BACK in 1984, in her capacity as chairman of the WPGET, Mickey Walker was rather proud of a tournament schedule that included two events with six-figure prize funds. One of them was the British Open at Woburn; the other was the £100,000 Irish Open at Clandeboye.
Throughout Britain there were a total of 17 events, including the Ulster Volkswagen Classic at Belvoir Park, where players were competing for a more modest £7,500. Yet, despite the presence of world-class players such as Jan Stephenson and the winner at Clandeboye, Kathy Whitworth, the women's open failed to survive.
Now, having broken from the PGA in 1988 to form their own association, the WPGET Tour are looking towards a buoyant future that will include the Guardian Irish Open as a regular, annual event. By their estimation women's golf is the fastest growing sport in the world and they are determined to be at the culling edge of the commercial opportunities it offers.
This healthy situation owes much to the expertise of the current chairman and chief executive, Terry Coates, and the deputy chief executive, Gill Wilson, who took over at the helm three years ago. They have presided over a growth in prize money from £1.4 million in 1993 to £4 million this season.
And they hope to more than double that figure by the turn of the century. "At the moment, we're close to the £5 million mark," says Wilson. "I believe that prize money of £10 million is achievable by the year 2000.
"We'll probably have a maximum of 25 tournaments because we believe the tournament season in Europe should run from April until" October. And we would like to see four majors in that schedule. We are also looking towards an open in every important European country, each with a prize fund in the region of £200,000 to £250,000. We think there will be about 300 excellent players from all over the world anxious to compete on our tour and that the top 100 in the money list will be making a decent living from the game, as opposed to 20 to 25 at the moment."
According to Coates, last year was a watershed for the tour - its most successful year since its humble beginnings in 1979.
The Irish organisers have become a big hit with the players for the special little extras they provide.
"The overall view is that in its short existence, it has become one of the best events on the tour," says Wilson. "There is a determination to make the players feel welcome and we have had very favourable comments about the manner in which everybody works together; about the warmth of the fans and the enthusiastic involvement of the host club."
Meanwhile, new ground was also broken last season in the launching of the first Qualifying School, which was at La Manga. And the tour's two prime attractions, Davies and Annika Sorenstam, topped the Ping World Rankings.
"Laura became the first woman to win £500,000 on our tour," says Coates. "In the process, she shattered two world records in the Guardian Irish Holidays Open at St Margaret's, where she recorded the biggest winning margin and the lowest aggregate.
"Annika was the first golfer, male or female, to top the money lists on both sides of the Atlantic and Australia's Karrie Webb won the Ford Rookie of the Year award with record earnings of over £90,000. Now, we are in the happy position of staging our first £500,000 event, the British Open.
"Women's golf has been in the dark ages too long and it is now emerging as a mainstream sport. For instance, who would have believed that Laura Davies would have competed in a skins game on equal terms with John Daly?"
The management structure of the tour has changed significantly since the years prior to Wilson and Coates when Ireland's Joe Flanagan was at the helm. It is revealing to look back to the modest staff of 12 years ago, when Colin Snape was executive director, by comparison with the current set-up.
One of the most noticeable changes is a major emphasis on marketing, which is essentially the expertise that Wilson has brought to the organisation. "When Terry and I were brought in three years ago, there were only 11 tournaments, but I knew we were looking at a product that was ripe for development," says Wilson.
"In the past, the tour had been run essentially by golfing people. I, on the other hand, came from a public relations and marketing background and had my own recruitment agency for 20 years. I don't play golf but I don't consider that to be a problem. If anything, it affords me a certain objectivity."
She first became involved in tournament golf while working for the Ford Motor Co, who have been long-time sponsors on the women's European Tour. It heightened her awareness of the importance of ensuring that the client received value for money. Column inches were counted, at regional, national and international levels.
Wilson is also aware that if a product looks nice, it's more saleable. "So, we looked at the tour's image - there's nothing wrong with that," she said. "We're more sexy than the men; we look better than the men - there's no question about it. But in that context, there can be no question of our pandering the product is much too strong for that.
She is acutely aware of women's power in the market place. In her view, women are responsible for a high percentage of goods bought, whether it is household goods, holidays or the family car. That is why the more progressive companies have seen fit to align themselves with women's events.
Television exposure is another crucial way of measuring progress. "Three years ago, the tour was seen on television hardly at all, apart from one event, the British Women's Open," she said. "Having done our research, we became determined that the product should be shown in a better light.
"The upshot is that we entered into a contract with Sky two years ago. We are also involved with NBC Super Channel, the BBC, ITV and other national networks. And we have TV links with South Africa and Asia. Naturally, this has been a powerful selling point with sponsors."
As far as the overall image of the tour is concerned, however, the importance of Davies cannot be overstated. Her contribution has been stunning, not only for her golfing skill but for her loyalty to the tour. Whenever they needed to do a strong selling job, as for instance in attempting to secure the Irish Open, they knew they could depend on their star player.
She is to the WPGA Tour what Seve Ballesteros was to the development of the PGA European Tour. Like Ballesteros, she has proved to be an admirable role model for young players throughout Europe. "Laura has always given Terry and I her total backing for anything that we attempted to do," acknowledges Wilson. "And, of course, she continues to be one of the world's great women golfers.
"When we set about reorganising the tour, one of our plans was to have an open in every European country. We didn't have a German Open, or an Irish Open or a Swiss Open. Ireland looked to be particularly attractive, given its great tradition in the game. Now, I'm delighted to say that we have our Irish Open.
"I believe that these events are very important to the future of the game at all levels. Without being able to show youngsters what's available to them in the long term, its very difficult to make the game attractive.
"We have got to be heartened by the fact that golfing federations across Europe appear to have woken up to the golden opportunity that has been presented to them. With their help, we plan to raise the profile of the women's game to the level its popularity deserves," says Wilson.
