There is no question that the first two days of the Kraft Nabisco Championship felt, well, different. Tuesday and Wednesday saw only a few Kraft executives, no Kraft customers or vendors in the pro-am and fewer celebrities in the pro-am. And the pro-am was no more than half the size it usually is.

But there is good news for golf fans this week. While the economy forced Kraft to scale way back on its customer service elements of the Kraft Nabisco tournament, none of those cutbacks were evident when the pros in the tournament teed off Thursday morning.

One of the truisms of the Kraft Nabisco is that it always has really been two events. There is the corporate event on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. That's when Kraft, and Nabisco before that, brings in customers for some fun in the sun on the golf course. The customers and vendors rub shoulders with LPGA stars, have great parties and celebrate Oreos and Planters Peanuts.

Once that event is over, the LPGA takes over and runs a major golf championship. The folks who run the Kraft do a better job of incorporating the LPGA event into their corporate time than the folks at Nabisco did.

Kraft made no secret of the fact that it was cutting back on its pro-am and customer service events this year. The company announced months ago that the pro-am would be open to the public, with no customers or vendors coming. That's made for an interesting first year as business manager of the tournament for Gabe Codding.

“With the challenge that we faced this year, I think we've done an exceptional job,” Codding said.

Now the challenge for Codding and his team is to build a business model for the tournament that convinces the folks who run Kraft that there is value in the tournament, even if that value isn't shown by immediate dollar figures.

That means showing that being associated with the LPGA and having the pro-am as a customer service vehicle is worth the money.

Considering that the Kraft Nabisco Championship is one of the few tournaments with a known history and important and recognizable traditions on the LPGA, Kraft ought to understand it can benefit from keeping the tournament strong. And that should begin with returning the pro-am to its past glory next year, when the economy should be, or at least could be, stronger.

But Thursday, none of the corporate decisions about the first half of the week mattered. The players were on the course, the Dinah Shore Tournament Course was in wonderful condition and ESPN2 was showing remarkable images of the Coachella Valley. People weren't thinking about whether the pro-am was small or large. They were thinking about who might take the victory leap Sunday.

No one around believes there is any immediate threat to the tournament because Kraft, which owns the tournament, is fighting the economy just like every other company in the country.

But between now and the 2010 Kraft, showing just how valuable the tournament and its pro-am are will be important topics at Kraft headquarters.

Larry Bohannan covers golf for the Desert Sun. His columns appear Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. He can be reached at 778-4633.