With the start of Q3 on Thursday, a few key personnel changes also took place within the U.S. Golf Association, including one at the very top.
With the start of Q3 on Thursday, a few key personnel changes also took place within the U.S. Golf Association, including one at the very top.
Last month’s U.S. Open signaled the final lap of Mike Davis’s tenure as CEO of the organization and now Mike Whan has stepped in. Whan, the former Commissioner of the LPGA, was named as Davis’s replacement in February and officially picked up the reins on July 1.
While both the U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Open are in the rearview for 2021, the USGA is barreling toward the height of its summer season. Next week’s U.S. Senior Open marks the start of six consecutive weeks of championships.
The USGA also confirmed to Golfweek that Chief Commercial Officer Navin Singh has left the organization to pursue other professional opportunities. Singh was responsible for creating, directing and implementing the USGA’s commercial strategy, which included the broadcast production of USGA championships as well as the organization’s digital media rights portfolio and its digital media products.
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
[listicle id=778112022]
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.
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.”
Sources tell Golfweek the organization is close to signing a sponsor for the U.S. Women’s Open.
As befits an organization whose officers give the impression of having stepped off the Mayflower in golf spikes, the USGA has always maintained a puritanical aversion to commingling its championships and commercialism. And since there are few remaining holdouts in the world of sport, where most everything of meaning has been bartered to the highest bid, there’s an endearing noblesse oblige in its long-held stance that America’s national titles are not for sale.
That sensibility, ironically enough, requires subsidizing by commerce. The U.S. Open, which begins June 17 at Torrey Pines in California, generates approximately $165 million annually, including broadcast fees, corporate partnerships, ticket sales and merchandise — representing three-quarters of USGA revenue. The U.S. Open is the golden teat from which all of the governing body’s many other commitments suckle, not least the 13 other USGA championships contested each year.
One of those, the U.S. Women’s Open, will be staged for the 76th time this week at Olympic Club in San Francisco. It’s the premier event in women’s golf, unrivaled in longevity or stature. But the Women’s Open also loses $9 million each year. That might partly account for the yawning chasm in prize money. The purse at Torrey Pines will be $12.5 million, with $2.25 million going to the winner. Whoever is crowned on Sunday at Olympic Club gets $1 million from $5.5 million. The U.S. Opens offer the highest purses in men’s and women’s majors.
Those financials could be nearing a noteworthy overhaul.
In what would be a seismic shift for the USGA, sources tell Golfweek the organization is close to signing a sponsor for the U.S. Women’s Open, which could make it the first national championship with corporate branding. While no major in the men’s game carries a title sponsor, the U.S. Women’s Open stands alone among the five women’s majors in not having one. The presence of commercial entities like KPMG, AIG, Evian and ANA in the titles of major championships lays bare the economic reality of women’s golf.
I asked the USGA’s chief brand officer, Craig Annis, if a title sponsor was likely.
“We are not in the market for a title sponsor for the U.S. Women’s Open,” he replied emphatically.
Eamon Lynch
How about a “presenting” sponsor, in which the corporate branding comes after the event title?
“I would not rule that out,” Annis said. “We are always considering more ways to bring in corporate support for our championships and our programs and services.”
Annis declined to speculate on the potential price tag of any sponsorship — one source familiar with the pitch pegs it at $7-$10 million — and wouldn’t confirm whether a deal is close. “We would never disclose any conversations until they are ready to be made public,” he said.
On paper, such a sponsorship could mean the Women’s Open breaks even financially, but that cannot be the sole objective. The USGA won’t allow corporate barbarians to breach the gates just to reduce the amount of red ink on a tournament balance sheet. Its goal must surely be progress on some greater cause.
Equal prize money, perhaps?
In tennis, the U.S. Open instituted equal prize money in 1973. The other Slams caught up in the 2000s. (The economics for golf are obviously different as men’s and women’s events are not staged concurrently at the same venue). Equal prize money has never been a feature of professional golf, and the day when it might be still seems awfully far away. I asked Annis if having equal prize money for the U.S. Open and the U.S. Women’s Open is a USGA aspiration.
“We’ve previously said that our long-term vision is to work to achieve purse parity,” he responded. “In the short term, we’re going to continue to be leaders in the purses amongst majors.”
