THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: So long to a good idea at Circling Raven

The “Road to the LPGA” Tour will no longer go through Worley.

And that’s too bad.

For the past three years in late August, many of the best up-and-coming female professional golfers would congregate at Circling Raven for the Circling Raven Championship. 

The tournament was part of the Epson Tour’s “Road to the LPGA,” so there was plenty on the line for the players, as the top players at the end of each year on what was basically the sport’s Triple-A tour earned tour cards the following year on the big tour, the LPGA Tour.

The weather was nice, the players were appreciative, and the golf was impressive.

But after three years, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe decided not to renew its sponsorship of the event for another three years, saying it was opting to focus its efforts in another direction.

“We had a wonderful three years hosting the Circling Raven Championship,” Laura Penney, CEO of the Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel, said in a statement earlier this week. “We wanted elite professionals to play Circling Raven because doing so offered many positives and aligned with our goals — to empower women and youth through golf, to garner respect as a top-notch playing venue by tour professionals, and to revitalize the golf brand. We were open to renewing the tournament, but after careful consideration, decided we had sufficiently accomplished these objectives. In 2024, Circling Raven’s 20th anniversary season, we begin a new chapter in the golf club’s evolution and journey.”

THE CIRCLING Raven Championship, which originally was supposed to start in 2020, then was kicked back a year because of COVID-19, was popular with the players.

The ones we talked to over the years said they enjoyed the course, enjoyed how they were taken care of during their stay. Some stayed at the casino hotel, others with host families. Many spoke of driving up to Coeur d’Alene a time or two during their stay, and enjoying what the Lake City had to offer.

The costs involved in hosting the event were a “consideration” in deciding not to re-up, a Coeur d’Alene Tribe spokesperson said, but not the only reason.

The Tribe was responsible for putting up the money for the purse each year — $200,000 in each of the first two years, and $225,000 this past year — through a combination of its own money and money from sponsors.

What we noticed from covering the event was, everything about the tournament was nice — the volunteers were extremely helpful, the hospitality top-notch.

But to be honest, the tournament was sparsely attended.

The fans that were there were appreciative of the players. Some set up camp around the tournament’s 18th hole — the nines at Circling Raven were “flipped” for the event, because what is normally the 18th green is someone secluded in the trees, and the ninth hole is way more wide open and more conducive to spectators sitting near the green.

Others, especially on Sunday, followed the leaders in the final few groups.

The lack of attendance couldn’t be attributed to lack of knowing there was an event going on. Local media ran numerous stories about the event, as well as profiles of players.

But other than a few players with Idaho/regional ties, of most of the roughly 100 players who teed it up each year, hardly anybody had heard of these players coming in — though many of the “unknown” players made names for themselves after three days of playing at Circling Raven.

I guess that wasn’t enough.

KNOWN OR unknown, several of the Circling Raven Championship “alums” have done quite well for themselves after playing in Worley.

Lilia Vu, who tied for 12th at the inaugural event in 2021, won two major championships on the LPGA Tour in 2023.

Peiyun Chien, who won the 2021 event at 16-under-par 200, had three top-10 finishes in 2023, 10 for her LPGA career, and has nearly $1.5 million in career earnings.

Bailey Tardy, who tied for third at Circling Raven in 2021, is eighth in the LPGA Tour Race to CME Globe standings.

And Alexa Pano and Gabriela Ruffels, who have both played at the CRC, are in the top 20 in the Race to CME Globe standings. Pano was third, Ruffels T4 at the Raven in 2002.

So we’ll miss the late-summer drive down U.S. 95 to Worley on a Sunday afternoon for the final round of the 54-hole event.

For now, we’ll be content with flipping on the TV to an LPGA event, seeing a somewhat familiar name on the leaderboard and thinking, “Hey, didn’t she play in that event at Circling Raven a few years ago?” 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.

    MARK NELKE/Press Women tee off on the 10th hole at Circling Raven Golf Club in Worley in a practice round for the 2021 Circling Raven Championship. The tourney was a Symetra Tour event in 2021 before the tour was renamed the Epson Tour in 2022.