LPGA officials and players want to concentrate on this week's U.S. Women's Open instead of reports that some of the tour's top players want commissioner Carolyn Bivens to resign.

Former Women's Open champion Cristie Kerr read a statement Tuesday asking the media to restrict its questions to the event, golf and her wine making.

LPGA spokesman David Higdon declined to comment on reports that more than a dozen players sent a letter to the LPGA Tour's board urging Bivens to step down.

Higdon said the tour is focused "first and foremost" this week on the Open at Saucon Valley Country Club. But Higdon said the tour and its board take seriously any topic raised by the players.

Higdon's statement comes one day after Golfweek reported that key players said in the letter that the tour's woes cannot be blamed on a poor economy and that the LPGA needs a new leader to rebuild relationships with sponsors.

BYRD'S FATHER DIES: The father of PGA Tour winner and former Clemson golfer Jonathan Byrd has died from brain cancer. James Byrd Jr . was 65.

An online obituary from the Dunbar Funerals and Cremations said the elder Byrd died Tuesday.

Jonathan Byrd, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour and now an assistant golf coach at Clemson, has not played since the Memorial Tournament. He has withdrawn from this week's John Deere Classic in Silvis, Ill.

James Byrd lettered in baseball and football at the University of North Carolina. However, his family said his passion was golf and competing with his sons.

James Byrd was diagnosed with brain cancer after collapsing at a Clemson football game in November 2007.

WORTH THE MONEY: Even as his British Open prospects starting looking good, Paul Goydos decided against reworking his schedule to play in the John Deere Classic so he could take the charter to Turnberry. Players are to make a charitable donation to ride on the charter, and it's far less than first-class airfare to Britain.

Goydos played in a charity event for Steve Flesch on Monday in Kentucky, then went home to California. He would get a little time off, even if it would cost him a lot more money.

His hotel room at Turnberry was going to run him about $800 a night, with a minimum stay. Goydos did some quick math and figured the trip would cost him about $20,000.

He played the British Open for the first time last year, missed the cut, and called it the coolest tournament he ever played.

"I would look forward to eating lunch with the spectators," Goydos said before he qualified. "Remember that big concession they had by the practice green at Birkdale? Ate fish and chips there probably four times that week. Loved it."

OLAZABAL'S LAST SHOT: Jose Maria Olazabal 's only remaining chance of qualifying for the British Open is by securing one of the exempt spots available through the Scottish Open later this week.

The two-time Masters Tour-nament champion missed out Tuesday on one of the four places available at the 288-man British Open qualifying event at Kilmarnock Barassie, Scotland.

The 43-year-old Spaniard shot par 73 to put him seven strokes back. He bogeyed the long first hole and blasted a drive out of bounds at the third to run up a triple-bogey seven.