Tag: kpmg

‘A lot of these girls, golf is their life’: Mental health in the workplace takes center stage at KPMG Women’s PGA Championship

“We think it’s because we’re advocating for it. We’re talking out loud about it.”

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SPRINGFIELD, N.J. — Allyson Felix, the most decorated U.S. track and field athlete in history with 11 Olympic medals, went to a dark place after losing to Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell by 0.08 seconds in the 200 meters sprint at the 2008 Summer Games.

“I think it was hard for other people to understand,” said Felix, “because they look at a silver medal and it’s like, that’s amazing, and it is, and I was really grateful, but I think when you’ve dedicated yourself for so long … it was really devastating for me.”

Felix didn’t have the tools then she does now to pull herself out quickly from what she calls an embarrassing time. She’d waited four years to finish second … again.

“To be the favorite, and to want to make your country proud,” said Felix, “and you feel like you just want to disappear when you miss the mark.”

Remarkably, mountaintops can lead players to a similar place. 2022 KPMG Women’s PGA champion In Gee Chun sought help for depression after winning two majors early in her career. The pressure to be perfect took its toll. Chun has talked publicly about her battle for several years now, hoping she can help others.

“It’s not just me,” said Chun. “Everyone has their own hard time.”

Felix came to Baltusrol Golf Club on Wednesday to accept the KPMG Inspire Greatness Award and serve as the closing keynote speaker at the event’s Leadership Summit. The subject of mental health transcends from the boardroom to the locker room as female CEOs and athletes alike have experienced increased anxiety and stress in this post-pandemic era.

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KPMG began regularly surveying its 40,000 U.S. employees in the wake of COVID-19 and heard back from roughly 25,000 on a variety of “How are you feeling?” questions. Laura Newinski, KPMG U.S. Deputy Chair and COO, said employees were coming to their managers for help on issues that weren’t related to work: stress about children and spouses or aging parents.

“We think that during the pandemic,” said Newinski, “people really turned to their employer as a trusted source of information … what’s the new rule set? They’re turning to employers now around a whole range of mental health challenges, not just work.”

KPMG conducted a survey of 1,500 executive women (SVP level and above) from Fortune 1,000 companies across the country on the rise on the rise in post-pandemic stress.

Ninety-one percent of women surveyed perceived an exponential surge of stress in the workplace compared with three years ago. Seventy percent of women attributed higher stress in the workplace to increased workloads and expectations, and 58 percent of executive women report added responsibilities stemming from the need to help manage their teams’ mental health on top of their own.

It’s no surprise then that 71 percent of executive women say organizations need to do more for leaders who are supporting their employees’ mental health and well-being.

Newinski said KPMG has worked to provide quicker access to pre-diagnosis counseling sessions as well as an increase in the number of counselors provided through their health coverage. There’s new training for managers on leading employees who are experiencing a mental health crisis and making sure that everyone understands the help that’s available.

“Our vendor tells us that our people’s uptake is double what the average uptake is for help for counseling,” said Newinski.

“We think it’s because we’re advocating for it. We’re talking out loud about it.”

KPMG U.S. Deputy Chair and COO Laura Newinski speaks at the Leadership Summit at Baltusrol. (KPMG photo)

Stacy Lewis, a two-time major champion, joined the LPGA in 2009 and has pushed for the LPGA to provide a sports psychologist for years. Things were more fun in her early days on tour, she said, more laid back and relaxed. Maybe it’s because they were playing for less money, she wonders. Whatever the case, it felt like there was more support among peers.

“A lot of these girls, golf is their life,” she said. “It’s OK for a little bit, but it eventually becomes a problem.

“Just to help these girls have some balance out here and have a support system outside of mom and dad, somebody they don’t have to go through mom and dad to even get to.”

That person is Dr. Julie Amato, a sports psychologist who works with the WNBA’s New York Liberty as well as the athletic department for Lafayette College and Princeton University, where LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux-Samaan is former athletic director.

Amato, who began working for the tour last year, meets with eight to 10 players per week and hopes to get out to as many as 10 events this year. She was onsite earlier in the week at Baltusrol talking to players and planned to come back on Sunday as a spectator.

