Britain’s Charley Hull tees off alongside world number one Nelly Korda for the first two rounds of this week’s US Open, the biggest championship in women’s golf.
Worth a record-equalling $12m, the event comes at a crucial moment. A new LPGA Tour boss has just been appointed with an immediate priority to halt a perceived period of damaging stagnation.
While other elite women’s sports have boomed, golf has drifted despite attracting larger prize funds for its biggest events. Observers talk of the female game now being “at a crossroads”.
Kessler to the rescue?
So Craig Kessler – a youthful, confident US executive – is moving from the PGA of America to succeed Mollie Marcoux Samaan as commissioner. He has a bulging in-tray of issues to address.
“We have to come out of the blocks strong,” Kessler told reporters when his appointment was announced last week. The 39-year-old officially starts in mid-July, but is already talking to leading players and officials.
He has been dubbed “a young Mike Whan” by former US Solheim Cup captain Stacy Lewis.
Whan successfully held the commissioner position for more than a decade until 2021, a largely golden period when prize money on the LPGA almost doubled.It is a grouping made with TV ratings and global reach in mind. It is a business move.
That Hull is down to 17th in the world and has not had a top-10 finish since early March, and Thompson is semi-retired, are of secondary importance because both golfers are among the sport’s most recognisable players.
They have large fanbases, they do social media and do it well. Their appeal goes beyond their golf and this is why they are out with the world’s leading player at peak viewing times.
LPGA needs to ‘build bridges’
The ebullient Whan, better than most golf executives, understands such dynamics. He knows how to connect and communicate with players, sponsors and fans alike.
When he moved on from the LPGA, Samaan’s regime struggled to maintain momentum. There was an early setback when players failed to turn up for an important sponsor dinner they were expected to attend.
The then commissioner “took full responsibility” while Terry Duffy, the boss of
the backer in question, CME, was furious. “The leadership needs to work with their players to make sure that everybody has a clear understanding of how we grow the game together.” he said.
It was one of a number of setbacks. A proposed merger with the Ladies European Tour looked certain to be completed but came to nothing.
Instead, the LET continued to strengthen ties with Saudi Arabia and the Aramco Series that underpins its schedule.
At last year’s Solheim Cup, the park-and-ride system was botched, leaving empty seats in first tee grandstands for the start of the most important event in women’s golf. Samaan needed to issue a public apology behalf of the tour.
Players were recently informed that the LPGA’s South Korean rights partners have not paid their bills for 2024 or 2025. The chief marketing and communications officer, Matt Chmura, departed earlier this month after only a year in the job.
Amid all this upheaval came Samaan’s resignation at the end of last year. English veteran Mel Reid, an LPGA board member, told the Golf Channel: “She was under pressure from a lot of players.”
When asked what should be Kessler’s priorities when he takes over, a former major winner told me: “He will need to rebuild some bridges and show that the LPGA is a place where corporations can do business.”
Another insider said that the new commissioner has to reconnect with players and sponsors and “get the tour back to where it was when Mike Whan left it”.
Kessler speaks of pillars to underpin his new regime, starting with “building trust; trust with our players, trust with our sponsors, trust with our fans, and trust with our team”.
In previous eras, stars such as Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie would sit alongside tennis greats such as the Williams sisters and Maria Sharapova at the very top of the women’s sporting tree.
While leading tennis pros still command huge attention, there is a perception that golfers have been usurped by female footballers and basketball luminaries such as the Indiana guard Caitlin Clark.
This at a time when Korda has been a dominant and potentially transcendent force and Lydia Ko won Olympic gold and the AIG Women’s Open. They were glory days for players who respectively epitomise elegance and eloquence.
But did the game fully capitalise? Did enough people notice? “Make LPGA golf a destination for media and fans to attend,” said the retired major winner, who retains close contact with the tour.
Kessler seems to agree. “The second major pillar is around being visible,” he said, “and making sure that the incredible stars the LPGA has, who leave it on the course week in and week out, are actually visible and that goes beyond just the broadcasts.”
The new commissioner’s messaging is straight out of the Whan playbook. Kessler takes over during the LPGA’s 75th anniversary and speaks of the need to develop the fanbase while rebuilding a secure financial future.
So there will be plenty of discussion in the background while the world’s best tackle what should be a formidable test at the Wisconsin course that staged the men’s US Open in 2017.
“Even if you think you’ve hit it good, you can [only] exhale when you see it stop,” Korda said. “I think it’s a great big hitter’s golf course, but it’s just demanding in every aspect.”
Hull is the leading British contender but has missed four major cuts since sharing second place at the 2023 US Open. She was also runner-up at the Women’s Open at Walton Heath that year.
Japan’s Yuka Saso is defending champion for an event that carries genuine global appeal and $2.4m for the winner.
Kessler will be watching closely, no doubt hoping the tour’s most recognisable stars can make the impression that was hoped for when the opening round groupings were drawn up.