Which suggests that the addition of a sponsor at the Women’s Open wouldn’t be about reducing losses but rather significantly boosting the prize fund.
The effort to attract a commercial partner for the Women’s Open pre-dates the hiring of Mike Whan as the USGA’s new CEO, but it gels with his experience and skill set. Whan assumes office on July 1 and represents a break from the customary succession process in Liberty Corner, N.J. In the manner of the old Soviet politburo, USGA leaders typically rose through the ranks, immersed in rules and protocols, with a blade stashed in their blazer for internal politicking.
In his last job as commissioner of the LPGA Tour, Whan was by dint of necessity more marketer than manager. He knows the importance of messaging, of gestures, of symbolism and of action. Especially when it comes from a governing body.
The USGA has spent a great deal of time talking up women’s golf in recent years. We are likely now to see money back up the sentiment. Comrade Whan will quickly come to appreciate the options afforded an organization that enjoys its own broadcast rights revenue and healthy cash reserves.
Substantially increasing the purse at the U.S. Women’s Open would have one worrying knock-on effect: making other major title sponsors appear cheap by comparison (KPMG, AIG and Evian bankroll $4.5 million prize funds while ANA’s is $3.1 million). It wouldn’t set off a prize money arms race — there isn’t enough cash in women’s golf for that — but it would raise the question of how sustainable it might be for other sponsors just to keep pace. Yet that’s hardly a compelling reason not to inject greater rewards into the women’s game, especially against the backdrop of an accelerating money grab among the men.
Whatever action the USGA takes — signing championship sponsors, boosting the purse of a money-losing event, pursuing equality in the longer-term — will be controversial. Its critics will always include those who demonstrate the truth in Oscar Wilde’s aphorism about people who know the price of everything and the value of nothing. If the USGA does sign a sponsor for the Women’s Open, it should not be viewed as the grubby hocking of an heirloom but rather a straightforward acknowledgment that the women’s game can only go so far on trickle-down revenue from the men.
The resume of Mollie Marcoux Samaan seems to check all of the boxes for what the LPGA was looking for in its new commissioner.
The resume of Mollie Marcoux Samaan seems to check all of the boxes for what the LPGA was looking for in its new commissioner.
As the athletic director at Princeton, Marcoux Samaan certainly has the administrative background that a commissioner in a major sport needs. She played hockey and soccer collegiately, so she likely understands the challenges of women in sports. As a solid amateur golfer herself, she has a grasp of the game and what it takes to play well.
Perhaps the only surprise is that Marcoux Samaan wasn’t a bigger name in the golf world, but some people with higher golf profiles pulled themselves out of contention for the job in the last month.
Marcoux Samaan’s job will not be an easy one, and everyone has known that since Mike Whan announced he was leaving the LPGA. Whan did wonders for the women’s tour, and in a sense he leaves Marcoux Samaan a tour that is in much better shape than when he took over just more than 10 years ago.
Marcoux Samaan’s goal should not be to merely follow Whan and his path, but to blaze her own trail as the ninth LPGA commissioner and just the second woman to hold the job. The LPGA certainly faces issues, issues that even Whan couldn’t overcome despite his ability to build bridges and convince people that the LPGA was more relevant than most people believe.
What should be the main items Marcoux Samaan will focus on as she steps into the job? Here are a few strong possibilities:
Mollie Marcoux Samaan (Princeton Athletics)
Continuing the LPGA’s leadership efforts
“Mollie understands the power of golf to change the lives of girls and women,” the LPGA said in the statement announcing Marcoux Samaan’s hiring. “As a values-centered leader, she’s known for her skills in collaboration, managing through complexity and building a winning team culture.”
The LPGA has embraced the battle to encourage women and girls to take up the game and believes that gender should not be an obstacle in sports or life. Keeping that initiative alive will be a key to the growth of the tour. This is a story that has worked well for the LPGA.
The future of the ANA Inspiration
The LPGA’s first major of the year faces multiple issues beyond the fact it has been played twice without fans because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event is in the final year of All Nippon Airways’ current sponsorship deal, and securing that sponsorship or perhaps a new sponsor should ANA leave the event has to be priority No. 1.
