The LPGA Samsung World Championship is designed to highlight the best of women's golf. This year's event is doing exactly the opposite according to Grant Boone, who laments the absence of Annika Sorenstam -- and even more -- the circumstances which are keeping her out of the field.

By Grant Boone, Special to PGA.com

First off, after being on the road seven of the last eight weeks broadcasting golf, I was just happy to get home Monday and see Kevin Federline hadn't been given custody of my kids. Just to be safe, though, I've decided not to get my head shaved or go commando when out on the town.

Meanwhile, tournament organizers of the LPGA's Samsung World Championship were caught with their pants down last week in trying to surreptitiously shoehorn Annika Sorenstam into their limited field. In so doing, the event, which began Thursday in Palm Desert, California, has exposed itself as little more than a made-for-TV cash grab. And the only thing more egregious than the actions of tournament officials was their justification, which came off every bit as believable as Britney's lip-sync at last month's MTV Music Awards.

The tournament was created by IMG -- the management behemoth best known by its first client, Arnold Palmer, and its current juggernaut, Tiger Woods -- and added to the LPGA schedule in 1980 against the wishes of some leading players who thought the contract gave IMG too much control. Nearly 30 years later, we see why they were so concerned.

Originally a 12-player field, the Samsung expanded to 16 in 1996 and again in 1999 to its current field of 20. The idea was and still is, according to the tournament's promotional literature, "to decide the world's best woman golfer," hence, the name. Well, the tournament is definitely sponsored by Samsung, but in no way should it be considered a world championship. So they're 1 for 3. If it was baseball, they'd be in the Hall of Fame. But it's actually the LPGA Hall of Fame that's at the center of this storm, a single slap in the face that left two black eyes.

All season long, tournament officials said the field of 20 would include:

1. The 2006 LPGA money leader (Lorena Ochoa) 2. The 2006 Vare Trophy winner for low scoring average (again Ochoa) 3. This year's four major champions 4. The next 14 on the LPGA money list at the conclusion of the Navistar Classic on September 30 5. The leading money winner on the Ladies European Tour 6. One sponsor's exemption

On paper, there's nothing wrong with those criteria. The first four speak for themselves. I suppose Bettina Hauert getting in as the LET's leading money winner makes sense if you're billing yourself as a world championship, though I don't know of anyone who thinks Hauert is a better player than the 19th player on the LPGA money list, Natalie Gulbis, who won the Evian Masters and tied for 23rd at the British Open, two events where Hauert missed the cut.

The sponsor's exemption was given to Michelle Wie way back in the spring after tournament organizers were turned down by the Bearded Lady and Lobster Boy. After two busted wrists and one bruised ego from a year of bad play and even worse press, Wie right now is more of a circus act than championship contender. Giving her the free pass this year may have been a mistake, but there's nothing wrong with a tournament saving a spot for someone like the Michelle Wie of 2005, who as a 15-year-old non-member of the LPGA Tour could've easily won two majors that year in addition to a pair of seconds, a third, and two other top 15s. She was probably the second best player in the world at the time.

In review: Wie, circa 2005? Good idea. Wie, circus 2007? Not so much. But the idea of Samsung's sponsor's invitation is fair enough.

Here's where IMG and the LPGA went all CIA. At the State Farm Classic the first weekend of September, players who had already qualified or who were on the bubble were asked in a letter to commit to the Samsung in the event they made it in. A September 14 press release reiterated that the tournament would go down to #18 on the money list after the Navistar to fill out its field.

September 14 was also the first day of the Solheim Cup in Sweden. That weekend, a member of Annika Sorenstam's inner circle told one of my colleagues that Annika's next tournament would be the Samsung. Which was of great interest seeing as how Annika -- in part because of a back injury that has kept her winless so far this season -- hadn't yet qualified under any of Samsung's existing criteria and wasn't scheduled to play the Navistar, which would be her last chance to get in.

The plot thickened.

By the time the LPGA Tour reconvened in Alabama after its two-week break for the Solheim Cup, word began circulating that Samsung's selection criteria were being tweaked. Three days into our broadcasts of the Navistar on the Golf Channel, the LPGA finally confirmed that indeed a new criterion had been added to the Samsung, one that would allow the tournament to invite an active Hall of Fame member who wasn't already in. But the field wasn't expanding to 21. Instead, the 18th player on the money list would be the odd woman out.

