The LPGA season starts this week at Carlsbad, Calif, the commissioner Mike Whan has lots of work to be doing.
Whan’s target is to make the number of domestic events larger and is wanting to make the LPGA tour have international status. He has recently recalled a stint from 15 years ago when the main concern for the golf industry was introducing people to the game.
“There was a concern that the female golf market was limited to Europe and America,” Whan said in a recent interview with Golfweek. “Fifteen years later, here I am back in golf, and you have all these burgeoning markets and I’m being asked what am I going to do about all these international players we have on the LPGA – like it’s a problem.
“What am I going to do?,” he asked incredulously. “I’m going to fan it, fan it, fan it. We’re becoming the most global sport in the world.”
Whan is hoping to make the LPGA grow and people become more aware of ladies golf. Instead of former commissioner Carolyn Bivens’ “my way or the highway” approach, Whan is preaching: “The boat’s big enough to let everybody in.”
Whan has spent the majority of his time trying to find relevant sponsors and tournaments to win back their business.
“In some cases, I’m just trying to learn what we could and should do better,” he said. “I’ve been on the other side writing the check, so I understand and that’s why we’re going to spend more time with our business partners.”
Whan will be evaluating progress with what sounds like a new language, filled with acronymns – whether it’s PEP (Partner Evaluation Process) or ROO (Return on Objective).
“Not because I’m a testing freak, but how do we know if we’re getting better if we don’t keep score?” he explained.
That way he can leverage the Tour’s strengths and identify areas that require more attention and resources.
“If (our partners) think we’re weak, then we’re weak,” he said.