But there is also the scheduling issue of the major championship being played the same week as the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, an event that seems to have captured the imagination of golf fans simply because it is played at the home of the Masters.
Whan said at this year’s ANA Inspiration that the tournament would probably move off the first week of April date eventually. Marcoux Samaan will have to deal with both issues for the Rancho Mirage tournament.
Improved television
If you want to see LPGA players get angry on social media, just put an LPGA broadcast on tape.
The LPGA will always get the short end of the stick when it comes to television, with network executives convinced the PGA Tour will always draw better ratings and with tours like the European Tour and PGA Tour Champions always fighting for time on Golf Channel. LPGA events are virtually non-existent on network television, except for championships controlled by the PGA of America or the USGA.
The LPGA will never have the television coverage that the PGA Tour does and shouldn’t really even try. But improving the television presence of the tour would be one way to get the LPGA’s message across to fans, and it ought to be a priority for the incoming commissioner.
Larry Bohannan is the golf writer for The Desert Sun, part of the USA Today Network. He can be reached at (760) 778-4633 or larry.bohannan@desertsun.com. Follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @Larry_Bohannan.
Mollie Marcoux Samaan comes to the LPGA after a stint as Princeton’s Athletic Director.
The LPGA has announced its replacement for Commissioner Mike Whan. The tour announced on Tuesday that its Board of Directors had unanimously elected Mollie Marcoux Samaan to step into the role. Marcoux Samaan currently is the Ford Family Director of Athletics at Princeton University.
“Our selection of Mollie Marcoux Samaan as the LPGA’s next Commissioner is the outcome of an extensive and deliberate search process. The position attracted a diverse group of outstanding internal and external candidates, all passionate about the LPGA. We concluded that Mollie is the right leader to guide the LPGA’s next chapter of growth, impact and achievement,” said Diane Gulyas, Chair of the LPGA Board of Directors and the Search Committee.
“Mollie understands the power of golf to change the lives of girls and women. As a values-centered leader, she’s known for her skills in collaboration, managing through complexity and building a winning team culture. In every role, she’s had an outstanding record of performance in navigating change, forging lasting partnerships, and seeing – and seizing – new opportunities,” Gulyas said.
Marcoux Samaan will be the ninth commissioner of the LPGA since its formation in 1950. She replaces Whan, who announced in January he would be stepping down from the role. In February, Whan was named the next Chief Executive Officer of the USGA.
Expect Whan to help Marcoux Samaan transition into the new role.
“I’m excited and enthused to hand the baton to Mollie,” Whan said. “With her vision and the strength of the existing LPGA leadership team, the Association is poised for incredible growth. I’m fully committed to being Mollie’s biggest cheerleader and supporter as she takes the LPGA to new heights.”
Marcoux Samaan has been a golfer since she was 11. She was a two-sport varsity athlete at Princeton, earning four letters each in soccer and ice hockey.
Following graduation, Marcoux Samaan served as assistant athletic director, assistant dean of admissions, and coach of girls’ ice hockey and soccer at the Lawrenceville School (Lawrenceville, New Jersey). After that, she began a 19-year career with Chelsea Piers Management before transitioning back to Princeton in 2014 as the Director of Athletics.
“I believe passionately that sports have the power to change the world. And in this moment in time – with the positive energy around women’s sports, women’s leadership and society’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion – I believe the LPGA has an incredible opportunity to use our platform for positive change,” Marcoux Samaan said.
“I’ve devoted my career to developing character, confidence and opportunities through sports. My mission and the LPGA’s mission are fully aligned: providing women and girls the opportunity to achieve their dreams through golf.
“Under the leadership of Mike Whan and the executive team, the LPGA is strongly positioned for continued growth and impact. I’ll look forward to working with Mike and the leadership team to meet the many people and organizations that have been so integral to the LPGA’s success. With its committed sponsors and fans, talented players and members, and exceptional staff and Board, my role will be to continue the positive momentum and increase opportunities, awareness, impact and respect for the LPGA worldwide.”
A high-level female executive at a Fortune 500 company is a finalist for the job.
As the candidate list for LPGA commissioner continues to narrow, Golfweek has learned that another prominent female leader in the industry is no longer in the mix. Alex Baldwin, current president of the Korn Ferry Tour, confirmed that she has made her decision regarding the role and remains committed to the PGA Tour.
