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      With Purses Filled, L.P.G.A. Chief Will Step Down This Year

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWith Purses Filled, L.P.G.A. Chief Will Step Down This YearMichael Whan’s marketing savvy and commitment to players helped grow women’s golf and, more important, get better paydays for its athletes.L.P.G.A. Commissioner Michael Whan played a shot during a charity event ahead of a tournament in 2018.Credit…Michael Reaves/Getty ImagesJan. 14, 2021, 10:23 a.m. ETWhen Amy Olson went to play golf at North Dakota State in 2009, she didn’t know if the L.P.G.A. Tour would be there for her when she graduated. Many had feared that the women’s tour was on the verge of folding, after it lost 10 events from 2008 to 2010 while the total annual prize purse went from $60.3 million to $41.4 million.But the tour made a prescient hire in 2010, plucking Michael Whan from the world of corporate marketing to take over as commissioner. In the ensuing decade, Whan resurrected the top women’s golf tour in the world. The 2021 season is set for 34 events — 12 of them outside the United States — for a total purse of $76.5 million.Olson joined the tour full time in 2014 and has 12 career top-10 finishes, which include a tie for second at the United States Open last month, and over $2 million in earnings.“That’s the story of hundreds of girls around the world who wanted to play golf at the highest level,” said Olson, 28, who is a player representative on the tour’s board of directors. “Mike gave us that opportunity.”Whan has now decided it is time to move on, after the longest and arguably the most successful run as L.P.G.A. commissioner. Last week he reached out to players and sponsors with whom he has established close friendships to let them know that he was stepping down, before the news release went out on Jan. 6. Whan, who did not give a specific reason for his departure, plans stay on the job awhile, to help find his successor. His next job is unclear.“I like to live my life pretty nervous, and I haven’t been really nervous in a while,” Whan said at the news conference to announce his decision. “I want to get back to that.”The United States Golf Association, the governing body of the sport that runs the men’s and women’s U.S. Opens, announced in September that its chief executive, Mike Davis, would step down at the end of 2021. When asked if he would pursue that position, Whan demurred.“I think for any job — that one certainly included — requires a cleanse of my brain,” Whan said.Before joining the L.P.G.A., Whan, 55, worked on both sides of sponsorship sales, in the golf divisions at Wilson Sporting Goods and TaylorMade. He knew companies could find value in connecting with women, and he believed that the L.P.G.A. Tour belonged at the forefront of their marketing plans.“He has rebranded the L.P.G.A.,” Olson said. “It’s not just about us pursuing our dream. It’s now about women and women’s empowerment, and giving girls opportunities. That resonates so strongly with corporations.”For example, Whan worked with KPMG and the P.G.A. of America to rebrand and revitalize one of the women’s five major championships, arranging the inaugural KPMG Women’s P.G.A. Championship at Westchester Country Club in 2015. It was the first L.P.G.A. event to include a women’s leadership summit, and more than a dozen such events are now associated with tournaments throughout the calendar.“It completely changed the way that Mike sold to sponsors,” said Shawn Quill, the managing director at KPMG in charge of sports sponsorships. “He embraced what we were doing, and it led to a complete change in what the value proposition was for the L.P.G.A. Tour.”Players say Whan’s impact wasn’t limited to the tour’s relationship with sponsors. The players, both current and retired, felt a connection to their fast-speaking, self-deprecating commissioner. He created many catchy nicknames — Olson was “headband” because of her penchant for wearing the accessory as a rookie — and he constantly wrote thank-you notes.Whan kept players top of mind as he deftly led the Tour through the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, publicly lobbying sponsors to pay their athletes even when they were not competing in the contractually required number of tournaments for the year. There was no reduction in purses for the 18 events that were played, and every tournament sponsor is set to return for 2021. When tournaments resumed, safety protocols yielded only 42 positive coronavirus tests out of the approximately 7,200 that were given throughout the year.Communication and transparency were the two words players repeatedly used to describe Whan’s tenure, which has had a personal touch they say will be sorely missed.The tour veteran Christina Kim remembered that when Whan was first hired, she was playing in an event in South Korea. At 3 a.m., her phone started ringing like crazy. She finally sent a text that said: “Who are you? Please stop calling me.” Whan responded that he was the new commissioner and wanted to say hello, so Kim got out of bed and called back, starting a warm relationship.“He provided us with the knowledge that we needed to know where the Tour was and where the Tour was headed,” Kim said. “He gave us the ability to not only believe in his desires and wishes and ability for the L.P.G.A., but he made us believe that we mattered.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      US Women's Open: A Lim Kim Wins American Debut

