Whan, Mike

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      In Naming a New Chief Executive, the U.S.G.A. Looks to the Women’s Game

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyIn Naming a New Chief Executive, the U.S.G.A. Looks to the Women’s GameWith the L.P.G.A., Mike Whan grew women’s golf. Now he’ll try to solve some of the sport’s most contentious debates: outrageous distances off the tee and a return to more traditional sites.Mike Whan with the L.P.G.A. in 2015. He will take over the U.S.G.A. sometime this summer.Credit…Chris O’Meara/Associated PressFeb. 17, 2021, 11:02 a.m. ETIn an imaginative decision for one of the most resolutely traditional organizations in American sports, the United States Golf Association announced Wednesday that its new chief executive would be Mike Whan, who has spent the last 11 years as the resourceful commissioner of the L.P.G.A. Tour.Whan, 56, will replace Mike Davis, the top executive at the U.S.G.A., which conducts the United States Open and 13 other national championships. Five months ago, Davis, a 30-year U.S.G.A. employee, revealed that 2021 would be his last year with the organization. In January, in a surprise, Whan announced his intention to leave the L.P.G.A.In an interview Tuesday, Whan said he called Davis before accepting the U.S.G.A.’s offer.“I said, you know me and you know the job, is this a bad idea?” Whan recalled. “Mike said, ‘Stop talking, you need to get into this job.’”Whan added: “I can stay in the game I love. I can have a seat that can make a real difference.”Stu Francis, the U.S.G.A. president, said Tuesday that he had been thinking about Whan as a possible Davis successor since Whan made a presentation to the association’s executive committee four years ago. Noting that the U.S.G.A., a nonprofit with annual revenues of roughly $225 million, invests in myriad golf initiatives and helps writes golf’s rule book, Francis called running the U.S.G.A. “a multifaceted job.” Of Whan, Francis added: “He has all the skill sets and has demonstrated those skill sets.”Whan, who will assume his U.S.G.A. duties at an unspecified date this summer, took over a struggling L.P.G.A. in 2010 and guided it through financial challenges, eventually expanded the tour from 24 events to 34 and nearly doubled the prize money. During the pandemic, when many tournaments were not held, Whan was able to preserve event sponsors, and the purses for the 18 tournaments the L.P.G.A. did host were not reduced.As L.P.G.A. commissioner, Whan has spent years in regular contact with leaders of golf’s governing bodies, including the U.S.G.A., the PGA Tour and the R&A, the organization that conducts the British Open.But at least in America, Whan will soon be the point man for a variety of issues facing golf, the thorniest of which is whether the sport’s leaders should enact new rules to inhibit the prodigious distances off the tee that can be achieved by technologically advanced golf balls and clubs. A recent report sponsored by the U.S.G.A. and the R&A, a co-partner overseeing the rule book, hinted at potential changes in equipment restrictions.Asked about the report on Tuesday, Whan said: “There’s little argument that we’ve known distance is a problem for a long time.” He added, “I think change is coming and needs to — how grand that change is has yet to be determined.”But Whan, who worked for Wilson Sporting Goods and TaylorMade Golf before joining the L.P.G.A., said there would still be room for innovation in the vast golf equipment market.“I think all the people that hear about change think, ‘Oh, no, it’s over, they’re going to put a governor on and everybody’s going to have all the same distance,’” he said. “Nobody has any interest in doing that to either the game or the people that make the game exciting.”Whan will also be central to ascertaining which courses will be selected as U.S.G.A. championship sites, particularly when it comes to the U.S. Open and the U.S. Women’s Open. Some of the most controversial decisions in Davis’s tenure stemmed from a desire to branch out from an established, if unofficial, rotation of traditional sites for the association’s premier events. That led to the U.S. Open’s being played in largely untested venues like Chambers Bay in Washington State and Erin Hills in Wisconsin with, at best, mixed results.Lately, the U.S.G.A. has signaled its inclination to return to golf courses with a history of hosting the national golf championship, something endorsed by Francis and Whan.“You’re going to see much more of a locking in on traditional sites,” Francis said.Whan, who will be just the U.S.G.A.’s eighth chief executive, said players wanted the same thing. Cognizant that this year’s U.S. Women’s Open will be contested at the Olympic Club in San Francisco for the first time (it has hosted the U.S. Open five times), Whan said, “I can promise you right now there are players on the L.P.G.A. dreaming of Olympic.”Davis, who is leaving the U.S.G.A. to pursue his interest in golf course design, endorsed Whan’s selection.“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Mike Whan for many years, and I view him as a trusted, strategic leader who has a proven track record of building collaborative partnerships,” Davis said in a statement. “I know the U.S.G.A. will be in great hands, and I look forward to partnering with Mike to ensure a smooth and successful transition.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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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