What does Bivens' exit mean for Farr?

SYLVANIA, Ohio - It wasn't just the players who were pleased when Carolyn Bivens resigned on Monday.

"I do think a change needed to take place, and obviously the players did. I think that could be a very good thing," said Judd Silverman, tournament director for the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.

Silverman cited increased expenses as something Bivens held a hard-line stance on, which made it more difficult for tournaments to survive. The Farr's one of about a dozen tournaments up for renewal, and 7 tournaments have disbanded over the last 2 years.

"Our balancing act is, we want to have a purse high enough to attract the top players, but we also want to have a bottom line so that we can support the charities each year," said Silverman.

But before Silverman starts dealing with new LPGA leadership, he plans on spending the next month budgeting what it would take to bring back the Farr.

"Owens Corning and Kroger, we'll sit down with them and see what they want to do for 2010, as well as our other sponsors, and we'll determine what we think our sales will be, and then we'll be in a position to know what we can spend. That's the key."

Silverman adds, "Certainly they're gonna look at the kind of attendance we had and the dollars we give to charity are very important to our sponsors, so - they're gonna look at how well was the event attended and what was the bottom line like, and then we'll move forward with the LPGA."

Silverman says the tournament board thinks 2010 will be about as tough economically as this year. It does help that this past Farr featured a playoff finish.

"Morgan Pressel, by birdying 16 and eagling 17 there, really made it exciting."

"We're just gonna build on that momentum, and hopefully we can have a 26th annual Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic presented by Kroger."

Silverman predicts it will take about 2 months to determine whether or not that 26th Jamie Farr Classic will become reality.