LPGA season begins with more events, optimism (AP)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP)—A dry board in the office of LPGA Tour
commissioner Mike Whan is filled with black-and-blue, an appropriate color
scheme for a tour that had been taking its lumps over the last couple of years.

The colors are used for the schedule—blue ink for those that are a work in
progress, black ink for the done deals.

The board is mostly black these days.

A new LPGA Tour season gets under way this week at Royal Melbourne with the
Women’s Australian Open, one of four additional tournaments on the 2012 schedule
that have helped nudge momentum in a favorable direction.

Along with adding four tournaments, there no longer are large gaps in the
schedule. The LPGA Tour will not go more than two weeks without playing.