New LPGA commissioner Craig Kessler wants to make women’s golf more visible for fans, which he thinks is a major shortcoming for the tour at the moment.
“For so many sports, it’s easy to know when to turn on the TV or click open an app and find the players you want to see at predictable times. It’s really, really hard to do that today with women’s golf,” Kessler told Front Office Sports on Thursday, a few hours after his hire was officially announced.
“The more we can do that and build a fan base that knows where to find the action and can go from watching the action to rooting for it, that’s when women’s golf will be fully maximized,” he said.
The LPGA’s media rights are tied to the PGA Tour’s through 2030, with the women’s tour primarily airing on Golf Channel, but getting some broadcast TV coverage on NBC and CBS. Kessler said he plans to use relationships he’s forged during his time as the PGA of America’s COO, and before that as a TopGolf executive, to “make sure the LPGA is as visible as possible.”
That vision lines up with interim commissioner Liz Moore calling women’s golf “underinvested,” which Kessler said is “spot on.” Moore has been leading the LPGA since January, when former commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan stepped down after an up-and-down tenure of less than four years.
Kessler said he takes inspiration from WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred when thinking about how to grow and improve the LPGA, and he has spoken to both league figureheads about their strategies. “Some of the cutting-edge technology they’ve developed, partnerships they’ve developed, innovations they’ve brought to the competition, thinking about baseball as not only a game, but it’s also about entertainment, which gets the audience to come back time and time again,” he said.
Kessler doesn’t officially start until July 15, so specifics on his first acts are still murky, but he’s adamant that he’s open to whatever is best for the LPGA. One of those things could be incorporating professional women’s golfers into TGL, the indoor league cofounded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, which the LPGA has previously explored.
“I think any opportunity we have to elevate the sport and to give these incredible female athletes a platform is something we should take very seriously,” he said. Kessler also believes “content creation is king,” and thinks LPGA players can do more in the YouTube Golf space, like the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, which have both hosted influencer-led competitions.
Kessler’s openness includes working with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which backs LIV Golf, and has been pumping more money into the Ladies European Tour. The LPGA and LET have previously explored a merger, but talks are currently stalled.
And while the ongoing PGA Tour–LIV Golf divide may not impact the LPGA on a daily basis, Kessler still thinks those men’s leagues coming back together can help the women’s professional game.
“Peace is helpful,” he said. “And when the golf ecosystem is at peace, amazing things can happen, because our energy is focused on all of the right things. So, the faster the golf ecosystem gets to a place of stability, of predictability, where people are talking about competition and the most important aspects of what’s happening week to week, the better off we’ll be.”
