LPGA’s Michelob Ultra Open leaving Kingsmill

WILLIAMSBURG -- A shift in corporate strategy has erased professional golf from the Kingsmill Resort's calendar for the first time in nearly three decades.

Anheuser-Busch and LPGA officials announced yesterday that the seven-year-old Michelob Ultra Open, an event frequently described as the LPGA's "fifth major," will not return to Kingsmill in James City County, near Williamsburg, in 2010.

Dan McHugh, Anheuser-Busch's vice president in charge of media, sponsorship and activation, said A-B executives believe the Michelob Ultra brand can be marketed more effectively by leaving "the Michelob Ultra Open footprint on more tournaments than just this one at Kingsmill." McHugh, speaking at a hastily arranged news conference at Kingsmill, called the decision "very, very difficult."

He and tournament director Wayne Nooe saluted the resort's long relationship with top-tier professional golf. Kingsmill, an Anheuser-Busch property, hosted a PGA tournament from 1981 to 2002 before the LPGA came to Williamsburg for the first time in 2003.

"When you do something for 29 years, and do it well, and take as much pride in it as [Kingsmill] did, it's hard to say goodbye," Nooe said.

The Williamsburg community might feel the same. Nooe said he is not aware of any studies that measured the event's economic impact, but he said the tournament averaged about 60,000 spectators per year and contributed about $250,000 per year to local charities.

Moreover, television coverage on the last two days, most recently on ESPN, enabled the area to preen in front of a coast-to-coast audience.

The decision to pull the plug on an event that was popular with players and fans was not entirely surprising. The tournament's future has been murky since the 2008 acquisition of Anheuser-Busch by InBev, a Belgium-based brewing conglomerate.

In the aftermath of the $52 billion merger, A-B InBev has moved aggressively to cut marketing budgets and sell assets in an effort to reduce its debt.

Even so, McHugh insisted the tournament was not killed on orders from Belgium.

"Absolutely not," he said. "The things you've been reading and hearing about the integration of the two companies, specifically the money cuts, did not come into play whatsoever."

The event, which this year offered a purse of $2.2 million and a first-place prize of $330,000, was a favorite among LPGA pros. It annually attracted one of the season's strongest lineups.

The combination of a first-rate field and an exceptional venue produced a shimmering list of champions. Winners included three members of the LPGA and World Golf halls of fame: Se Ri Pak (2004), Karrie Webb (2006) and Annika Sorenstam (2008).

Cristie Kerr became the event's first two-time winner in May. She said at the time that the demise of the Michelob Ultra Open would be "a monumental loss" to the LPGA.

Monumental? Perhaps. Permanent? Not necessarily. McHugh said Anheuser-Busch and Kingsmill would be "very receptive" to welcoming the LPGA back to Kingsmill under circumstances that likely would not include ownership of the tournament.