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyA Lim Kim Waited Out the Field to Win the U.S. Women’s OpenThe South Korean golfer scanned anxious texts from home while waiting for challengers to finish the rain-delayed final round of the major championship.A Lim Kim, of South Korea, won the U.S. Women’s Open, her debut tournament stateside. She said afterward that she will contemplate joining the L.P.G.A. Tour.Credit…Eric Gay/Associated PressDec. 14, 2020Updated 7:16 p.m. ETHOUSTON — A Lim Kim ran into trouble after she birdied the final three holes for a three-under 67 that catapulted her to victory on Monday in the 75th United States Women’s Open.As Kim sat in front of a large-screen TV in the Champions Club players’ dining area watching the competitors with a chance to catch her finish, she fumbled her phone, which was vibrating with messages from family members and friends back home in South Korea who had stayed up all night to watch her round.The phone fell to the bottom of her golf bag and Kim removed all her clubs to retrieve it while, one after the other, her challengers fell by the wayside.Hinako Shibuno of Japan, the 54-hole leader, couldn’t catch Kim. Shibuno had held a one-stroke lead after Sunday’s final round was postponed by inclement weather, but bogeyed the penultimate hole Monday and finished fourth at one-under with a closing 74.Kim’s compatriots, Inbee Park and Jin Young Ko, the women’s world No. 1, both carded the second-lowest score of the day, a 68. Ko’s round included birdies on two of the last three holes, to come up one stroke short of Kim at two-under 282.The American Amy Olson, who took the solo lead on the back nine in her bid to gain both her first L.P.G.A. victory and major win, tied for second with Ko. Her title hopes were dashed with a bogey on the par-3 16th, the same hole she had aced in the first round.Olson, 28, playing after the sudden death Saturday night of her father-in-law from a heart attack, closed with a birdie for a one-over 72. Olson sang bars from Josh Groban’s song “You Raise Me Up” to mask her grief. Kim, 25, meantime, provided a perhaps fitting portrait of a champion of a tournament that was delayed six months because of the coronavirus pandemic. She won wearing a face covering on and off the golf course while establishing herself as the class of a field in which only four players bettered par.“I’m OK to get positive tests for Covid-19,” Kim said through an interpreter, “but I don’t want to affect other people — players, a caddie that’s playing within the group — so that’s the reason I wear the mask throughout the round.”Kim celebrated a birdie on the 18th green Monday. She wore a face covering on and off the golf course throughout the U.S. Women’s Open.Credit…Jamie Squire/Getty ImagesBecause it took place so late in the year, the U.S. Women’s Open had the rare chance to showcase its players in America without sharing the stage with a 72-hole PGA Tour event or other U.S.-based events in a schedule that is usually packed during its normal late spring date.The United States Golf Association embraced the hashtag #WomenWorthWatching and a few players from the PGA Tour followed suit, much to the bemusement of the current generation of Asian L.P.G.A. stars who have never lacked for attention at home. That Monday’s final round was televised live in South Korea in the middle of the night says a lot about the popularity of women’s golf in a country where the best female golfers are more popular than the men who play on the PGA Tour.“Yeah, in Korea we get definitely a lot of attention and maybe we don’t need that phrase,” said Park, 32, a former world No. 1 whose final-round 68 vaulted her into a three-way tie for sixth at two-over 286.Park, who has 20 L.P.G.A. titles, including seven majors, said she gets recognized walking the streets in South Korea or paying the operator at a tollbooth while driving.In Thailand, Moriya Jutanugarn, 26, and her younger sister, Ariya, also command attention, since Ariya was the subject last year of a biopic that also included Moriya. On Monday, Moriya closed with a 74 to finish tied for sixth, one stroke ahead of Ariya, a former world No. 1.In Japan, Shibuno saw her life change rapidly after she won last year’s Women’s British Open in her first professional tournament outside her homeland. “I turned from a normal person to a celebrity overnight,” Shibuno said through an interpreter.She added, “Once I became a celebrity, and celebrity status, it makes it difficult to be myself.”This was Kim’s U.S. debut and with the win she becomes the latest in a long line of Korean players to take women’s golf by storm. Since turning professional as a teenager in 2013, Kim has won twice on her home tour and become known for her length. Kim, who is not a member of the L.P.G.A., earned $1 million for the victory. She also is eligible for a two-year tour membership, but said she is not sure if she will join in 2021. The decision would likely require several major disruptions to her life.“I just need some more time to think about it,” Kim said.Golf looked like the easy part for Kim, who took several deep breaths during her news conference to calm herself. “Once I go back home,” she said, “I’ll think about it and see.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Play Suspension Delays Finish at U.S. Women’s Open