Se Ri Pak was 13th on the money list and, thus, a lock to make it. That left three players which fit the new criterion. In order of their place on the money list at the time, they were Juli Inkster (19th), Karrie Webb (23rd), and Annika Sorenstam (30th). Only one of those, Sorenstam, is represented by IMG. Guess which one got the nod? I'll give you one hint: the answer's name can be easily worked into this Adam Sandler song (click here).

Samsung tournament director Torrey Gane said the decision to add the new spot was designed to enhance the field and not to accommodate Annika "per se." Per se what?! An 11th hour criteria change allows a player into the field who happens to be represented by the same company running the tournament? Sorry, but that's per se if I've ever per seen it.

It gets better.

On Sunday of the Navistar, September 30, an LPGA official told me the new criterion was added when the new contract was recently negotiated with Samsung tournament officials. I asked when the players were notified of the change, and the official told me she thought the LPGA made the announcement the previous Sunday on its extranet, an online service available only to players and officials. (Some players told me later that it was actually that day, September 30, when the announcement was posted.)

When I told that same official that the criteria change directly contradicted the September 14 press release, she said, "Well, that wasn't from us. That's from the tournament." I was stunned. I told her, "You're essentially saying the LPGA and its tournaments aren't communicating with one another." She agreed it didn't sound good.

A bunch of players were in full froth by the time I got to the Longs Drugs Challenge last Tuesday in California's Bay Area. No one begrudged Samsung for wanting perhaps the greatest player of all time in the field, but everyone agreed you can't change the rules in the middle of the game. Not even for Annika. One star player (also not an IMG player) even told me on Wednesday she believed Annika would get a whiff of the ill wind blowing and withdraw from the Samsung to "come out looking like a hero."

Sure enough, Annika's fianc?e, Mike McGee, confirmed to me last Thursday that Annika indeed would not play the Samsung. Later, Annika's agent and the head of IMG's global golf division Mark Steinberg was quoted as saying, "Annika didn't want the perception that she was taking a spot. She decided to do what's best for the LPGA."

But instead of giving that spot to either of the other eligible Hall of Fame members, Inkster or Webb -- Sorenstam's chief rivals over the last decade -- the tournament reverted to its previous criteria and brought back the 18th player on the money list, Sarah Lee. (Insert joke here, then bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.)

A lot of questions remain unanswered, ones I'm not particularly excited to ask because I'm a huge fan of the LPGA and an even bigger fan of Annika's, to whom I still give the benefit of any possible doubt until I learn otherwise. But here goes.

1. When did Annika find out about the decision to add the Hall of Fame spot? The comment by the member of her camp at the Solheim Cup would seem to indicate that she already knew she was in by then. And it would only make sense that she knew ahead of time seeing as how her agent is the head of IMG golf.

2. Why would IMG put Annika in such an awkward position? The criteria change didn't just make the tournament and the agency look bad; it also forced Annika into either playing on a bogus exemption or doing what she eventually did, which was bow out. And Steinberg's comment, if he was accurately quoted, put Annika in a bad light, too. "She didn't want the perception that she was taking a spot" makes it sound like she didn't withdraw on principle but rather because of public pressure. IMG should refund whatever Annika paid them in September.

3. What won't the LPGA do for money? Accommodating sponsors and organizations like IMG usually requires some measure of compromise. And if the Samsung was a silly season tournament that didn't count, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. But allowing the organizers of an official money event to jeopardize the integrity of competition, rather than putting its foot down and insisting the tournament enact its criteria changes next year, makes the LPGA equally culpable.

Annika Sorenstam is the finest player of her generation and may end up as the best ever. She's the first crossover star since Nancy Lopez 20 years before. Annika's repeatedly gone above and beyond her personal comfort zone to promote the game and the LPGA. And even though the average purse size is up 60% from 2002, at least a portion of which has to be attributed to the attention Annika's brought to women's golf in that time, there's no doubt that some of her peers are jealous of her success.

Still, IMG (IMHO) did one of its marquee clients wrong by giving away its lone sponsor's exemption too early, gambling that Annika would earn a spot in the field like she'd done each year since her second season on Tour, then trying to slip in the criteria change when they lost the bet.

The LPGA and its tournament organizers ought to have joint custody of the integrity of their events. What happens when both parties are negligent? At least Britney's kids have K-Fed.

Grant Boone is a husband, father, golf broadcaster, and sports journalist based in Abilene, Texas. His column appears on PGA.com each Wednesday and every day during major championships and other big events. He can be contacted at pgagrant@hotmail.com.

The views and opinions expressed here do not reflect those of PGA.com or The PGA of America.