“With the Korn Ferry Tour, I’m fortunate to have an incredible team,” Baldwin wrote in a text, “and I’m really excited about the future of the KFT.”
In January of 2019, Baldwin made history as the first female to lead one of the PGA Tour’s global tours as president.
Prior to joining the PGA Tour in 2017 as Vice President of Corporate Partnerships, Baldwin was a Corporate Consulting Executive at CAA Sports in Jacksonville Beach. Before that she worked with Boston-based Fenway Sports Management and IMG as a player agent, representing Karrie Webb and Suzann Pettersen.
The LPGA board is expected to make a decision by the end of May. Mike Whan, who on Feb. 17 was named the USGA’s next CEO, will officially take over in Far Hills, New Jersey, on July 1.
The LPGA hired the executive search and leadership advisory firm of Spencer Stuart to help with the transition. While several internal candidates at the LPGA were under consideration, a source who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter, said internal candidates are no longer in the running.
Roberta Bowman, the LPGA’s chief brand and communications officer who spent two decades with Duke Energy in Charlotte, North Carolina, told Golfweek that she is not a candidate for the role.
“I’ve loved my time at the LPGA,” said Bowman, “but my next job is going to be full retirement.”
[listicle id=778058320]
Last month, Suzy Whaley, the first female president of the PGA of America confirmed to Golfweek that she had taken her name out of the race. She did not say why.
One person who remains on the list of finalists, according to a source who is familiar with the process, is former LPGA Chief Commercial Officer Jon Podany. Prior to his nine years with the LPGA, Podany spent 15 years with the PGA Tour, including five as a senior vice president of business development. Before that he spent eight years at Proctor & Gamble. He also served as president and CEO of Arnold Palmer Enterprises for one year after leaving the LPGA.
Podany is currently a partner and CEO at CampusLore, a college sports content/media platform that is the voice of former players on the college game. Podany and Whan walked onto the football team as freshman at Miami of Ohio and were later roommates when both worked at P&G.
According to sources, Spencer Stuart cast a wide net in search of Whan’s replacement and the finalists include a high-level female executive at a Fortune 500 company.
Mike Whan has signed on to join the USGA later this summer as CEO, becoming the eighth top executive in the organization’s history.
Mike Whan as the USGA’s next CEO? To hear Whan tell it, the odds, as he saw them, were “overwhelmingly” stacked against him. What seemed like such an obvious next step to so many for the outgoing LPGA commissioner wasn’t a slam-dunk to the man himself.
That is, until Whan made a few quiet phone calls to other leaders in the industry – Jay Monahan (PGA Tour), Keith Pelley (European Tour), David Abeles (TaylorMade) and the man he would replace at the USGA, Mike Davis.
“Their reaction was the game-over point for me,” said Whan. “Their reaction of ‘Please do this, this should be good for all of us. Let’s continue to do what we’re building together.’ It mattered to me that it mattered to them. Those are all the people that we’re going to have to pull together to make real change.”
One week ago, Whan signed on to join the USGA later this summer as CEO, becoming the eighth top executive in the organization’s history. The USGA’s announcement on Wednesday comes six weeks after Whan announced his decision to step down as LPGA commissioner after 11 years at the helm.
USGA President Stu Francis, who oversaw the CEO search process, said he’d wake up at 3 a.m. worrying about whether or not Whan would take the job. They’d interviewed a number of promising candidates, Francis said, but Whan was the shining light, the man who checked every box and could come in ready to move at 100 mph. (At this point during his video chat with Golfweek, Whan raised his Coke Zero bottle, a nod to the fuel behind his blistering pace.)
LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan.
As one executive committee member put it on a recent call, “Shame on us if we don’t get this done,” Francis noted.
“The USGA has a unique role in golf in terms of we need to lead the way,” said Francis, “but we need to get people to come along with us.”
Particularly in the case of the ongoing distance debate, which as the USGA moves to the solution phase of its Distance Insights Report, there continue to be strong feelings on both sides of the aisle.
Rory McIlroy, a measured and respected voice in the game, recently called the report a “huge waste of time and money.”