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyPlay Suspension Delays Finish at U.S. Women’s OpenGolf’s final major of the year experienced a rain delay before play was called Sunday.Hinako Shibuno of Japan held a one-stroke lead over the American Amy Olson on Sunday at the U.S. Women’s Open in Houston.Credit…Eric Gay/Associated PressDec. 13, 2020, 3:47 p.m. ETHOUSTON — The best female golfers had to wait 189 days to start the United States Women’s Open after it was pushed back from June to December because of the coronavirus pandemic. So what’s one more day to crown a winner?A storm blew through Houston on Sunday morning before nearly one-third of the players, including the only four women under par for the tournament, had begun their final rounds. After a two-and-a-half hour suspension, during which Champions Club, in the city’s northwest quadrant, was soaked by almost an inch of rain, United States Golf Association officials postponed play until Monday morning.At the time that play was called, the top of the leader board was unchanged. Hinako Shibuno of Japan held a one-stroke lead over the American player Amy Olson, with Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn and Ji Yeong Kim2 lurking three strokes behind.Forty-two of the 65 players who made the cut had completed at least one hole before play was suspended. That group included Jutanugarn’s younger sister, Ariya, who birdied No. 1 to move into a five-way tie for fifth at even-par.The tournament’s last Monday finish was in 2011, which was also the only other time that Olson held at least a share of the first-round lead in her country’s national championship. Olson, née Anderson, finished 63rd that year as an amateur. On Monday, in her 147th L.P.G.A. start, she will be looking to secure her first major title and her first victory.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      At the U.S. Open, a Love Story

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAt the U.S. Open, a Love StoryThey met playing against each other in rec league hockey. Now Alena Sharp and her caddie, Sarah Bowman, are honeymooning on the golf course.Sarah Bowman, left, and Alena Sharp on their wedding day.Credit…Nancy AlbrightDec. 11, 2020, 9:30 a.m. ETHOUSTON — The honeymoon began, as so many do for golf-obsessed newlyweds, with 18 holes.The skies were blue, the sun was warm and the Spanish moss hung from the oak trees like nature’s tinsel, draping the scene in tranquillity. What better way to officially launch a shared lifetime of come-what-mays than as competitors at the 75th United States Women’s Open?For Alena Sharp, 39, a soft-spoken Canadian, and her U.S.-born caddie and wife, Sarah Bowman, life in the cumulus cloud that is 2020 has come with a powerful ray of light. Sharp’s first-round four-over 75 at Champions Club’s Cypress Creek course was the couple’s first competitive appearance since they were married in the backyard of their Arizona home on Nov. 23.The ceremony was officiated by their therapist. As part of their vows, exchanged in front of nine witnesses and more than 100 virtual guests from around the world, Sharp commended Bowman’s positivity and her personality, which she said “shines bright all the time.” And Bowman complimented Sharp’s grit, determination and resiliency.For a union sealed in the middle of a pandemic, there are worse qualities to bring to the table than positivity and resiliency.Bowman said: “People always talk about meeting someone that makes you want to be better in every way, and I always thought that was so stupid, but then I met Alena. And I can’t believe I’m saying it, but it’s real. She honestly makes me feel that way.”From Sharp came a barely audible, “Thank you.”Sharp and Bowman met in the face-off circle at a Chandler, Ariz., ice rink in 2013. They were opposing centers in a women’s recreational hockey league game.“She’d always win them,” said Sharp, who exacted her revenge with some well-executed forechecks.“She laid me out a few times,” Bowman said.Sharp played hockey as a child and turned to it to as an adult to escape her overactive golf mind and its constant churn of negative thoughts. Bowman, 44, a one-time competitive skier from Pittsburgh, was looking for an escape from her work at a neuro-oncology lab where she was laying the foundation — or so she thought — for a doctorate in psychology.Aware that Sharp was a professional athlete, Bowman initially misread her shyness as arrogance. “I thought she was full of herself,” said Bowman, who realized how badly she had misread Sharp when they met for a mountain bike ride.