Like the rest of the country, reactions from LPGA players competing at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship were mixed.
BETHESDA, Md. – Mariah Stackhouse was in the middle of her second round at the KPMG Women’s PGA when news broke that the Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. Wade, a ruling that had given women the constitutional right to have an abortion in the United States for nearly 50 years. The decision is now up to individual states.
Like the rest of the country, reactions from LPGA players competing at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship – on the outskirts of Washington at Congressional Country Club – were mixed.
Stackhouse exhaled deeply before sharing her thoughts on the court’s 6-3 vote to uphold Mississippi’s law banning most abortions after 15 weeks.
“It’s incredibly disheartening that in 2022, women’s rights are being taken away,” said Stackhouse. “With the makeup of everything right now, the makeup of the court, I just don’t really see a brighter side. You’ve got to hope that there’s still some fight left in us, and we can figure this out as a country.”
Mariah Stackhouse hits her tee shot on the ninth hole during the first round for the 2022 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Congressional Country Club on June 23, 2022, in Bethesda, Maryland. (Photo by Darren Carroll/PGA of America)
Amy Olson described the moment as huge and said one of the fundamental responsibilities of government is to protect human lives.
“Now states have the opportunity to protect every life,” said Olson. “They haven’t had the option to do that in almost 50 years.
“For those who say this hurts women, my question to them is — when does a woman’s life begin? If we can’t answer that question, how can we even have a conversation about women’s rights?”
Amy Olson during the first round of the Palos Verdes Championship Presented by Bank of America at Palos Verdes Golf Club on April 28, 2022, in Palos Verdes Estates, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Muni He, a U.S.-based player who was born in China and played collegiately at USC, took to Instagram to voice her frustrations.
“I simply do not understand how this is happening in our world, our country today,” He wrote. “I feel nothing but pure rage and sadness. Sick to my stomach.”
Fellow USC grad Allisen Corpuz was also disappointed to hear the court’s decision.
“I just think it’s really disappointing,” said Corpuz. “As a woman, I think it’s part of women’s healthcare just to have the right to your own body. It just feels like there’s been a lot of progress made … even going into pretty recent history of women getting the right to vote. It just kind of feels like we’re taking a step backwards.”
Katherine Kirk said she wasn’t surprised by the ruling.
“From a constitutional standpoint,” Kirk told Golfweek, “there are no provisions for abortion and the justices obviously wanted to uphold that. As a Christian, I believe all lives are important and, regardless where you stand, the Supreme Court didn’t make abortion illegal today, they simply gave the power to states to decide.”
The LPGA was in grave peril when Lewis joined more than a dozen years ago. There were 23 events on the schedule.
BETHESDA, Md. – Cristie Kerr calls Congressional’s renovated Blue Course one of the best she’s ever played. As LPGA players drive courtesy Cadillacs this week, dine in a gargantuan clubhouse – complete with sugar cookies shaped like the Washington Monument – and compete for a $9 million purse, double last year’s at the KPMG Women’s PGA, Stacy Lewis has a message: “In our history of the LPGA, this is far from normal.”
The LPGA was in grave peril when Lewis joined more than a dozen years ago. There were 23 events on the schedule, and nearly half of them were overseas.
“This current group of players, I don’t think they quite realize how lucky we are with the opportunities that we have,” said Lewis. “I mean, they have come to expect them over the last four or five years, that this setup this week is normal.”
Stacy Lewis makes a notation on the 11th fairway during the practice round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Congressional Country Club on June 22, 2022 in Bethesda, Maryland. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Katherine Kirk, one of only a handful of players over 40 who competes regularly on the LPGA, worries about an “entitlement attitude” permeating the tour. She looks back on what the LPGA founders did themselves in the 1950s to get this tour off the ground – promotions, course setup, rulings, marketing – and holds a deep appreciation.
“In comparison to that, we have it easy,” she said. “We just rock up to tournaments.”
On the eve of the 50th anniversary of Title IX, LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said the total purse on the LPGA in 1972 was $972,000. This week’s winner will earn $1,350,000.
“Pretty remarkable growth,” said Marcoux Samaan. “And even in 2021, I think our purses were just over $70 million, and now, to be in 2022 over $97 million is really great.”
Of course, money is the talk of the game right now. As a field of 156 women celebrate the second-biggest purse in tour history this week, PGA Tour stars are leaving their already lucrative tour for mind-blowing amounts of guaranteed cash on the Saudi-backed LIV Golf. The never-ending Saudi news cycle already drowns out the biggest headlines in the women’s game – even at the majors.
When asked if she was concerned that a similar Saudi-backed threat could come to the LPGA, Marcoux Samaan said: “Listen, we wake up every day trying to make the LPGA the leader in women’s golf and to make it the very best tour. That’s what we focus on. We have a great staff. We have great partners. We have the best players in the world. We’re really just doubling down on what we’re doing.”
As for LIV Golf’s ambitions in the women’s game, CEO Greg Norman recently told the BBC, “we’re here to grow the game golf on a global basis, not just in one specific sector, which is men’s. It’s across the board.”
One week after the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series was held at Centurion Club, the Aramco Team Series London presented by Public Investment Fund event was held at the same course.
The Saudi-backed Aramco Series is part of the Ladies European Tour, which falls under the LPGA umbrella.
During a pre-tournament press conference in London, Golf Saudi ambassador Bronte Law lauded Linn Grant’s groundbreaking victory on the DP World Tour – where the Swede trounced a field of men and women by nine strokes – and pushed for more mixed events.
“The perfect example is tennis,” Law said. “Why do the women get paid more than we do? The reason is because they play on the same site and they get the same media coverage.
“So if we can play at the same course, get the same TV coverage, there’s no reason why our purses can’t increase.”
