KEY POINTS:
Paul McNamee didn't transform the Australian Open tennis championship into a hugely profitable and successful event without being an innovator.
Now, for a not inconsiderable salary, the former Davis Cup player is making his mark in golf. Last year the Australian Open was widely regarded as the best in years. A high quality field, including all of Australia's US PGA Tour stars, played at Royal Sydney because of McNamee's refreshing attitude.
His latest task is harder - trying to build the Australian Women's Open into a world class event which will eventually offer a million dollar purse and attract the world's best.
Unashamedly, McNamee is using sex and glamour to sell the product. His star player is American Natalie Gulbis who hasn't won a tournament in six years as a professional. But she's blonde, cute, and wears short skirts. In 2005 Peter Allis, on BBC TV, described her as the kind of girl you'd take home to Mum. That's if Dad didn't get to her first. Somehow Allis still has a job.
There is nothing particularly new about using sex appeal to sell women's sport. Suzanne Lenglen shocked Wimbledon by winning her titles in the 1920s without a petticoat or corset.
Australian golf fans are well used to the concept. Jan Stephenson, who won a US Open title, can be called the first sex symbol of women's golf. But her suggestive poses and best-selling glossy calendars were frowned upon by the conservative element which governed golf.
In the 21st century a new reality has emerged. Women's golf's major league, the LPGA Tour, was losing sponsors, fans and viewers in the face of overwhelming opposition from the Tiger Woods-led juggernaut.
A new (male) commissioner, Ty Votaw, pushed the LPGA Tour board to make tournaments more attractive to male sponsors and male fans. When Votaw was headhunted for the PGA Tour, after marrying LPGA player Sophie Gustafson, his thinking was continued by his successor, Carolyn Bivens.
Is there a chance Michelle Wie's long legs, skimpy shorts and pretty face have something to do with her ability to secure multi-million dollar sponsorships and appearance fees despite not having won a tournament since 2003?
McNamee is upfront. "I think women's sport needs to be unashamedly glamorous. That's just a fact of life."
Gulbis, who attended a Sydney press conference in a mini-skirt, has no problem playing the game.
"I think the LPGA has definitely more emphasis on fashion and style since I started on the tour six years ago. Whatever you can do to market players is positive."
All this may upset women who believe the work of feminists is being eroded by a new generation more interested in style than substance.
But as long as middle-aged males make most commercial decisions about sponsorship dollars, things are not likely to change.