“We spent the entire time laughing,” Bowman said.Their friendship deepened in 2014 after Sharp found herself in between caddies. On a whim, she asked Bowman if she’d fill in at a local event on the Symetra tour, the L.P.G.A.’s minor-league circuit. Bowman recovered from an inauspicious start, leaving a crumb-like trail of clubs that spilled out of the bag as she proceeded down the first fairway, to help Sharp to a two-stroke victory.They already were dating, but within months they became partners professionally, too, but only after they made a pact. “We said that if the working arrangement ever affects our relationship, I’ll find another caddie,” Sharp said.They have had no regrets. They have traveled the world together and been Olympians together. They represented Canada at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro and are looking forward to competing in the delayed Tokyo Games next summer.Sharp and Bowman at the 2016 Olympics.Credit…Ross Kinnaird/Getty ImagesBowman’s greenness as a caddie when she started out forced Sharp to take ownership of her game and trust her instincts. Bowman was a quick study, progressing lickety-split from not being able to watch when Sharp putted because she was so invested in the outcome to reading the greens for her.The 99th-ranked Sharp, who joined the L.P.G.A. in 2005, has 14 career top-10 finishes. She is still searching for her breakthrough victory, though not for any lack of physical skills. Her talent has never been called into question, except by Sharp, who is quick to doubt herself.That’s where Bowman is at her best. No one is better at reading Sharp’s mind and recasting the negative thoughts.“We can say things to each other that I would never say to another caddie,” Sharp said. “I can tell her, ‘I just don’t trust myself right now.’ Or ‘I’m not confident.’ I feel like I can be totally vulnerable out there.”Sometimes when things are going sideways on the course, Sharp will become so emotional her eyes will fill with tears. When that happens, Bowman will remind her that golf is what Sharp does, not who she is, and that no matter her score, she is abundantly loved.“It’s good to be able to get those emotions out when I’m feeling not great and I’m not being nice to myself,” Sharp said.After seven years of dating, the couple decided to get married and planned their wedding in three short weeks, their sense of urgency spurred by the seating on the Supreme Court in late October of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative who alarmed L.G.B.T.Q. advocates at her confirmation hearing when she declined to say whether the court’s landmark ruling in 2015 allowing same-sex marriage was correctly decided.“Her nomination was really the driving force,” Sharp said.Barrett’s use of the term “sexual preference” during her confirmation hearings particularly pricked the ears of Bowman, who has never considered her sexual orientation a matter of choice. As a young adult she said she contemplated killing herself, so great was her struggle to accept her identity.In one of the wedding photographs the couple posted on social media, they are walking up the aisle, toward the camera. Each is wearing a gown pulled from the racks of a bridal-store chain. They are holding hands, crossing under an honor guard arch composed of golf club irons, though the salute is easy to miss at first, so blinding are their smiles.Sharp and Bowman almost cry when they look at the joy radiating from their faces in that photograph.“I didn’t want to be gay,” Bowman said. “I came from a very conservative place. I thought I’ll never be able to be happy. I’ll never be able to just live and be authentic.”Her voice cracking, she continued. “You just hope that enough kids who are going through what I did see this and see that you can move on. You hope they hang in there long enough to get past that.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      U.S. Women’s Open: December Date for Brings New Challenges

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesBritain’s Vaccine RolloutVaccine TrackerFAQ: Vaccines and MoreAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyDecember Date for U.S. Women’s Open Brings New ChallengesGolf’s final major tournament is set to play in Houston with coronavirus-related challenges, an unprecedented two-course format, and one of women’s golf’s largest purses.Former world No. 1 golfer Ariya Jutanugarn, left, and her sister Moriya both tested positive for the coronavirus in November. “It’s tough because I know my body isn’t 100 percent yet,” Ariya said Wednesday, ahead of opening round of the U.S. Women’s Open.Credit…Carlos Osorio/Associated PressDec. 10, 2020Updated 8:16 a.m. ETHOUSTON — The PGA Tour does not have a 72-hole stroke play event this week, and several weekend college football games, including the marquee matchup between Michigan and Ohio State, have been canceled or postponed because of the coronavirus, leaving the best female golfers in the world well positioned to fill the TV viewing void.This weekend, the L.P.G.A. contests the United States Women’s Open, its most lucrative major tournament, pushed back six months from its original date by the pandemic, on a stage cleared of some of the usual obstacles that can overshadow women’s golf in America. The spotlight it offers is in many ways tailored for Ariya Jutanugarn.Jutanugarn, 25, a former women’s world No. 1 from Thailand, generates tremendous clubhead speed and can produce birdies in bunches when she gets on a roll. But she tested positive for coronavirus before an L.P.G.A. event in Florida last month. In her final practice round this week, Jutanugarn did not look like the same player who was crowned Open champion in 2018 or even the same one who tied for sixth during an L.P.G.A. stop in Georgia in late October.Playing the back nine of the Cypress Creek course in a group that included her older sister, Moriya, 26, Jutanugarn consistently fell a few paces behind the others because of what she described as a lingering effect of the virus.