderbilt, game four, SEC Network, 9 p.m.

Friday, game one winner vs. West No. 1 Alabama, game five, SEC Network, noon

Friday, game two winner vs. East No. 2 Kentucky, game six, SEC Network, 2:30 p.m.

Friday, game three winner vs. East No. 1 Florida, game seven, SEC Network, 6:30 p.m.

Friday, game four winner vs. West No. 2 Mississippi State, game eight, SEC Network, 9 p.m.

Saturday, game five winner vs. game six winner, game nine, semifinals, ABC, noon

Saturday, game seven winner vs. game eight winner, game 10, semifinals, ABC, 2:30 p.m.

Sunday, championship game, Game 11, ABC, noon

This is an important tourney for teams like Vanderbilt,, Georgia and Alabama which need a good showing to keep reasonable NCAA Tournament hopes alive.  Should be some good games starting Thursday.

Where in the World, and I Mean World, is the LPGA Tour?

I think the broadcaster Harry Doyle said it best in the movie Major League when he announced, "In case you haven't noticed, and judging by the attendance you haven't."  This could be said of this year's LPGA Tour. 

A tour of young and talented female golfers might largely be ignored this year and there is plenty of blame to go around.

With only 13 events on American soil this year and one of the not even offering prize money, LPGA players like Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie, Brittany Lincicome and Morgan Pressel better get their passports and visas ready because they are going to racking up some serious frequent flyer miles if they want to play as many tournaments as possible in 2011.

What once was a tour of 30+ events criss-crossing America now takes the players to such places as Singapore, Rio de Janeiro, Guangzhou China and Kuala Lumpur.  In fact, while the men's tour tees off in Hawaii each January, the LPGA tees off this week in Chonburi, Thailand with a 12-hour time difference for fans here in the States.

What has happened to the LPGA?  Tour organizers on the record say they dont want to look back, only ahead.  Ok, so let's try and look ahead and see what can be done to "fix" the LPGA Tour and allow golf fans and sports fans in general to see how ell these ladies can play.

The LPGA has become boring.  This is what I hear many fans say.  The players have become too robotic and there aren't enough personalities to promote what is goo about the sport.  We need more Christina Kim's.

Who are these players?  Last year, it took until the end of May before a player with a name Americans could pronounce won an event.  The Korean and Japanese players are great and very talented, but for the LPGA to come back we need a huge American star.

Sponsors.  The reason many of the American events evaporated is lack of sponsors.  The downturn in the economy hurt every sport, but it hit the LPGA extremely hard.  Once you lose these sponsors, it's almost impossible to get them back, so Commissioner Mike Whan is going to have to get out there and sell his tour to potential new sponsors.  That's easier said than done with a limited schedule and hoards of international players now dominating the Americans.

TV.  Most LPGA events are on television, but nobody knows which network, what time and how long the coverage is going to last.  Make sure golf fans know when the television coverage will be on, and don't put it up against a PGA event featuring Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.  Carve out your own time slot and stick to it.

Let her play.  Last in 2010, one of the bright young stars of women's golf, Alexis Thompson was told she couldn't play more than a handful of events in 2011 because she is too young.  I don't care of a 2-year old can hit a drive 275 yards, if they are good enough to compete, and Alexis is, let her play now and as much as she wants.

Market your attractive players.  I have to say, the LPGA has tried to do this.  When you turn into first and second round coverage, you will likely see Natalie Gulbis, Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie and Christie Kerr.  They are some of the more attractive players on the tour and we see a lot of them.  Almost too much, we see them all the time and we get a little sick of them after a while.  Mix it up and let us see some of the the other up and coming players once in a while.

Promote, promote, promote.  The LPGA needs to put it's players out there so the public can get to know them.  I don't know what it's going to take, Natalie Gulbis did a stint on The Apprentice, but more needs to be done.  A reality show, more meet and greets, maybe a fantasy camp where you can go and play with these girls. Maybe some tournaments need to be started with 50 LPGA players and 50 guys who aren't good enough for the PGA Tour.  A "Battle of the Sexes series of events in the off season.  I'm just throwing ideas out there.

There is a lot to chew on here, but looking at the downward spiral the LPGA is on, there is a lot to fix.  This tour has been around for almost 60 years, if they want to make another 60 they need to make adjustments.  I'd like to hear your comments.  E-mail:  rclimpert@yahoo.com


Officials Hope Ryder Cup Can Finish on Sunday

It's going to be a challenge, but Ryder Cup officials are hoping to still finish the event on Sunday.

To do this, they have rearranged the schedule, and that appears to favor the European team.

The new schedule calls for six alternate shot matches in the second session instead of the normal four, and two alternate shot and four better ball matches in the third session. That means all players will be out on the course for both sessions.

The Eurpoean team is thought to have more depth, so the U.S. can rest the players they wanted to do a couple days ago.

None of the four matches was completed on Friday, but the U.S. team rallied late and was leading in two and all-square in another. Europe was leading one match.

Officials say they hope to finish the team play Sunday morning, then try to fit in the 12 singles matches. All 28 points will still be at stake.

“We felt that we must do everything we can to finish the Ryder Cup on Sunday, the chosen day, while maintaining the integrity of the match,” said George O’Grady, the chief executive of the European Tour said. “If you look at what we are doing now, we are still playing for 28 points. Both captains have fully agreed.”

The weather forecast for Sunday is for rain, meaning there still could be a Monday finish.  Break out the rain gear!