Changes at the top signal new era for LIV and LPGA golf

Join the Club by John Patrick Powered by Bonaventure Discount Golf The news came down over the Thanksgiving holiday that two of professional golf’s leaders would be taking their leave.  The first is LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan. Her four-year tenure will end shortly after the first of the year. She replaced the extremely popular Michael Whan, who retired and then almost immediately became the CEO of the United States Golf Association. Whan was a difficult personality to replace, fostering unprecedented growth on several fronts for the ladies’ game. His personality was larger than life. Samaan was not, by any means, a failure. The organization also grew under her leadership, with purses increasing by more than 90% and average earnings for the top 100 golfers on the tour all but doubling under her stewardship. But there were missteps, especially lately. In September, there was an issue at the tour’s premiere event, the Solheim Cup, when thousands of fans were left stranded in parking lots waiting for buses to take them to the venue. It caused many to miss the ceremonial opening tee shots. Samaan took responsibility for the snafu and in her words “owned it.” More recently she has been criticized for not taking advantage of the rising popularity of women’s sports, such as the WNBA and other professional leagues. There is little doubt among those close to the sport that she is being shown the door, although she has said she looks forward to having “more time to cheer on her three children as they live their dreams.” A search firm will be engaged to find the next leader of the LPGA.  That brings us to the second leader. There are reports that a replacement has been found for LIV CEO Greg Norman. Norman has been a polarizing figure since the day he accepted the position. It would appear that the Saudi Public Investment Fund either no longer feels that he needs to be the face of the venture, or that he’s not succeeding as the face of the venture. It would also appear that as the group prepares for the next phase of the venture that Norman might be too divisive a figure, especially when it came to the members and hierarchy of the PGA.  Speaking of the PGA hierarchy, if you had commissioner of the PGA Tour Jay Monahan outlasting both Saaman and Norman, you’re a big winner. He was given little-to-no chance of surviving just fifteen months ago. Many thought he wouldn’t make it to the end of 2023, and here we are, nearing Christmas of 2024 and we’re learning his pay package, salary, bonuses, additional compensation, and non-cash benefits total close to $23 million. That’s more than $4 million than last year. Now, it’s still less than Scottie Scheffler made this year, and it could be argued that the game Monahan was playing was harder to negotiate than any course Scheffler tackled. It just goes to show how much money has increased for everyone associated with the PGA Tour.  Pundits are predicting that television rating in 2025 will decline, so the vultures are still circling around Monahan. That interest will continue to wane when the big names aren’t playing. He really needs to consummate the deal with LIV and get golf back to where it belongs, one big dysfunctional family, as opposed to the various dysfunctional families it has become.