Whan acknowledged that the distance problem won’t be solved in a team meeting in a board room at USGA headquarters. It will instead take an “industry huddle” to get to the finish line.
Much of Whan’s success at the LPGA – building the tour up from near ashes when he took on the job in 2010 and then passing the ultimate stress test by seeing the tour through a global pandemic – has been the strength of his partnerships. He knew what it was like to sit on the other side of a table as a check writer and used that experience to grow the tour from only 24 tournaments and official prize money of $41.4 million to the record $76.45 million and 34 official events that’s on the 2021 calendar.
[vertical-gallery id=778082601]
As a former vice president of marketing at TaylorMade and vice president and general manager at the Wilson Sporting Goods Company, Whan brings instant credibility and can relate to equipment manufacturers and tour leaders from first-hand experience.
Whan said TaylorMade CEO Abeles was the first person to call and ask if he was thinking about the USGA job.
“I just got off the phone with a recruiter and I gave him your name,” Whan replied.
“I know that in this role I’ll spend a lot of time with David Abeles, or John Solheim or Bob Parsons or the whole team from Acushnet. All people that I would spend time with if I retired.”
The distance debate is a 100-year-old problem, Whan said, and he’s impressed that the USGA and R&A have committed to making changes that will be good for the game for the next 100 years.
“We understand that we have to protect the game enough to make sure we don’t obsolete ourselves,” said Whan, “but at the same time were not trying to stick R&D in a box.
“The people on the manufacturing side know me well enough to know I’m a marketing guy at heart. I love the innovation and we want to keep seeing innovation. We just have to make sure that the out of bounds stakes aren’t so far out that we wake up without the sport.”
The fast-talking Whan is quick to admit that there are plenty of areas within the USGA in which he is no expert. When asked about the rules, he said he’ll have a fast-forwarding system set up to send all rules questions directly to Thomas Pagel, senior managing director of governance. He wouldn’t dream of faking it but also requested to get signed up for the next virtual rules seminar so that “I won’t embarrass you probably more than I already will.”
LPGA players consistently praised Whan’s transparent approach. He often went off-script with reporters, apologizing to executives in the back of the room.
Whan, who has admitted that he might not be a great fit culturally for the USGA, will no doubt change the culture of the organization as it will inevitably change him. Hopefully there’s something powerful in the middle, he said.
Just as he recruited the rest of the industry to commit to growing girls golf on a larger scale, Whan sees the USGA’s role in capitalizing on the game’s recent participation boom as part of an industry-wide effort.
As Whan moves into a broader role in golf, his passion for the women’s game isn’t going anywhere. In fact, now that he oversees the biggest championship in women’s golf, the subject of equal purses at the U.S. and U.S. Women’s Open seems especially relevant.
Whan said it’s been on his list since 2010.
When asked last month what he’d miss the most about the LPGA, Whan said the front-row seat he had to watching young women achieve their biggest dream in real time – whether that was earning a tour card or winning a tournament.
“That’s going to be hanging on some plaque in my office,” he said, “so that every time I turn the lights off I remember to ask, am I doing enough to make sure that young girls all around the world, when I’m going to bed, are putting somewhere saying this one is for the U.S. Women’s Open.”
Mike Whan with an LPGA-USGA Girls Golf member (Getty Images/LPGA).
When asked if he had any ideas jotted down on cocktail napkins yet, a classic Whan-ism, he held up a legal pad with seven bullet points.
At the top of that list: invest in the best.
“The first thing we’re going to invest in is to make sure we’re the best championships in the world,” he said. “You don’t get there by historical relevance alone. You’ve got to invest in them.”
He’ll no doubt reveal the rest of that list in one of his many upcoming conference calls with his new staff. Francis said Whan will start full-time with the USGA in the middle of the year and that Davis will help with the transition.
As the governing body strives to connect with a growing and evolving golf culture, Whan’s dynamic personality and effective communication skills will be paramount to an organization that has had its fair share of PR struggles in recent years. There will be no shortage of bridge-building.
More than anything though, he’ll strive to be golf’s champion.
“I can promise you this, however long I’m head of the USGA,” he said, “there will be no louder promoter of the game, no matter what portion of the game we’re talking about. Of course I want to preserve the game, but only after I promote it.”