“It’s different than being a salaried athlete,” said Amato of the unique challenges to golf. “These athletes, their well-being is tied to their performance. That’s a whole different thing to have to deal with.”

Two players in contention this week – first-round leader Lee-Anne Pace and Mel Reid – stepped away from the game in recent years due, at least in part, to mental fatigue.

Pace said she didn’t like the game for the better part of six years, and that a break around the pandemic helped changed that.

“I was really tough on myself,” she said. “I just couldn’t make a mistake. Couldn’t accept a mistake. Every day on the golf course just drained me, and I didn’t like that. So I stopped.”

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Players talk often about how the push for perfection can lead to an imbalanced life. Those who reach top often look around and say: This is it?

The purse this week is $10 million, a record for the KPMG Women’s PGA. Players who missed the cut will make $4,000 to help cover expenses for the week.

“I think it’s one of the side effects of playing for more money,” said Lewis. “More loneliness, more teams around girls and less time of hanging out with people your own age.

I look at the amount of people that are practicing on Mondays, it’s astronomical.”

At 38, Lewis is one of the oldest players on tour these days. She worries that LPGA careers are trending shorter and shorter.

There’s no robust pension plan in the women’s game. Many feel the pressure to peak early enough to be able to afford taking a break to start a family. Few will have the luxury of walking away without the need for a second career.

Those at the bottom of the money list feel pressure for different reasons than those at the top, but the heaviness can feel the same.

Newinski said she believes that many of the same attributes that have carried a lot of women into their leadership positions are being tapped now that there is a crisis in emotional health, which puts more pressure on women than men.

“Unless we teach men how to share in that responsibility – how to listen; how to be more empathetic; how to have vulnerable conversations,” she said. “When you’re vulnerable, it allows your people to be more vulnerable, and that allows them to get through their challenge by engaging the help around them as opposed to isolation.”

Similarly, the attributes that have helped LPGA players reach the pinnacle of their sport might be the same mindset that keeps them from seeking help. They’re conditioned to be tough, to push through and not complain.

“Any time there’s an individual sport,” said Amato, “it’s just you. There’s no one else to blame when it’s goes wrong, but no one else to celebrate when it goes right.

“I think it creates more of a sense of loneliness, at times, for players.”

For those who need a major break, the LPGA has a way to for players to apply for a mental health medical leave.

Under the LPGA Extension Policy, players must complete a similar process as if they experience a physical injury, including clinical documentation. This type of leave was around prior to the pandemic.

Felix, 37, appreciates the openness that now surrounds the subject of mental health. Early on in her career, Felix felt like she had to be there at all costs. There was no time to take a break.

“It definitely took a toll,” she said.

2023 Women's PGA Championship
Melissa Reid tees off on the 4th hole during the third round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-USA TODAY Sports

Player after player that stepped to the mic during this week’s KPMG touched on the unseen battle that wages on. Early contender Mel Reid wrestled with a right wrist injury last season that nearly ended her career.

“I legit quit,” said Reid. “When I got my injury, I tried to play through it, which I kind of felt I had to because I was losing my card, and then yeah, we don’t get money being on a medical.

“I feel like the girls do (quit) a lot more than the guys. I feel like the guys can just take time off, whereas the girls, we feel like we have to play because that’s our income, right.

“So yeah, in September I literally told (my wife) Carly, ‘I’m going into media, like I’m going to be one of you guys, I’m not playing golf anymore.'”

Daily work with her mental coach, Duncan McCarthy, during that time helped to heal what wasn’t working beyond the wrist. The injury stemmed from a full-throttle approach to fixing her golf swing. Reid hit up to 500 golf balls a day. She couldn’t find the off switch.

“The thing I do is I kind of mix the golfer and the human together and that’s when I get unhappy,” said Reid. “I don’t switch off. I don’t switch off at home. I’m thinking about golf. Then, I’m on the golf course and I’m not quite fully in it because I’m kind of drained from constantly thinking about it, like looking at golf swings, analyzing stuff all the time, and it just drains me. It’s almost like an obsession.

