After a historic 2024 season that noticed the LPGA award document purse sizes, Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan is stepping down.
Her final day will likely be Jan. 9, 2025, roughly 18 months earlier than her contract expires in the summertime of 2026.
“I’m happy with the unprecedented progress the LPGA has loved since I started my tenure. The technique now we have constructed for progress and impression, together with the infrastructure now we have added to capitalize on the super alternative forward, will serve the LPGA properly within the coming many years,” Marcoux Samaan mentioned in a press release.
“It’s time for me to have extra time to cheer on our three superb kids as they stay their desires whereas I proceed to pursue my ardour for constructing leaders, uniting communities, and creating worth via sports activities, significantly girls’s sports activities.”
Beth Ann Nichols of Golfweek initially delivered the bombshell report on Monday morning.
The LPGA employed Marcoux Samaan within the spring of 2021 to switch Mike Whan, who now serves because the CEO of the United States Golf Affiliation (USGA). Since taking on the reins of the LPGA, Marcoux Samaan has helped develop match purses by almost 90%, with the 5 main championships doubling their winnings alone.
Simply final week, Jeeno Thitikul, who gained the season-long Aon Threat Reward Problem and the $1 million that got here with it, went on to seize the CME Group Tour Championship. Her victory in Southwest Florida awarded her a further $4 million, the most important first-place examine ever handed out within the historical past of ladies’s sports activities.
But, the LPGA confronted loads of points this season.
The Solheim Cup transportation catastrophe involves thoughts. The primary day of this biennial competitors—arguably the largest occasion in girls’s golf—was marred by lengthy traces, a scarcity of buses, and a scarcity of infrastructure. These points turned pissed off followers away from the course, as many had no alternative however to go residence feeling disillusioned. Consequently, the stands surrounding the opening tee got here nowhere close to reaching full capability.
The opposite stain on the tour has been the gradual tempo of play, which has pissed off prime stars resembling Nelly Korda, Charley Hull, and Lexi Thompson. Some rounds have taken almost six hours, leaving followers on the bottom—and people watching on tv—agitated.
As well as, the LPGA has seen a number of title sponsors draw back from key tournaments, with Congizant coming to thoughts. The LPGA doesn’t have a sponsor for the Founders Cup, which Cognizant sponsored final season. Maybe the rising purse sizes have led to this unlucky actuality.
Its annual cease in Bradenton, Florida, which can function the second occasion of the 2025 season, additionally doesn’t have a title sponsor.
These are all pertinent points the following commissioner should face.
For now, Liz Moore will function interim commissioner of the LPGA. She has led the authorized and know-how groups on the LPGA for over a decade.
An outdoor agency is already main a seek for a brand new commissioner.
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By way of. Be sure you take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You possibly can comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as properly.
