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PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- Stacy Lewis brings more value to the LPGA Tour that just her golf. Along with becoming the first American in 18 years to win LPGA player of the year, and then rising to No. 1 in the world for four weeks, Lewis had a direct hand in bringing two tournaments to the LPGA Tour. One of them is this week, the Bahamas LPGA Classic, which grew out of her partnership with Ohio-based title sponsor Pure Silk. She also aced what amounted to a pop quiz by the chief executive of Marathon Oil, which now sponsors a tournament in July. Thats what led LPGA Tour Commissioner Mike Whan to jokingly say Wednesday, "Shes better at sales than me." "Your stars drive your sport," Whan said. "Your athletes generate the momentum, and your job is to turn that momentum into business." Lewis, however, is not good enough to dictate weather. A storm the locals havent seen in some 20 years pounded Paradise Island through the night, dumping about a foot of rain in an eight-hour span that flooded the Ocean Club. There was so much water on the course -- the entire 18th fairway was covered -- that the tournament was reduced to 54 holes. The first round is to start Friday with a Sunday finish, leaving some flexibility in case more showers cause problems. "Im happy I got 18 holes of practice in yesterday," Suzann Pettersen said. "Well play whenever we can." The rain wiped out the pro-am, so the LPGA Tour hastily arranged for players to meet at a restaurant at The Atlantis for a question-and-answer sessions with the amateurs. The group of players included the top three in the world ranking -- Inbee Park, Lewis and Pettersen, along with Brittany Lincicome and Natalie Gulbis. It was an example of how the LPGA players try to do a little more, and it goes back to pop quiz for Lewis. She had a marketing sponsorship with Marathon, and the company was thinking about sponsoring a tournament. Lewis was playing in a pro-am with the CEO when he turned to her and said, "Why should I sponsor an LPGA event?" "It caught me off guard," Lewis said. "I said it was a different experience than the PGA Tour and your customers will love it. I think thats more why they did. They do a big customer outing. You get your name out there, but mostly they take care of their customers. And our pro-ams are better than any out there." The LPGA stars all turned out for a pro-am party Tuesday night at The Atlantis, with its massive aquarium as the backdrop. As for the golf? No chance. The rain fell so hard and for so long that on Wednesday morning, the tip of a red hazard stake down the right side of the 18th fairway was barely visible. The entire hole was a water hazard except for the tee and the green. On the adjacent ninth hole, water covered a deep bunker on the left side of the green -- two turtles were swimming in what had been a bunker -- and it was nearly coming onto the green. Whan asked some officials from The Bahamas if they should have considered an earlier date. The advance staff had not seen much of a cloud of the last week. "They said they had never seen a storm like this, so were probably in a good spot," Whan said. Lewis is trying to get back to top spot after winning the LPGA Founders Cup in Phoenix in March to reach No. 1 in the world. Not since Beth Daniel in 1994 had an American won LPGA player of the year, and Lewis was on an upward trend by winning the HSBC Champions in Singapore and the following week in Phoenix. Park won the Kraft Nabisco Championship and replaced Lewis at No. 1. There now is a three-way battle -- and it could grow -- as the LPGA Tour heads into the heart of its major championship season, including a return to St. Andrews. Lewis is concerned with the careless mistakes leading to bogeys, though the real struggle is finding a balance with her recent star power. She is one of the more remarkable stories in womens golf, having spent most of her childhood in a back brace because of scoliosis, and then having to go through surgery after high school to install a rod and metal screws. None of that kept her from reaching the top. As for the attention? She is getting recognized more often. She gets some of the largest galleries, even when playing early in the morning. "The hardest for me is the extra stuff, being the only American up there," she said. "That adds to the media requirements, sponsor requirements, doing extra things at tournaments. Managing my schedule has been the hardest thing." In her first tournament after going to No. 1, Lewis had interviews in the morning, went to practice, another session of interviews in the afternoon, followed by a video interview, a photo shoot and the pro-am party. "It was exhausting," she said After a morning practice Tuesday this week, she