“So we’ve done a really good job, not perfect, but kind of when I’m at the golf course, I’m ‘Mel the Golfer,’ very professional, get my work done, very present. When I’m at home, I’m present with my friends, with Carly, whatever it is I’m doing, and we’re just trying to separate that.”

In that, she’s not alone.

Irish Open returns for the first time in 10 years, headlined by national hero Leona Maguire and backed by KPMG

Leona Maguire was 15 years old the first time she played in the Irish Open.

It’s been 10 years since the Irish Open was last held, and it’s no coincidence that the event’s return coincides with the rise of a bona fide Irish star in Leona Maguire. Currently No. 18 in the world, Maguire has begun to fulfill the promise she showed as an amateur with her breakout performance at the 2021 Solheim Cup and maiden victory at the LPGA Drive On earlier this year.

Maguire’s hometown of Cavan threw a parade in her honor when she returned to Irish soil after last year’s Solheim. The 27-year-old Duke grad then became the first Irish player to win on the LPGA, and now her personal sponsor, KPMG, is the title sponsor of her national Open.

KPMG’s influence on the women’s game ranges from title sponsor of one of the five LPGA majors, to sponsorship of the Irish Kids Golf Tour, which is open to boys and girls ages 13 and under. They also financially back the LPGA’s reinvigorated stats system.

“It was always a big event when it was on the schedule a few years ago,” said Maguire of the Irish, “and it’s taken 10 years, but there’s been a lot of planning and organizing that has gone into it, and hopefully this can become a big event on the LET schedule for a long time to come.”

Maguire and twin sister Lisa played as amateurs at the Irish Open from 2009 to 2012 at Portmarnock and Killeen Castle. Leona was 15 years old the first time she played in the Irish Open, and she was paired with Dame Laura Davies, which she called intimidating.

“She was hitting that 2-iron of hers everywhere,” said Maguire, “and I was trying to hit my driver within 40 yards of it.”

Catriona Matthew, Maguire’s Solheim Cup captain last year, won the Irish in 2012 by a single stroke over Suzann Pettersen and will compete alongside Maguire this week in the first two rounds at Dromoland Castle. Matthew was also on the winning European Solheim Cup team at Killeen in 2011.

“I played the whole 18 now in the pro-am and I think it’s going to be a tricky golf course,” said Matthew. “The front nine is tricky off the tee and the greens are difficult. I’m really looking forward to it and there’s a real buzz about the tournament and it looks like we’re going to have some good crowds.”

Linn Grant, a four-time winner on the LET this season, highlights another marquee pairing along with up-and-coming teen Pia Babnik and 41-year-old Liz Young, who recently won her first LET title in Switzerland.

The 72-hole stroke-play event features a field of 126 and a purse of 400,000 euros.

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KPMG severed ties with Phil Mickelson. Will others such as Callaway, Workday and Rolex soon follow?

During the 2020-21 season, Mickelson amassed around $40 million in endorsements.

The fallout surrounding Phil Mickelson’s allegiance to a Saudi-backed breakaway golf league continued Tuesday with news that one of his top endorsement deals has ended.

KPMG announced Tuesday afternoon that it concluded its relationship with the six-time major champion, a deal that reached back to 2008. Although the release said the two sides had “mutually agreed” to end their partnership, it was clearly a reaction to eroding support for Mickelson in the face of disparaging comments about the PGA Tour and the proposed Saudi-backed super golf league made to Alan Shipnuck that surfaced this week.

“The Tour likes to pretend it’s a democracy, but it’s really a dictatorship,” Mickelson told Shipnuck. “They divide and conquer. The concerns of the top players are very different from the guys who are lower down on the money list, but there’s a lot more of them. They use the top guys to make their own situation better, but the top guys don’t have a say.”

Mickelson also told Shipnuck that he was willing to deal with “scary motherf—-rs” in Saudi Arabia in order to gain leverage on the PGA Tour despite human rights abuses by the Saudis.

Soon after, Tour players began refuting Mickelson’s comments, including Billy Horschel, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas.

