ERIN, Wis. — Mike Whan, the former LPGA commissioner himself, was asked about the LPGA’s new boss when he cut the question off.  

The reporter had started it off by saying that some had deemed Craig Kessler “a young Mike Whan.”

“I thought I was a young Mike Whan,” Whan cracked. “I don’t really like that quote, but go ahead.”

Whan was speaking Tuesday as the CEO of the United States Golf Association, the position for which he left the LPGA in 2021. His mood seemed largely upbeat. In two days, his organization will host its biggest women’s event of the year, the U.S. Women’s Open, here at Erin Hills, and it’s somewhat of an old-home week for Whan. That much was clear following Whan’s late-morning press conference when he and LPGA star Lydia Ko hugged in front of the dais. 

Kessler questions were inevitable, then, after Kessler last week was named as the successor to Mollie Marcoux Samaan, who had replaced Whan. The initial impression? Good. Whan said he’s spoken with Kessler, who comes to the LPGA after a stint as the PGA of America’s chief operating officer. Whan said Fred Perpall, the USGA’s president, has been a mentor to Kessler.     

What stood out to Whan was that Kessler wasn’t talking to him only to say he’d checked the “I talked to Mike Whan box.” His questions, Whan said, were sincere. 

“He’s a father of really young kids,” Whan said, “and he asked me how old were my kids when I took that job. They were a little older than his. They were junior high, and he’s got middle school. I think he expected me to say, don’t worry, buddy, you’re going to be a great dad and your wife is going to love you and you’ll travel all the time. I said, listen, sometimes it’s really going to stink. You are going to FaceTime your kids from Shanghai and think, I’m the worst dad in the world. 

“But I promise you, your kids will be watching if you love what you do. Like my kids today when we talk about dad’s career, they talk about as LPGA commissioner I’ve never seen my dad so energetic and caffeinated. But I do think kids watch more than they hear, and what I said to Craig is your kids are watching you, and if you attack this job because it means something to you, if you can make a real difference in the lives of these women on Tour and these professional coaches, you’re going to get more back than they are.”

Did Whan have any regrets that he’d share with Kessler? 

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Whan’s first thought went back to starting the Founders Cup without a purse — all the money would to charity. “What a great idea that was, until I actually told all the players about it,” Whan said. “But it turned out to be fine, so it was great. But I made a lot of stupid mistakes.”

Whan also cited the LPGA’s television coverage, or lack thereof.  

“I really believed that I could get us a lot more network hours at the LPGA than I was able to get us,” he said. “I’ve said this many times. I don’t know if women’s golf — when somebody says to me, why doesn’t women’s golf play for more money? I would say, well, they generate about a fifth of the viewership of men’s golf. 

“But they also get about a tenth of the network opportunities of men’s golf. I am not really sure if chicken and egg. I’d love to have two seasons where women are on network TV for 37 weeks in a row and see what that looks like, but we never really had that opportunity. I have that regret.”

Will things change under Kessler? It’s not as if Whan didn’t try, but you can argue that there never has been more interest in women’s sports.  

Touching on the subject in his introductory press conference, Kessler said one of his “four pillars” as commissioner was “visibility.”

To Kessler, that is, “making sure that the incredible stars the LPGA has who leave it on the course week-in and week-out are actually visible, and that goes beyond just the broadcasts.” 

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