NAPLES, Fla. — Craig Kessler is 4 months into his new job as LPGA commissioner and already he’s achieved a lot to embolden the tour, gamers, TV companions, title sponsors and extra.
There’s nonetheless a plethora of labor to be achieved, and Kessler addressed the great in addition to the challenges that stay with the media Wednesday on the CME Globe Tour Championship.
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Listed here are 5 issues we discovered from Kessler first state-of-the-tour session at Tiburón Golf Membership:
Asia might host a serious sooner or later
The LPGA is a worldwide tour— with two swings by means of Asia and one in Europe—and the worldwide make-up of its membership displays that as properly. Japanese gamers gained seven instances on tour in 2025, essentially the most by any nation, and rising stars like Miyu Yamashita, Rio Takeda and twin sisters Chisato and Akie Iwai are essential to the tour’s world progress. That’s why Kessler had a brief however affirmative reply to the query of might a girls’s main sooner or later land in Asia.
“Completely,” he mentioned.
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When requested why, Kessler defined the dynamics he’s come to understand since taking the commissioner job in July. “I had my first alternative to be part of the Asia swing this fall,” he mentioned. “I went to Korea for Worldwide Crown. What a outstanding occasion. My greatest takeaway is that the chance in Asia is huge. I imply, 1000’s of followers daily on the course following our athletes.
“You stroll right into a shopping center and there is half a flooring devoted to golf way of life attire manufacturers, lots of these devoted simply to girls. So my greatest takeaway is that there is a huge alternative, and now it is on us on the LPGA to determine methods to capitalize on that.”
Extra From Golf Digest
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The difficult half, nonetheless, with taking part in a number of weeks abroad, notably in Asia, the place the tournaments typically have restricted fields, is getting most of the top-ranked American gamers to make the journeys. Nelly Korda has skipped the early season Asian swing lately (and missed the current fall swing resulting from harm).
The query then turns into an issuing of timing and whether or not the occasions ought to all be lumped collectively in a single swing?
“We must always go the place the chance is to spotlight our superb athletes, and if that is Asia, incredible,” Kessler mentioned. “Look, we’ve got a number of work to do behind the scenes to do our homework and do proper by the group, however as we have talked publicly about earlier than, people who’re prepared to have a dialog with us about elevating our unbelievable athletes and the group, that is a dialog we need to have.”
The brand new Golf Saudi partnership might result in extra occasions
Earlier this month, Kessler and the tour introduced a partnership with Golf Saudi, representing the LPGA’s first direct monetary reference to Saudi’s Public Funding Fund. The result’s the creation of the brand new Aramco Championship at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, co-sanctioned with the Women European Tour and a part of the LET’s five-event PIF International Sequence.
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The transfer got here after a number of years considering an alliance with the PIF and whether or not or not the tour wished to be related to the nation, given the quite a few accusations of human-rights abuses there, many towards girls.
Within the wake of the announcement, Kessler was requested if he might see extra PIF occasions like this, Kessler replied: “We have mentioned this about all of our companions. If you begin a partnership it is essential to return out of the gates robust, and in the event you execute properly it opens up the likelihood for plenty of superb issues to occur. It is no completely different right here.”
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Katelyn Mulcahy
Chevron trying to find a course for 2026
There was one course listed as “to be decided” on the 2026 LPGA schedule that was launched Wednesday, however it’s a notable TBD. The Chevron Championship, the primary main of the yr, is with out an official house venue, a minimum of for now.
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The event is scheduled for April 23-26 within the Houston space, having moved to the Lone Star State in 2023 after a 51-year run at Mission Hills in Palm Springs, Calif. Final week, Golfweek reported that , leaving The Membership at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas, for Memorial Park, a municipal course in Houston that additionally hosts a PGA Tour occasion. The tour has not confirmed the course change with a supply telling Golf Digest that negotiations are nonetheless ongoing.
“Let me begin by saying how excited I’m,” Kessler mentioned. “We simply launched our schedule for subsequent yr and, once more, we’re thrilled with the progress and the primary half. We’re enthusiastic about most of the programs we’ll be taking part in subsequent yr. And the Chevron is our first main of the yr. It is completely vital. And what Ricki [Lasky, the LPGA chief business and operations officer] and the crew, together with the Chevron crew have been centered on, is ensuring we maximize the influence of that main. Can we draw as many followers as we presumably can to it [in order] to create power that majors and all of our tournaments deserve, and as quickly as we’ve got something extra formal to say on that after all we are going to.”
The LPGA continues to be on the lookout for its breakthrough second
Kessler has talked concerning the LPGA working towards a “breakthrough second,” to take girls’s golf to the following stage. He’s achieved a lot with purses and sponsors and big boosts within the tv area, however he inherited a tour that also hasn’t captivated the eye of sports activities followers in a manner the WNBA and NWSL have over the previous couple of years.
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So what’s that breakthrough second Kessler is on the lookout for?
“Oh, it is a kind of the place you may realize it once you see it and you will really feel it,” Kessler mentioned. “However guess what? Even after we get there we’ll by no means be completely glad as a result of this is a company, as I discussed, of steady enchancment and the road, the bar will all the time transfer.”
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Creating audiences exterior the printed
Kessler, who has an MBA from Harvard Enterprise Faculty, has labored in numerous areas, together with the PGA of America, Topgolf, Buff Metropolis Cleaning soap, a worldwide administration consulting agency and extra, so he will get artistic and appears at outside-the-box options.
He’s already landed sponsors to cowl the price of large tv upgrades that embrace drones, stay protection of each spherical of each occasion, extra interviews, microphones, slow-motion cameras and extra.
“We had a monumental day [with broadcasting news on Tuesday] and we’re now speaking about what’s subsequent. Look, we’re excited to implement the whole lot that we talked about [Tuesday] and what I’ve skilled previously is that oftentimes once you get into the implementation section, that is what spurs new concepts,” Kessler mentioned. “So let’s have a look at the way it goes. Let’s study from our followers what’s working and what’s not, after which we are able to take a step again and re-evaluate.
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“I additionally assume in the event you have a look at different leagues, what they discovered methods to do is create viewers exterior of the printed. Method 1 is an instance. You have a look at the facility of the Monday spotlight reel the place thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of individuals are tuning in to see what occurred throughout Sunday’s broadcast. That is an space the place we’ve not achieved a complete lot but on the LPGA, however actually represents huge alternative for us.”