“I don’t want to kick someone while he’s down obviously, but I thought they were naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant,” McIlroy said of Mickelson’s comments. “It was just very surprising and disappointing, sad. I’m sure he’s sitting at home sort of rethinking his position and where he goes from here.”

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Not long after KPMG announced the split, the company had noticeably pulled all content involving Mickelson from its website. This move could signal the beginning of a groundswell, which the 51-year-old noted in his post.

“I have incredible partners, and these relationships mean so much more to me than a contract. Many have been my most influential mentors and I consider all to be lifelong friends,” Mickelson said via social media. “The last thing I would ever want to do is compromise them or their business in any way, and I have given all of them the option to pause or end the relationship as I understand it might be necessary given the current circumstances. I believe in these people and companies and will always be here for them with or without a contract.”

Other companies attached to the former Arizona State star include Workday, Callaway, Rolex, Amstel Light, menswear company Mizzen+Main, Intrepid Financial Partners and Instajet. Mickelson also co-founded the company Coffee for Wellness in 2020.

While players are paid handsomely for winning tournaments — for example, Mickelson made $2,160,000 by edging Louis Oosthuizen for the 2020 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island — the biggest paychecks come from sponsors, many of whom attach themselves to a star’s perceived personality and likability.

According to Forbes, Mickelson was 29th on the list of the world’s highest-paid athletes during the 2020-2021 season, amassing around $40 million in endorsement deals. Overall in his career, the 45-time PGA Tour champ has taken home about $800 million in endorsements. He’s earned less than $100 million in golf purses.

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Will other companies follow suit and drop the aging star? That’s yet to be seen. As of late Tuesday, Callaway and others still had pictures of Mickelson on their websites, and calls to his sponsors went unanswered.

While the ramifications will almost certainly accelerate in the short term, it’ll be interesting to see if Mickelson can rehabilitate his image over the long haul.

For example, blue-chip sponsors such as AT&T and Accenture dropped Tiger Woods in 2009 when news of his sex scandal broke, but he’s back atop the golf world when it comes to endorsements, with 2K Sports, Bridgestone, Centinel Spine, Discovery Communications, Inc, Full Swing, Hero Motocorp, Kowa Company Ltd., Monster Energy, Nike, Rolex, TaylorMade and Upper Deck in his stable. According to Forbes, Woods pocketed an impressive $60 million in endorsement deals during the 2020-21 season.

That was down from the $70 million Woods made in endorsement deals in 2008, before news of the scandal surfaced. At the time, Woods was far and away the most handsomely compensated spokesperson in golf.

Second that year? None other than Mickelson, with more than $52 million in endorsements.

It remains to be seen if that one-two combo remains in place in the future.

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Nelly Korda wins first major at KPMG Women’s PGA Championship

Nelly Korda ended an 0-for-11 U.S. drought by winning the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club on Sunday.

For the first time in nearly three years, an American has won an LPGA major championship.

Nelly Korda has ended an 0-for-11 U.S. drought by winning the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club on Sunday.

Korda, 22, and Lizette Salas, 31, started the final round at 15 under, five shots clear of the field after 54 holes, setting the stage for one of them to break through. Angela Stanford was the last American to win a major at the Evian Championship in September 2018.

Korda made a move early, making birdie at the third. Then on the 5th, she gave herself a kick-in eagle after ripping a 7-wood from 243 yards out.

Salas birdied the hole but Korda moved ahead by a shot. Korda later eagled the par-5 12th while Salas bogeyed the hole, opening up a four-shot lead with six holes left.

On the 14th, Korda poured in a 20-footer for birdie to get to 21 under and a five-shot lead. She doubled the next hole but went to the last with a three-shot lead.

Women’s PGA Championship: Leaderboard | Photos

She closed the win out from there with a par on the last for a final-round 68 to finish at 19 under for her sixth LPGA victory, tying her sister Jessica. Americans have now won five LPGA titles this season. Salas finished solo second at 16 under. Kyo Joo Kim and Guilia Molinaro finished tied for third at 10 under. Danielle Kang and Patty Tavatanakit finished tied for fifth at 8 under.

