Whan makes surprise decision to leave as LPGA commissioner

Mike Whan has been commissioner longer than anyone in the 70-year history of the LPGA Tour. Guiding it through its toughest year amid the COVID-19 pandemic made him realize the tour was strong enough for him to move on.

In a surprise announcement Wednesday, the high-energy, fast-talking Whan said he will be leaving after 11 years.

Whan said he had been thinking about stepping down for the last few years and always found unfinished work, even as the self-sustaining LPGA Tour kept increasing its schedule and prize money and expanding the participation of junior girls.

The pandemic cost the tour five months and 16 tournaments, along with taking a chunk out of the budget surplus it had built up over 10 years. Without guaranteed network TV money, the LPGA leaned on the relationship with sponsors to get through 2020 and still deliver a 34-event schedule for 2021 with record prize money approaching $80 million.

“Watching us work through the pandemic of 2020 was the visualization I needed to know that it was not only time, but it was right,” Whan said in a conference call. “I think (if ) five years ago the pandemic hits, Mike Whan probably does much of the taking over. In 2020, I got to ‘watch’ more than ‘do’ more. And there’s an incredible pride that comes with that.”

Diane Gulyas, chairwoman of the LPGA board of directors, said a search committee has been formed, with hopes of having a new commissioner as early as the second quarter. She said it would be “terrific” to have a woman leading the LPGA, but “we’re not going to rule anybody out.”