headed over to Atlantis for a promotional spot -- she swam with dolphins. That was fun. And after getting out of the water, it started to rain. If nothing else, Wednesday brought a day of rest. Jacob deGrom Jersey . The formidable trio of Canadian receivers -- individually known as Chris Getzlaf, Rob Bagg and Andy Fantuz -- will share the field at Mosaic Stadium one more time on Sunday. Todd Frazier Jersey . -- Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Farmar will be out for roughly four weeks after tearing his left hamstring. http://www.metsrookiestore.com/Mets-Neil-Walker-Kids-Jersey/ . John Lucas, signed as a mentor for rookie Trey Burke, showed he can score if required, scoring 12 points of his 16 points in the second quarter as Utah built an 18-point lead. Yoenis Cespedes Jersey . 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Since promoters Andrey Ryabinsky of World of Boxing and Don King were unable to make a deal, the vacant interim heavyweight title fight between former titleholders Alexander Povetkin and Bermane Stiverne went to a purse bid on Friday, and Ryabinsky won by knockout.Ryabinsky, Povetkins promoter, won the WBC purse bid at a New York hotel with an offer of $3.165 million, easily beating out the two other bids submitted.Don King, who promotes Stiverne, bid $2.1 million, and Camille Estephan of Eye of the Tiger, which used to work with Stiverne, bid $542,000.The split is 50-50, so Povetkin and Stiverne are each entitled to $1,424,250 apiece. The remaining 10 percent of the winning bid, $316,500, will go to the winner of the fight as a bonus.According to the WBC, World of Boxing has 15 days to provide the date of the fight and the location and 21 days to deliver signed contracts to the organization.Also, both fighters are required to be part of the WBCs Clean Boxing Program, which has contracted with the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association to handle random testing for its world title fights (blood and urine). Povetkin has already enrolled. Stiverne must still do so, the WBC said.Povetkin (30-1, 22 KOs) and Stiverne (25-2-1, 21 KOs) are meeting for the vacant interim belt while world titleholder Deontay Wilder (37-0, 36 KOs) recovers from surgery on his right hand and right biceps after he suffered injuries?in an eighth-round knockout of Chris Arreola on July 16 to retain the title. Wilder will be sidelined until at least early 2017 and is obligated to fight the winner of Povetkin-Stiverne upon his return.Wilder already owns a lopsided decision win against Stiverne, 37, a Haiti native living in Las Vegas. Wilder handily defeated Stiverne to win the title in January 2015.Wilder was due to face Povetkin, 37, of Russia, in a mandatory defense this year on May 21 in Moscow, Russia, after Ryabinsky also won a purse bid to gain control of that fight. But Povetkin tested positive for trace amounts of thhe banned substance meldonium, and the fight was canceled.ddddddddddddHowever, the WBC investigated Povetkins failed drug test and ultimately elected not to punish him, because the amount of the substance in his system was far below the threshold accepted by the World Anti-Doping Agency in an updated notice on the drug published in June. The ban on the drug went into effect Jan. 1. While Povetkin has admitted to using it, he has said he did not take it after the ban began.Questions remain, however, about how Povetkin could have tested negative in random VADA doping tests conducted on April 7, 8 and 11, while the A and B samples from his April 27 test were positive for meldonium.Povetkin and Wilder are suing each other over the cancellation of the May fight, and the WBC on Friday made a ruling related to that bout in addition to holding the purse bid.For the avoidance of doubt, the WBC hereby states that the WBC ruling was not intended to convey, and should not be construed as conveying, a conclusion about whether Mr. Povetkin did or did not take meldonium after it became a banned substance on January 1, 2016, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman said.Sulaiman also clarified the WBCs position as to what would happen once the Povetkin and Wilder lawsuit goes to trial, possibly as early as February barring a settlement.If Mr. Wilder prevails at that trial, the WBC shall afford Mr. Povetkin the opportunity to show that the trials result was not based on a finding that Mr. Povetkin ingested meldonium after January 1, 2016, Sulaiman said. If Mr. Povetkin fails to make that showing the WBC shall: (a) withdraw recognition of Povetkin as interim world champion (if he wins that title); (b) withdraw any mandatory challenger status he might have; and (c) impose any penalties upon Mr. Povetkin as per the WBC Clean Boxing Program protocol, which includes suspensions and fines. ' ' '