With Golf Saudi already invested in women’s golf, many wonder what might be coming next. Could Law’s call for more mixed events or concurrent events featuring men and women already be in the works for Golf Saudi? And, if so, how many players would leave for the chance to earn more money?
“Put it this way, I think you would see almost the entire tour do it here,” said Kerr. “What we play for here compared to the men’s Tour, the scale is different.
“But at the same time, KPMG just upped the purse to $9 million. We’re starting to see a rising tide lifting all the ships. … It’ll be interesting to see how it affects this tour.”
Bronte Law offers fresh opinion on aligning women’s and men’s golf.
LPGA player Sarah Kemp must compete in a minimum number of LET events each season to maintain her membership in Europe, and flying up to New York for an Aramco Team Series event later this year would be awfully convenient. But Kemp doesn’t like that the money for the event comes from the Saudi Arabian government.
However, she understands that women who compete on the LET full-time have little choice but to compete in the six Saudi-backed events, noting that budgets are so tight on that tour, one player drove an Amazon truck during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It would be so great to have a few more KPMGs in the world,” said Kemp, “a few more CMEs that would love to support women’s golf.”
KPMG U.S. Deputy Chair and COO Laura Newinski said on Tuesday that they like the notion of pressure and momentum in the growth of the game, what it does to bring attention and awareness to the value of the product. The USGA set a new standard with a $10 million purse at this year’s U.S. Women’s Open. Each LPGA major has raised its purse significantly in recent years.
“As a sponsor, this isn’t a competition,” said Newinski. “It’s a come-along and let’s do right by the game in terms of what we’re putting into it.”
Gaby Lopez of Mexico celebrates after winning the Blue Bay LPGA on November 10, 2018, in Hainan Island, China. (Photo by Zhe Ji/Getty Images)
If LIV creates something new for women’s golf, Gaby Lopez thinks she’d likely stay on the LPGA.
“Just for my core values,” she said. “I don’t really play for money. I really play to win championships. To me, it’s more important.”
But, she can see others viewing it differently.
“I think a lot of players will think about it because there are a lot of girls that are struggling, even on the sponsor side,” said Lopez. “I wouldn’t be surprised if girls leave this tour.”
When Kirk thinks about the possibility of Saudi money threatening the LPGA, she thinks not just about the tour itself, but the LPGA teaching division and the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf program that has exploded in recent years. What becomes of those?
“I just hope players understand the consequences of decisions that don’t just affect you,” said Kirk. “They affect generations to come.”
Golf Channel will carry 20 hours of live tournament coverage of the LPGA’s second major of 2020, the ANA Inspiration.
The ANA Inspiration kicks off early with a charity skins match airing live on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET on Golf Channel. The event, which benefits Eisenhower Health, will feature four LPGA player in the field. Katherine Kirk and Amy Olson will team up against Christina Kim and Angela Stanford in nine-hole match.
Golf Channel will carry 20 hours of live tournament coverage of the year’s second major, headlined by No. 2 Danielle, Nelly Korda, Inbee Park, Lexi Thompson and Lydia Ko. While defending champion Jin Young Ko is not in the field, two-time major winner Sung Hyun Park makes her 2020 LPGA debut at Mission Hills.
The ANA Inspiration week will kick off with a 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗦𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗦 𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛 that will benefit @EisenhowerHeal ✨
Betsy King and her Golf Fore Africa charity are gathering together some of the most generous hearts in golf to promote #GivingTuesdayNow.
Typically, GivingTuesday takes place immediately after Thanksgiving. But with so many facing desperate need in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s a new campaign launching on May 5 called #GivingTuesdayNow.
Betsy King and her Golf Fore Africa charity are gathering together some of the most generous hearts in golf to promote the day. On Friday, May 1, King will be joined by Lorena Ochoa, Juli Inkster, Angela Stanford, Katherine Kirk, Amy Olson, Azahara Munzo and Kendall Dye for a live one-hour Q&A video chat at 2 p.m. ET. The Zoom call will be open to the public.
The 64-year-old King, a 34-time winner on the LPGA, is in the midst of a five-year pledge to raise $10 million to bring clean water to 200,000 people throughout Zambia. She personally pledged $1.3 million to help accomplish the goal. Golf Fore Africa is well over the halfway mark to that $10 million goal, but donations have dried up completely in the wake of COVID-19.
Kendall Dye
“The need is more dire than ever,” said Golf Fore Africa board member and LPGA player Kendall Dye. “We’re still talking about hand washing and hygiene, and we thought we’d be flying cars by now.”
All of the participants on Friday’s call have personally raised money to fund at least one well in Africa. Several have their own charity initiative as well.
We are so excited to host this virtual event to learn what life has been like for the pros during this time of quarantine! Listen in as they discuss a variety of topics including the generous golf community. Click on the link in bio to set your reminder to join us on Friday! pic.twitter.com/0Rqdn5xPUE
King’s main fundraising event in Phoenix was canceled last month along with one that was set for late June. She has postponed the event in Houston around the U.S. Women’s Open to Dec. 14, one day after the championship is now set to conclude.
The COVID-19 virus is only now beginning to impact Africa, and the World Health Organization has warned that the continent will become the next epicenter of the virus.
Amy Olson and Kristy McPherson. (Kendall Dye)
Dye has been traveled to Africa twice and has seen the needs there firsthand. With basic sanitation being at the heart of coronavirus prevention, clean water has never been more vital. Of course, it’s important to raise funds for local and national needs, Dye said, but it’s also important to remember the poorest of the poor.
“Nobody expected this pandemic,” said Dye, “but we can’t forget the least of these.”
Kendall Dye with children in Africa. (Photo provided by Kendall Dye)
