In the LPGA chief’s plan to transform the tour, one goal stands above the rest

NAPLES, Fla. – Craig Kessler and the LPGA want your attention.

The new commissioner understands that his tour will have to innovate to attract and maintain the desired attention. It is certainly a monumental task. But Kessler, just 120 days into his run atop the LPGA, has a vision and a plan to elevate his league to a place where it competes and wins the war against, well, anyone and anything else fighting for your time.

“We compete in the attention economy,” Kessler said Wednesday at Tiburon Golf Club ahead of the CME Group Tour Championship. “It’s not just against other sports. Should I put on Netflix? Should I go out to eat? Should I hang out with friends? Should I play in the backyard? Should I go for a round of golf? Anything that has the potential to grab a fan’s attention, we’re competing against it, so our job is to stand out, be interesting and capture fans’ opinions in every way possible.”

The obvious follow-up question is: How does the LPGA achieve this?

Since his appointment as commissioner in May, Kessler has emphasized his four pillars of strength: trust, visibility, fans and a secure financial future. In four months, Kessler has already closed a landmark deal to transform the LPGA’s TV product, secured Golf Saudi as a sponsor for a new $4 million purse tournament and begun reworking the schedule to maximize the tour’s ability to capture and sustain attention in the United States and globally.

On Wednesday, Kessler offered an under-the-hood look at how the LPGA thinks about long-term growth and success. It starts with an improved broadcast. Thanks to a new partnership with FM, Golf Channel and Trackman, every round of every LPGA tournament will be broadcast live next year. The broadcast will feature state-of-the-art technology, 50% more cameras, 30% more microphones, drones and more shot tracing than ever before. Kessler’s ‘flywheel’ of success starts with improving the product, which leads to more fans, growth and money.

Sounds simple. The truth is more complicated.

The improved tournament broadcast is just step 1 in Kessler’s plan to win the attention battle in the long term. He knows this can’t be accomplished by being on Golf Channel every week. That’s a good start, but bigger and bolder things are needed to get the flywheel turning. Under his leadership, the LPGA will do everything it can to stand out, win over new fans and generate interest beyond the ropes.

“That’s part of the magic that we’ll be spending a lot of time on in the coming weeks and months,” Kessler said. “One thing I can tell you, we’re going to be willing to take risks and try things. Not all of them will work, but if they do and they stick, we’ll throw gasoline on the fire and continue to double down on those areas.”

Kessler pointed to last week’s Annika, which saw WNBA star Caitlin Clark return for her second pro-am appearance and saw Kai Trump make her LPGA debut as a sponsor invite, as swings the LPGA will take and try to capitalize on. But Kessler was quick to note that last week’s buzz around Clark and Trump is also a trap the tour can’t fall into. He wants the LPGA to be carried by multiple players, not just one big name and not just one-off celebrity appearances.

“So our job is to find the right holistic, balanced set of stories to tell that will keep our fans excited week after week,” Kessler said. “If we’re depending on one person, whether it’s a star or a celebrity, to carry the weight of the Tour on their back, I think we’ve missed the boat. What last week proved is that there is so much magic happening on the LPGA and we need to bring it all to life.”

However, this attention-grabbing attack that the LPGA plans to execute requires something. Yes, the tour will have to show ingenuity and be willing to take risks. But it also needs its best players to become stars who are eager to take the Tour to the next level. Kessler and the LPGA know that marketability and stock performance may not always intersect, but when they do, those are the players the LPGA needs to rally behind to help drive the broader sports and culture conversation.

“This is how we think about stars at the LPGA,” Kessler said. “Think of a Venn diagram with three circles. You have the best players, you have the most marketable players and you have the ones who are actually willing to lean in and do the work. It’s the handful of players in the middle of that Venn diagram that we’re going to invest our resources against to create global superstars and create that player and fan connection.”

Again, nothing is as simple as it sounds. To achieve this, the LPGA faces a question it must answer to translate an academic vision into concrete reality.

This season on the LPGA, there have been only two repeat winners in world No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul and Rookie of the Year winner Miyu Yamashita. There have been 29 unique winners. Nelly Korda, who won seven times in 2024, is winless. Charley Hull and Lydia Ko have each won once. The LPGA has depth and parity. But if you want to attract attention and break through to a larger audience, star power is the natural answer.

But for Kessler, star power isn’t just about hoisting trophies and dominating over 72 holes. That’s important. But it transcends the course. That is necessary for this plan to work.

“There are no silver bullets to creating stars, and this is what an ecosystem is needed for,” Kessler said. “There are so many examples we can point to, whether it’s what Nelly did by going to the Met Gala or joining Sports illustratedor Charley going to a state banquet in Britain, or some of the recent things she’s been doing on social media. I could show you a variety of players and things they’ve done to show up in the culture, and not just on the ropes. Those things make a difference.

“We’ve done a tremendous amount of work for our fans. What fans love and what fans want to see more of. And one of the feedback we get is that they want to see our LPGA athletes and stars beyond the ropes. Our job is to make that happen.”

It takes trust to get players to believe his vision and plan. You will remember that this is the first pillar. For Kessler, that’s about constantly communicating with his players. He flew to their home base for lunch and a round of golf. He texts and calls his players constantly. He wants them to know he has a plan and that if they trust him and his vision, the LPGA can reach new heights.

So far, Kessler has succeeded in strengthening that first pillar. Lyida Ko praised his leadership at Tuesday’s press conference. Minjee Lee expressed similar praise.

Last week, Kessler held a players meeting at the Annika in which he told his members what is required of them to achieve what they all have in mind.

“They asked again, what can we do? And we said, this is what we need from you. If we ask you to be a global superstar, step up. Show up in the culture wherever you can. If we ask you to walk the talk, not just you, but your caddies, try it. We want you to do your part. And at the end I asked, who’s in? And almost every hand in the room went up. Now it’s up to us to actually bring that to life bring.”

Kessler is building towards something. One moment. A place in the sports conversation that the LPGA has never occupied before. He sees how the WNBA and women’s soccer have broken through and believes women’s golf can do the same.

But ask him what the destination is, and Craig Kessler can’t give you anything concrete. That’s by design. Kessler understands the magnitude of the task ahead. The climb will be steep and the path will not be linear. Innovation and risk-taking will be key to bringing women’s golf to its peak.

“It’s one where you know it when you see it and you feel it,” Kessler said. “But guess what: Even if we get there, we will never be completely satisfied, because this is an organization, as I said, that is constantly improving, and the bar will always keep moving.”

Did Kessler do that too? your attention?

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