In looking to extend its global reach, Cognizant didn’t just enter the women’s golf space, it raised the bar.
Mike Whan wasn’t yet LPGA commissioner when he met Louise Suggs for the first time in a hotel lobby in Houston. Michelle Wie happened to walk by, and Suggs proudly noted that the $220,000 check Wie had earned for winning the 2009 Lorena Ochoa Invitational was more than she’d earned in her entire Hall of Fame career.
“Your only real job,” Suggs told Whan, “is to leave it better for her daughter and her daughter’s daughter.”
Later at the hotel bar, Whan wrote down the words “celebration of the founders” on a napkin and put it in his briefcase. It wasn’t lost on Whan that he might be the last LPGA commissioner to have the great fortune of spending quality time with the founders.
What happens when future commissioners never get the chance to meet any of the women who started the LPGA 70 years ago? How easy it would be, he thought, to forget that personal philosophy.
And so Whan created the Founders Cup, which on Tuesday received a massive upgrade when the LPGA announced Cognizant as the new title sponsor, doubling the event’s purse to $3 million. It’s now the largest purse on tour outside of the majors and the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.
Cognizant’s commitment to keep the Founders Cup not only alive but thriving as Whan prepares to step down strikes a deeply personal chord for the commissioner.
But that’s really only half the story. The look of the press release alone – the name Cognizant flanked by the logos of both the PGA Tour and LPGA – sends a signal that would make any founder smile.
Cognizant announced its arrival in the golf space by partnering with both the LPGA and PGA Tour at the same time. The U.S.-based company joins Rolex and City as Global Partners for the Presidents Cup through 2026.
Just as Aon provides an identical year-long race for both tours with identical $1 million payouts, Cognizant provides a blueprint that other Fortune 500 companies should follow. As a leading professional-services company that supports equal opportunity and diversity in and out of the workplace, Cognizant put its core values into action.
“The world is full of platitudes,” said Gaurav Chand, Cognizant’s Chief Marketing Officer. “We wanted to put our money where our mouth was.”
In looking to extend its global reach, Cognizant didn’t just enter the women’s golf space – the U.S.-based company raised the bar.
LPGA Founders Marilynn Smith (left) and Shirley Spork greet golfers after they finish their final round at the 2019 Bank of Hope Founders Cup.
Terry Duffy, Chairman and CEO of CME Group, is one of the LPGA’s game-changers. The kind of partner who sometimes comes in with a vision that’s bigger than the tour’s. It was Duffy who doubled the CME purse to $5 million in 2019 and raised the winner’s check to a record $1.5 million. Duffy hoped to push other companies to start thinking the same way.
“I actually think if you’re going to sponsor the PGA,” Duffy told Golfweek last December, “you should figure out a way to bifurcate.”
Even if a company didn’t want to title sponsor an LPGA event, for example, adding presenting sponsors creates another opportunity to narrow the money gap between genders.
Whan created the Founders Cup in 2011 with a mock purse – in other words, players didn’t get paid. All the money went to charity. Not everyone appreciated the idea. Comments, he once said, ranged from: “You just tell me when and where and I’ll be there” to “Have you slipped and fallen?”
Karrie Webb won the inaugural event, and there were three founders on hand that week: Shirley Spork, Marilynn Smith and Suggs.
Hall of Famer Pat Bradley came to Phoenix that first year for an exhibition match and told Spork that it was because of her that she became a golf pro. She’d attended one of Spork’s clinics while in college and was encouraged by her talk of the tour.
“That’s the reward I get,” said Spork, “the thank yous.”
Jin Young Ko of South Korea poses with the trophy after winning the Bank of Hope Founders Cup on Mar. 24, 2019 at Wildfire Golf Club at JW Marriott in Phoenix, Ariz. (Via OlyDrop)
The challenge of creating the tour, the warm reception founders receive from current players on the 18th, the commitment to the game’s future – these are all elements that drew Chand into the Founders story. Much of his excitement also traces back to the joy his 10-year-old daughter Kaia has found in the game.
Chand hopes other companies take note of Cognizant’s unique entry into golf.