Korda is now projected to ascend to the No. 1 spot in the Rolex rankings. Stacy Lewis was the last American to be ranked No. 1 in 2014. Nelly Korda has also moved to No. 1 in the Race to CME Globe standings.

On Friday, Korda became the fifth player in Women’s PGA history to shoot a 63, joining Patty Sheehan (1984), Meg Mallon (1999), Kelly Shon (2017) and Sei Young Kim (2020).

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Olympic dreams will be realized, crushed amid major drama at KPMG Women’s PGA Championship

As if a major wasn’t pressure enough, Olympic women’s golf qualifying ends after the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

JOHNS CREEK, Georgia – Danielle Kang broke down and cried, and then she panicked when she found out that qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics had been extended 15 months. She was in when the rankings were frozen, but could she hold on?

“For me to have to re-accomplish something that has been my life goal and dream was really tough on me,” said Kang, whose Olympic dream began when she took up Tae Kwon Do as a youngster.

“I couldn’t stop looking at the Rolex rankings. I couldn’t stop worrying about what other people did up until this week, secured.”

While the pressure is on for other players at this week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship – the final event before Olympic qualifying ends on June 28 – No. 6-ranked Kang can focus solely on the task of winning a second major. To that end, she has swing thoughts written on her hand, her glove and likely up and down her forearms.

“I finally feel like myself,” she said, “because the one thing that was the pinnacle was to just hit that mark that I qualified for the Olympics as a USA athlete.”

While the likes of Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer and Louis Oosthuizen won’t be at the Summer Games, so far no woman has taken a pass at Tokyo. Quite the opposite in fact: They’re all in.

“I just think men golfers, they just have so many big events,” said 2016 gold medalist Inbee Park. “They definitely play a different level of golf with a lot of different perspective. They have so many opportunities and so many different weeks with so many big tournaments. For us, I think it’s a little different. We’re not as big as men’s golf. So I think girls just treat it a little differently.”

The lucrative FedEx Cup starts two weeks after the Olympics

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Judy Rankin, while observing from afar, looks at the equality of exposure that exists in the Olympics as a reason in general that women might put the experience at a higher level than some men.

“Everything that the male athlete is asked to do and is given,” said Rankin earlier this year, “is the same thing that a female athlete is asked to do and is given.”

There’s no denying the level of fame a medal can bring. Park won seven major championships but turned into a mega-star in South Korea after she won the gold medal.

“When Inbee was teeing it up to win her fourth major in a row (in 2013), the Korean rating on TV was about 8,” said LPGA commissioner Mike Whan at the ANA Inspiration. “An you guys know because you follow, an 8 rating is Tiger Woods in the Masters. It’s a huge number. In Korea, that’s what you would expect. Here she was about to make history like nobody had ever seen. When she won the Olympics, the TV rating was 27.1.

“As she said, she went from being a really – what did she say? A really noteworthy golfer to being one of the most famous people in Korea in one weekend.”

Shanshan Feng became the first player from China to become a member of the LPGA and win a major title, but it was after her bronze medal in Rio that participation numbers in the junior ranks really took off.

In 2015, Feng said the number of juniors who had registered with the CGA to play in a tournament was around 3,000. That number, she noted, has since grown to around 100,000.

When she won a major title, Feng said most Chinese knew so little about golf that they didn’t even know what a major even meant.

“They didn’t have a clue,” she said.

Olympic medals, however, needed no explanation.

Meijer LPGA Classic - Round One
Leona Maguire of Ireland waves to fans after a par on the 15th green during round one of the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give at Blythefield Country Club on June 17, 2021 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Even though plenty know about golf in Ireland, Leona Maguire noticed that many tuned into for the first time back home when she competed in the 2016 Olympics as an amateur. Leona had identical twin sister Lisa on the bag when she recorded the event’s first birdie. She called it the coolest week of her life.

“Because we were the second week,” said Maguire, “we were watching gymnastics and swimming and everything at home and all of a sudden, you’re there. Serena Williams walks by and Michael Phelps walks by. We got to go to the track and watch Bolt, and Phelps’ last day in the pool.”

