LPGA ready to mix it with men
The man credited with both revolutionising and globalising the sport of women’s golf is not done breaking down the barriers for the LPGA Tour.
LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan has further extended his Tour’s reach by adding this week’s MCKAYSON New Zealand Women’s Open to a schedule which now sees 30 tournaments traverse 16 different countries around the globe.
The Florida-based Whan isn’t able to make it to Auckland for the first Lpga-sanctioned New Zealand Open – he will attend next year, he promises – but spoke exclusively to stuff.co.nz from the US where he continues to plot the next moves for his groundbreaking Tour.
Whan came on board with the LPGA in 2010 and set himself three clear goals for the major women’s golf tour in the world: to build a full schedule; to make it truly global, both in participation and event locations; and to establish a worldwide television audience.
With the schedule having grown from 22 to 30 events, with 15 of those stopovers in countries not named the United States, the players now coming from all points on the globe and TV reach sitting at 150 to 170 nations, he has ticked those boxes.
‘‘As I think about the next three goals, it’s not about extending the schedule, but about making the events we do have bigger and better,’’ he says. ‘‘The second thing is to continue to expand on international TV. I’d really like to get to 190 countries over the next couple of years which would make us Olympics-like.
‘‘And, thirdly, we’ve got to create a few breakthrough events that change the way people think about our sport. Playing with the guys is one way, as well as having some team competitions, and really making our majors, the Tour Championship and Olympics showcase events.’’
Broach the topic of mixing it up with the men and you begin to understand the ambition and contemporary approach of Whan. Golf is a sport at times bogged down by its traditions; but certainly not across the Commish’s desk.
‘‘I don’t know about teeing it up against them, but we’re interested in trying to create that competition. I’m a guy that loves to challenge traditions and I’d be totally up for that,’’ he says.
‘‘The first stage might be to have an event or two where men and women play on the same stage. [PGA Tour Commissioner] Jay Monahan and I both have a goal of getting the Tournament Champions event played in Hawaii to be Tournament Champions for men and women.
‘‘He might have 50 [players] and I might have 30, and you could intermix them. They could play in the same groups, even off different tees, and what an interesting spectacle that would be for fans, media and the players.
‘‘We’re committed to figuring out how that might work first, then looking at some other team ideas down the road. I’m talking to some other tours as well. Anything we can do that captures the attention of sports fans is something we need to look at.’’
Whan is immensely proud of his Tour’s true global nature now. When he first met his players he
‘‘Everybody knew she [Lydia Ko] was going to be special, but the question was what platform would she have to play on? The exciting thing now is that stage is as big as it can get." LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan
told them of a vision for the future where ‘‘players are going to come from all over the world, we’re going to play all over the world, you’re going to have fans all over the world, and you’re going to have logos on your shirts from companies all over the world’’.
He also reminded them, ‘‘this will be our greatest competitive advantage’’.
‘‘I’m sure I had more than my share of eye rolls, but today we’re an Olympic sport for a reason ... because when we show up in New Zealand, you’re going to feel like it’s the Olympics, with elite golfers from all over the world in the prime of their careers, playing an incredible home-town event, and we’re going to let the rest of the world eavesdrop. Women’s golf is leading the world in showing a sport that is borderless. Men’s golf is catching up, but it’s still a decade behind us. Our brand is truly global, and the end result of that is pretty powerful.’’
Whan has a special affection, too, for New Zealand’s Lydia Ko (he calls her ‘Uno’, or No 1), the main reason the LPGA has come to this outpost, and a player who has single-handedly changed some key perceptions in her sport.
‘‘Everybody knew she was going to be special, but the question was what platform would she have to play on? The exciting thing now is that stage is as big as it can get. Lydia has made 16 the new 26. She comes out, Lexi [Thompson] comes out, Minjee [Lee] comes out, and people have an expectation they can be the best in the world before they can have a driver’s license.
‘‘For 70 years that wasn’t perceived as do-able. When you meet somebody like Lydia and realise how much experience, poise and focus you can have at that age, it’s a game-changer.’’
In fact, Whan tags Ko a transcendent figure in the sport.
‘‘Some players change records, but what Lydia has done is change expectations for every young girl . It used to be you’d dream of making it to the LPGA some day, but some day meant in your 20s, and playing your best golf even later. Lydia has changed those expectations. Girls believe then can now do it at 14 and that’s because she was the one who did it