“Across the board I’d love to see a measured balance between investment in all sports,” he said. “Again, we’re talking about world-class athletes, people at the pinnacle of the game, giving them a platform and thereby encouraging the next generation to get into sport. To get into sport with these kind of values is really critical to us.”
Whan now hands the Founders Cup baton to a company that ultimately might have a bigger vision for the event than he dared to dream.
Amy Olson chatted with Golfweek about her emotional run at the U.S. Women’s Open, her hopes for the next LPGA commissioner and pickleball.
Amy Olson’s hometown of Fargo, North Dakota, had 18 inches of snow on the ground when she picked up the phone on Tuesday. On Thursday, Olson heads to Palm Springs, California, to work with instructor Ron Stockton before the start of her eighth season on the LPGA next month.
The 28-year-old Olson chatted with Golfweek about that deeply emotional run at the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open after the sudden loss of her father-in-law, her hopes for the next commissioner and the pickleball craze that’s spreading on tour.
Tell me about your offseason so far and what it has it been like in Fargo?
We spent Christmas with Grant’s mom and brother and it was good just to have that time, especially after this father passing, with family. But then right after Christmas Grant and I took a little vacation to Big Sky (Montana) for a couple days of skiing, which is the first time I’ve skied in probably 14 years.
It’s one of those things we talked about and I kept saying next year, next year. Trying to prolong it past my golf career. I skied growing up and my dad started sending me articles of every professional athlete who went skiing and broke their leg. Really subtle. … So I gave it up. But at some point, when golf becomes your life and your career, there are certain things that you’re like maybe I do want to do it again, and I was kind of at that point with skiing. And Grant loves to ski. We had so much fun. It was also just good to get away after that period of mourning. … The sun continues to rise and set and you continue to live.
We were in Fargo all of January, which I treasure that time. I got our basement set up with memorabilia. We got a ping pong table. We play a lot of pickleball of course, and just seeing friends and family.
I can imagine that in ping pong you’re pretty competitive too. How is your ping pong game?
It gets really intense. So my brother lives with us, and he and I played all the time growing up. He and I, our battles are super epic. We had to institute a rule of no throwing ping pong paddles because there are cupboards with glass in our basement.
How did the pickleball craze start on the LPGA? Are you responsible?
I think it’s the fastest growing sport in North America from what I’ve heard. My mom started me and my family into it, and it just became a thing Grant and I really enjoyed doing together. Most people enjoy playing golf after work and Grant enjoys doing that, but most of the time I’ve been at the golf course all day so I want to do something else, and pickleball became that outlet for both of us when we were living in Indiana.
I don’t know if it was through myself, or even just independently a lot of people picked it up over quarantine and bought paddles and started playing with their families. (LPGA players) couldn’t go to restaurants, we couldn’t go to a lot of places … but pickleball courts are outdoors and you’re able to distance. We ended up forming some groups that would go play after practice rounds or even on tournament days.
But I’m probably the biggest advocate of pickleball. There’s a good chance that if you walk by me on the range, I’m probably talking about whatever pickleball shot I’m working on.
Amy Olson’s mom Twyla Anderson (left) got the family into pickleball. (photo courtesy of Amy Olson)
I don’t know much about pickleball. What’s your strength and what are you working on?
My strength is definitely my backhand. A lot of people struggle with their backhand being a lot weaker, but I’m actually a lot stronger on my backhand. I think it’s because of the way I hold it, like a ping pong paddle. And my backhand is super strong in ping pong.
A couple shots I’m trying to work on, one would be the overhead slam, the forehand. Because if it’s about head high, I’m super strong. If it gets above that, it’s almost the same motion as a volleyball spike.
Who is the best pickleball player on tour and who has the potential to be the biggest threat?
I do have to say that I’m probably the best on tour now. I would say the person I’m most nervous about potentially beating me would be Anne van Dam. She’s extremely athletic and so competitive.
Who else plays?
Ally Ewing and her husband, Katherine Kirk, Emma Talley and her boyfriend Patrick. Oh, Sophia Popov is super good. She has this ridiculous backhand cut that’s really hard to get. Sophia and Ann play together a lot. They’re probably the best team right now.
What are your biggest goals for this year?