Sadly, COVID-19 restrictions will keep first-timers from having a similar experience in Tokyo. The women’s competition for the 2021 Olympics will take place Aug. 4-7 at Kasumigaseki Country Club and participants aren’t likely to see much beyond the hotel and golf course.

“Unfortunately, it kind of sucks our parents can’t come if we do all qualify,” said Nelly Korda, who hopes to be joined by sister Jessica and brother Sebastian (tennis) in Toyko, “but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”

The Kordas’ mother, Regina, a former tennis player, is the only one in the family who has previously qualified for the Olympic Games, having represented Czechoslovakia in 1988.

Jessica, No. 13 in the Rolex Rankings, currently holds the fourth and final spot for Team USA but 18th-ranked Ally Ewing is one of several Americans who could unseat her with a victory at Atlanta Athletic Club.

“Honestly, what happens happens,” said Jessica on the eve of the event. “It’s out of my control. There’s nothing I can do.”

Sophia Popov said competing in Tokyo will fulfill a family dream that goes back generations. Her younger brother, Nicholas, swam for the University of Arizona and barely missed out on qualify for the London Olympics. Mom Claudia swam for Stanford and never saw her Olympic dream come to fruition.

Popov, the 2020 AIG Women’s British Open champ, said her mom and brother asked if they could get the Olympic rings tattooed and write “brother” or “mother” underneath.

“I was like, you can do whatever you want to,” said a smiling Popov. “… it’s also why I want to go so badly is because I have two other people to represent that I feel like could have been there in the past.”

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Yuka Saso continues eye-opening trend of players making their first LPGA title a major

Seven of the last 11 women’s major winners have been first-time LPGA winners.

JOHNS CREEK, Georgia – Yuka Saso’s picture hung from a skyscraper in Manila the day after she became the first Filipino player to win a major championship title. Saso graced the front page of every major newspaper in her home country and Postmaster General Norman Fulgencio announced her face would be featured on a stamp.

It’s no wonder Saso slept with the trophy that first night.

“Actually, my trophy stayed on the bed and I stayed on the couch,” she joked.

Saso is the latest in a long line of players who made their first LPGA title a major. Seven of the last 11 major winners, in fact, have been first-time winners on tour. Four of those seven players were non-members.

When Saso clinched the U.S. Women’s Open title at Olympic Club on the third playoff hole, she also seized a five-year exemption on the LPGA. That’s a new bonus – call it the Popov Rule – after Sophia Popov won the AIG Women’s British Open title in 2020 and an uproar followed that she wasn’t in the next week’s event let alone the next major and that, as a non-member, she only received a two-year exemption on tour.

The LPGA announced changes that addressed all of those issues earlier this year.

“She gets everything she deserves,” said Popov. “She’s a great player. She’s a great human being. There’s no reason why she shouldn’t have a five-year exemption out on Tour.”

Saso, who turned 20 on Sunday 20, was over-the-moon about meeting idol Rory McIlroy (and Phil!) for the first time as the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. McIlroy invited her inside the ropes, and the woman who spent hours watching YouTube videos of McIlrory’s swing, got to take her own video. She was more nervous meeting McIlroy that she was over the birdie putt she needed to win the U.S. Women’s Open.

“I didn’t know how to say hi,” she said.

Asked how often she’d watched highlights of her victory at Olympic, Saso said she doesn’t like watching herself.

“I’d rather watch Rory’s,” she said with a smile.

Jennifer Kupcho is the highest-ranked LPGA player, at No. 24, who hasn’t yet won on tour. She tied for second at the Evian in her rookie season and took a share of seventh at the Women’s PGA in 2021.

The last seven LPGA major winners happen to be first-time major winners, too. They hail from five different countries and none are Americans.

When Stacy Lewis first came on tour in 2009, she felt like roughly 30 players had a chance any given week. That number has more than doubled, she said.

“It shows that these girls are more prepared coming out,” she said. “That’s the biggest thing is they’re more prepared for the big stages and to handle the pressure of it, which is a great thing. You don’t necessarily want to have to have the huge learning curve and all of that.”

“Whether we continue to see it, I don’t know. It’s just so hard to win now.”