“Every time when I play I walk really slow because my heart rate is up so high. But I just have to deal with it.”A month after her diagnosis, she continues to grapple with fatigue and headaches. The barbecue for which Texas is famous, a staple in players’ dining, is largely lost on her because she hasn’t regained her sense of smell or taste.“It’s tough because I know my body isn’t 100 percent yet,” Jutanugarn said. “I just have to deal with it and do my best, and make sure I take good care of my body.”They’re playing in a Christmas-themed bubble.The poinsettia centerpieces on the Nos. 1 and 10 tee snack tables don’t fool the players. They are acutely aware that Christmas isn’t quite here yet.“Coming into these two weeks, this past week or two that I was home, I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to be in a bubble,” said Lexi Thompson, the No. 11-ranked player. “I’m not taking the chance of testing positive coming into the two most important weeks of the year.”Tim Tucker, center, is moonlighting this week on the bag for Lexi Thompson, right. He usually caddies for the P.G.A. golfer Bryson DeChambeau.Credit…Jamie Squire/Getty ImagesStill, it’s 2020. So despite the best made bubbles, stuff happens. On Wednesday, the United States Golf Association announced that Andrea Lee, who had tested negative for the coronavirus before the Volunteers of America Classic outside Dallas and spent last week ensconced in the L.P.G.A. bubble, tested positive for the virus upon arriving in Houston and had withdrawn from the Open.Jutanugarn breathed a sigh of relief Monday after passing her pre-event coronavirus test. Despite being in a featured group alongside two other former champions, Inbee Park and So Yeon Ryu, Jutanugarn said her expectations were low.In her return to competition after quarantining, she finished tied for 62nd. Moriya, who had tested positive at the same time as her sister, also made her competitive return at the Volunteers of America Classic and tied for 16th.“Last week when I walked 18 holes I passed out because I was so tired,” Ariya Jutanugarn said.All is not necessarily lost. Last month, Dustin Johnson won the rescheduled Masters a month after testing positive for the coronavirus in a pretournament test. Like Jutanugarn, he isolated for at least 10 days and returned for the final tuneup event.On Masters Sunday, Jutanugarn said, she turned on the TV, intending to watch Johnson’s final round. But she was feeling feverish and her head was throbbing. “I fell asleep for four hours, I woke up and he had finished,” she said.It’ll take two courses to get the full field in before dark.The challenge for Jutanugarn, and the rest of the Open’s competitors, is compounded because this year, for the first time, the tournament is being played on two courses to accommodate a full 156-woman field in fading winter daylight.Cypress Creek, where three of the four rounds will be contested, is long, with massive greens. The second course, Jackrabbit, where each contender will play one of the first two days, is a tighter layout, with contouring around the smaller green complexes. To play both well requires the versatility of a Formula One driver who could also be competitive in NASCAR.Stacy Lewis, a two-time major winner who is a member of Champions Club, knows both courses well. “I think in everybody’s head you say, ‘We’re going to play Cypress three times, my focus is going to go that way more than the other one,’” she said. “And then you have a bad day on Jackrabbit and you’re not even playing the next two. I know people have asked me and I’ve told them, ‘Pay attention to Jackrabbit.’”There’s a lot of money on the line this weekend and next.For Jin Young Ko, the U.S. Women’s Open is only her third L.P.G.A. event in 2020. The world No. 1 has remained in her native South Korea since the Covid-19 outbreak took hold in America.Credit…David J. Phillip/Associated PressThe next two weeks have the players’ full focus. Both the U.S. Women’s Open and next week’s finale in Florida offer a winner’s check of at least $1 million. The U.S. Open will pay out $5.5 million and the purse for the Tour Championship will be the fifth-highest in the women’s game this year at $3 million, a haul that makes this stretch comparable only to the mid-August-to-September span during which two other majors — the Women’s British Open and the AIN Inspiration — were contested.“To be honest, it feels weird because I’m playing in December around Christmas Day, so it’s the first time,” said Jin Young Ko, the women’s world No. 1. “But the course is tough and then everyone look nervous, too, so it’s fun.”Fun? Danielle Kang, who has won twice since the tour’s July restart, is accompanied this week by her boyfriend, Maverick McNealy, who plays on the PGA Tour. McNealy is one of several male players, including major winners Jason Day and Bryson DeChambeau, who have thrown their support behind the L.P.G.A. this week by posting messages on social media with the hashtag #WomenWorthWatching. DeChambeau’s regular caddie, Tim Tucker, is moonlighting this week on the bag for Lexi Thompson.Asked the best piece of advice that she has received from McNealy, Kang, a one-time major winner, said, “Just relax. It’s the U.S. Open. Everyone is stressed out.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More