My putting is probably the thing that I saw the most progress with over 2020. Really excited to continue that. I don’t talk a lot in terms of outcome goals because I think a lot of that is out of your control, and a lot of that is rooted in comparison with other players. But if I’m going to look at a few things that continue to keep me motivated and keep me competitive and wanting to pursue this, I would love to get a win, I would love to win a major championship and I would love to play on a Solheim Cup team.
Amy Olson takes a tee shot off the 10th tee box during the final round of the U.S. Women’s Open golf tournament at Champions Golf Club. (Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports)
When you look back on the USWO in Houston, how do you view it now and what did you learn about yourself?
Overall, I just have nothing but positives that I take out of that week. Having a hole-in-one was such a highlight. … I played really solid all week, but don’t get me wrong I can look back and find plenty of shots that I would change, as everyone always can. But I never quit, I never gave up, and that’s ultimately what sport is about. … It’s like we always talk about, never let a bad shot lead to a dumb shot. Never letting yourself mentally kind of slide because you’re in a bad position. I’m really proud of how I handled everything mentally … and then everything that happened on a personal level. I still look back and it was an out-of-body experience on Sunday. I remember it, but at the same time I feel like I was carried through that day because it was just so overwhelming, trying to process those emotions while at the same time trying to accomplish what was in front of me.
A lot of people learned of Amy Olson for the first time that week. What do you hope they took way from watching you compete that weekend?
I think the biggest thing I would want people to know is that it’s not about Amy Olson. That ultimately, I live and I exist and I play to bring glory to God. And if that’s from other people seeing me and seeing the strength and the poise I played with under those circumstances, that wasn’t me, that was ultimately Jesus Christ carrying me through a difficult time. Not everyone sees it that way and I get it. I don’t ever want to force someone to think in a certain way or live a certain way, but that’s what I believe. … If that can give someone else who is going through a difficult circumstance hope, I really hope that it does.
You’re on the LPGA Board that will ultimately choose the commissioner. What are the most important qualities in a new commissioner?
I do think that as a commissioner you need to be humble. You need to be willing to listen. Humility and approachability are very important. But then at the end of the day, you also need commitment. When you make a decision you have to be willing to stand by that, you need to be able to articulate why you made a certain decision. You need to have vision. You need to be able to look into the future and see where the LPGA could be. There are so many things that are changing right now in our environment. I think particularly in the area of technology and data, there’s so much more the LPGA has room to grow and expand. This is just on a personal level, I would love to see someone who is really excited about some of the technology and data developments that we can really capitalize on as an organization.
What specifically are you thinking about in terms of technology and data?
From a fan’s perspective of being able to watch the LPGA tour, if you don’t have access to Golf Channel or aren’t watching TV when we’re on network, it’s really hard to follow someone. You can hit refresh on the website, but if you go to the PGA, you can see oh their drive went left. Now they’re in the right-side bunker. You can see more detailed data watching online. That’s just a really basic thing right now. … I think there are so many things that are very misleading on our website, for example driving distance or greens in regulation. … I know we can sit here and compare the PGA Tour all day and they have way more money and way more resources than we do, but just strokes gained, proximity to the hole. There’s just so much more that is really beneficial from a player perspective to be able to have that data to really know where you can improve, where you stand in relation to other players. For girls coming up who are in college or in high school to be able to see accurate data of what we are doing week in and week out would be extremely helpful.
What did you appreciate most about Mike Whan personally?
I think how much he cared and does care and continues to care. I have no doubt that when Mike Whan leaves the LPGA, he’s still going to be our biggest advocate and fan. I have zero doubts about that. … I think everyone felt like they could go to the top person at the LPGA and be heard.
Amy Olson has a laugh on the second tee during the first round at the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open at Champions Golf Club. (Jeff Haynes/USGA)
When I was entering college, in 2009, and the LPGA was losing events and the purses were going down, I genuinely didn’t think there was going to be a place to play when I graduated college. During that time Mike took over and by the time I graduated we were on the upswing, adding events, increasing purses, increasing TV coverage. And all of a sudden, that was a viable option for me to be able to play professional golf as a career. I can genuinely say he didn’t know Amy Anderson sitting in North Dakota with that dream, but he knew there were young girls around the world with that dream, and he really cared about giving them that opportunity.