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Stacy Lewis, Duke basketball coach Kara Lawson deliver empowering message at KPMG Women’s Leadership Summit

The two stars of their respective sports gathered to talk about breaking barriers and empowering change in women’s sports.

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. ­– Stacy Lewis’ daughter Chesnee joined her on the flash area platform after her final interview of the day. She carried a golf ball with her – not mom’s – and took to kicking it like a soccer ball. Chesnee isn’t old enough to come out and watch mom play during tournaments, but she does like to join her at practice.

“She’ll pick up a club and she’ll miss the ball completely,” said Lewis, “but she’ll sit there and hold her finish. So you know she’s paying attention. She’s watching.”

Stacy Lewis has always asked why. Never one to settle for personal success alone, Lewis has always looked out for the best interests of the overall tour. Why do the women, for example, play for less money on lesser-known courses? Those questions kicked into an even higher gear after she gave birth to a girl.

“You know, it’s just everything I do now is for Chesnee,” said Lewis, “and I hope when she’s older, she sees what I did as far as just having her while I was still playing (to) keep pushing the bar.”

Lewis, a former World No. 1 and KPMG ambassador, has been an integral part of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship from the start. On Wednesday, she joined Duke head coach Kara Lawson at the annual KPMG Women’s Leadership Summit to talk about breaking barriers and empowering change.

Lawson, a Former WNBA and Olympic Champion, became the first female nationwide TV analyst for an NBA game and the first female assistant coach in Boston Celtics history.

“I think a lot of times those types of milestones say more about the decision-makers than they do the person,” said Lawson, who noted that not one day did she wake up in Boston thinking she couldn’t accomplish a task or that players wouldn’t listen to her because she’s female.

“I can’t be convinced about the opposite.”

Lawson wants to see women in key positions of leadership across all sports, just like Lewis wants to see all women’s sports get more network coverage.

“I think our biggest barrier is TV,” said Lewis, “and it has to do with the viewership and the number of people watching … that ultimately is what’s going to drive the money in.”

Being on the same stage as Lawson – though virtually this year ­– was energizing for Lewis, who wanted to jump on the floor and play for the Blue Devil coach after listening to her speak. In many areas, the accomplished pair could relate.

Kara Lawson
Boston Celtics guard Carsen Edwards talks with former assistant coach Kara Lawson before the start of a game against the Brooklyn Nets at TD Garden. (Photo: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports)

“It’s nice to hear the same struggles,” said Lewis, “but also the same kind of triumphs, too.”

Lawson said it’s important not to wait for someone else to recognize something that she already believes about herself. She knows what she has, what she brings, and in her mind, she’s already there.

“I don’t wait for people in my head,” she said. “That confidence has carried me a long way.”

Since the Leadership Summit began seven years ago, 20 percent of the women who participated have been promoted to the C-suite and 50 percent have been promoted.

“That’s one huge impact statement there,” said Paul Knopp, KPMG U.S. Chair and CEO. “We realize we play a small part in that, but these women continue to mentor and go to leadership development opportunities through this program. They network with the women every year that are at the summit.”

In 2019, two-thirds of LPGA events had some type of women’s leadership event convening onsite.

Condoleezza Rice, the 66th U.S. Secretary of State, followed Lawson and Lewis in Wednesday’s all-star lineup.

It’s important for Lewis to show Chesnee that women don’t have to choose between their career and raising a family. The two-time major winner was at the Masters doing an event when she first told former KPMG Chair and CEO Lynne Doughtie that she was pregnant. Lewis admits she was scared to tell her sponsors, wondering if they drop her.

Doughtie wrapped her up in a bear hug, and the next week Lewis found out that KPMG would pay out the entire year she was pregnant event if she didn’t compete in the minimum number of events that her contract stipulated.

“It was the biggest relief,” said Lewis, “just to know that they had my back.”

All but one of her sponsors did the same thing and Lewis was outspoken about the need for it to become standard practice for all female athletes.

“It’s just encouraging to see it across all sports, in business,” said Lewis, “things are changing.”

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KPMG: New analytics platform to help narrow divide between men’s, women’s game

Closing the outrageously wide analytics chasm between the men’s and women’s game seemed a natural fit for KPMG.

