For LPGA Tour, last to first might not be such a great idea

At minimum, after 11 months of watching 72-hole stroke-play marathons on the men's and women's tours, the ADT's multiple cuts and crazy culling of players is different. But we're big fans of the cruel and unusual, right? That's why we watch the BCS every year.

"There's no other week like it in golf," first-round leader Katherine Hull said after an opening 68. "It's a nice concept, something different."

Last year, the second with the new ADT purse and format, the eight players involved in the final-day shootout posed after the third round in front of a glass box filled with $1 million in cash. When the wind was just right, you could hear various body parts puckering in eight-part harmony. Will the same tension be in place at the beginning of a season?

For better or worse, a cliché that definitely applies in this instance, the event will be completely uprooted after Sunday's final round and shipped off to parts unknown.

"To me, the ADT Championship is what it is right now," American star Paula Creamer said. "It's the last tournament of the year and I think it's a big goal for everybody to make this event. To have it at the beginning of the year, I don't know how they would have the tournament."

If there is a silver lining, a sliver of hope, it's that there are no plans to overhaul the whacky format, Bivens said. She even has a dream time frame in mind, if it can be negotiated with TV and the new title sponsor.

"Ideally, I like that weekend between the (NFL) league championship games and the Super Bowl," Bivens said.

That certain sports gorilla with the oblong ball is one reason she wants the ADT relocated to a less-congested part of the year. Even given its increasing momentum, Bivens felt the tournament was underappreciated and overshadowed. The PGA Tour season is over, and there's no competition for viewing eyeballs on that front, but still.

"The NFL is the property and you cannot compete," Bivens said.

Nobody is arguing that part of the logic, really. But exactly how much stock should be placed in the remainder of the commissioner's judgment remains open to question. According to various reports, Bivens misplayed her position during extension negotiations with ADT, playing hardball and demanding a larger renewal fee for title sponsorship when her leverage had slipped because of the economy. The company elected to walk, although the two sides are said to have begun talks anew this week.

Even though Bivens said there are several interested parties in the early stages of discussing the event's sponsorship, the sports landscape feels more uneven than ever. A majority of the domestic LPGA events don't have contracts with sponsors beyond 2009, according to one industry report. Generally speaking, be it for sports leagues or retailers hawking wares, is not a seller's market.

Merely maintaining the status quo, as it relates to this particular event's sponsorship, venue and calendar position, would have felt like a huge victory.

You hope the mojo doesn't change along with the calendar date and whatever else comes down the pike. The ADT stakes are highest in the women's game, though it's more like stake, singular. Consider what happens if Sunday's eight-player, 18-hole sprint ends in a three-way playoff, which is completely foreseeable. The playoff winner gets $1 million, the runner-up gets a tenth that at $100,000, while the first player to bow out of the playoff gets flat hosed, drawing a check for $20,500. A bad hop or a ball landing in a divot could make a $980,000 difference.

It's perfectly insane, if not insanely perfect. In its first two years, the format has produced something the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup has failed to deliver -- a big-money bonus winner determined on the final day. Last year, world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa hit the clutch shot of the entire year on the 18th to seal a victory and the $1 million first prize, the biggest payout in women's golf.

It's pretty hard to hit the shot of the year on the opening weekend, no? Half-seriously, I accused Bivens of being infected by NASCAR cooties, since the racing organization also makes its headquarters in Daytona Beach, Fla., and opens its season with its biggest event, the Daytona 500.

"Oh, I haven't lived there quite that long," Bivens laughed.

Will the calendar move be the equivalent of sucking carbon monoxide through a hose? The PGA Tour starts its calendar with a big-money, short-field event featuring winners from the previous season. Almost nobody notices.

"To come out of an offseason and go for $1 million would be interesting as your first event back," Creamer said.

As interesting as before, though? Guess we'll all find out not-so-soon enough, in another 14 months.