LPGA: Exposure key to closing pay gap, commissioner says

Even with Canada’s Brooke Henderson emerging as a marketable superstar, LPGA Tour commissioner Mike Whan says women’s golf needs more exposure to grow the game and close the pay gap with male golfers.

Whan, 49, will celebrate his 10th anniversary as LPGA Tour commissioner in January.

The former golf and hockey equipment marketing executive has helped move the LPGA Tour from a time of instability to a more prosperous present.

The total prize money for 2019 is a record $70.5 million (U.S.), an increase of more than $5 million over last year.

But while the CP Women’s Open gets the Henderson bump next week at Magna Golf Club in Aurora — the native of Smiths Falls, Ont., is both a CP ambassador and the defending champion — the women’s game has faced its challenges in Canada.

A second Canadian tournament — the Manulife LPGA Classic based in Ontario’s Kitchener-Waterloo area — lasted six years before losing its sponsor in 2017.

Five of those tournaments had Henderson in the field, suggesting her stardom alone might not be enough to sustain a second LPGA Tour date in Canada.

Even the CP Open, a former major tournament on the Tour that attracts a strong field every year, has had issues with exposure.

The only reason Canadian viewers got to see live coverage of Henderson’s historic win in Regina last year was because of an 11th-hour deal between the premium Golf Channel and Canadian network TSN. That incident highlights what Whan identifies as his biggest challenge as commissioner, getting more time for the LPGA Tour on network television. Most Tour coverage is on the Golf Channel.