ATLANTA – The question from KPMG was simple: What’s the LPGA’s No. 1 pain point?

Answer: The lack of statistics and analytics.

Seven years ago, KPMG stepped in as title sponsor of the revamped Women’s PGA with a commitment to take the championship to premiere courses where men have typically played. This week marks the first time a women’s major has been held on the Highlands Course at Atlanta Athletic Club. Upcoming venues include Congressional in 2022 and Baltusrol in 2023.

The purse size has doubled to $4.5 million. Weekend coverage will be on NBC. In the Women’s Leadership Summit, KPMG created a model that tournament after tournament on the LPGA was eager to follow.

But KPMG, a Hall of Fame kind of LPGA partner, wanted to do more. Closing the outrageously wide analytics chasm between the men’s and women’s game seemed a natural fit for the goal of continuing to elevate the women’s game.

“We do data and analytics for a living,” said Paul Knopp, KPMG U.S. Chair and CEO.

The KPMG Performance Insights technology platform launches this week at Atlanta Athletic Club, though players and caddies took part in a soft launch, gathering data in the weeks leading up to the event.

The official release for the program described the LPGA’s current stats program as “similar to what some weekend golfers calculate after their rounds.” That’s precisely accurate.

“We were surprised at that disparity,” said Knopp, “and we very much wanted to be a partner in wanting to do something about it.”

The KPMG program will be similar to what’s on the European Tour, with caddies recording shots, club selections and the lie of every shot. They’ll turn in a special scorecard after every round and get paid a stipend for the efforts. KPMG is covering that, too.

Overall strokes gained and strokes gained by game area (off the tee, approach, around the green, putting) will be available as well as deeper insights into individual strokes gained by 25-yard increments and individual shots taken. Players, fans and media will know how close players hit it on average from certain distances. There will be shot dispersion charts, average birdie putt length and performance indexing over time against the field.

It’s not ShotLink, but it’s a quantum leap in the right direction.

Preaching the need for better analytics

KPMG ambassador Stacy Lewis stayed with COO Laura Newinski while competing in the Gainbridge LPGA at Lake Nona and talked at length with her about how stats would not only help players better identify strengths and weaknesses, but also vastly improve TV and print coverage of the tour.

“It will let people know how good we are,” said Lewis. “It creates interest and gives announcers something to talk about instead of what outfit we have on, or whether she’s happy or not. (Now it’s) how good her putting numbers are or how good she’s driving it this week, and you can back it up with something.”

KPMG Women's PGA Championship
Anna Nordqvist at the 2020 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club on Oct. 10, 2020 in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

For years Golf Channel’s Karen Stupples has been preaching the need for better analytics on the LPGA. Why should sports fans simply believe what someone in the booth says when there are no numbers to prove it?

“In this age of technology, everybody is looking at ball speed and club speed and spin rates,” said Stupples. “It’s a numbers game. And when there are no numbers, it makes it very subjective.

“I think people downplay just how good they are because there’s no way to put a fixed number on how good they are. They’re trying to take our word for it, but why would they take our word for it?”

Some players, like Brittany Altomare, have been keeping their own detailed stats for years. Altomare’s father Tom spent 32 years working at HP and used his penchant for numbers to create a stats system at the request of Altomare’s coach Justin Sheehan. Brittany inputs her own numbers each week. Tom analyzes the trends and puts together a summary. Sheehan breaks it down and delivers the message.

They could analyze 250 shots taken with an 8-iron, for example, and see how far she hits it from the hole on average and how often she converts for birdie.

For coaches who aren’t out every week watching players, this kind of information is invaluable for training.

Santiago Carranza, a former software engineer who now makes a living in finance, started a detailed stats project out of necessity to help girlfriend Gaby Lopez look for areas of improvement. It evolved into ABX Tour, an analytics system that was used by a number of players on tour who were looking for a benchmark of standards so that players can put context to their own personal stats.

Now there’s a standardized system in play for the entire tour that all partners will be able to access.

“When you get actual physical numbers that tell you how good these players are,” said Stupples, “people have to buy in. They can’t dismiss figures.”

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