Craig Kessler: LPGA Commissioner

This is gonna jump fast-forward decades and decades, but now I just wanted to ask you, what does the commissioner of a golf league need to understand about the game of golf? Or let me ask it differently.

Do you feel like an intimate understanding of golf is a requirement for the job of being commissioner of, of golf? I guess you could say that about any sport, really, any sporting league.

Obviously, there's a lot more to it.

It's a business, it's partnerships, it's hospitality.

I mean, the list goes on and on.

How important is knowing golf in the role you're in?

It's...

It's the first time I've been asked this question.

It's a great question, and you may get different answers depending on who you talk to.

M- my answer is, like, th- think about a recipe.

You're trying to build something, and balance is what matters.

If you have too much of one ingredient, it may throw off the entire thing.

And what I've experienced is there's a certain level of golf IQ that's required to do the job, and in my case, there are probably some areas where I was lacking in that golf IQ and have tried to ask the right questions and learn from those who've been in the game longer than I have.

There's an element of knowing people in golf who can really, really move the needle and help the tour.

That's important.

I think there's an element of business IQ and business acumen and being able to analyze problems from so many different angles, financial, consumer marketing, branding, and so forth.

A- and the hope is that any commissioner, I think, or business executive would have the right combination of ingredients in order to be an effective leader.

leader.And too much of one of those probably tilts it out of whack a little bit.

If someone just only, you know, has a relationship with the players, but has zero ability to move business or make things, it's gonna get a little, little out of balance.

So let's talk about how when you took the role, what are some of the challenges that you're facing? And, and obviously then the flip side is, like, there's so many opportunities, and anybody that's been close to women's golf knows this, and you've probably seen them as probably part of why you wanted to take the job.

There's a lot of exciting things.

But I'd also love to just hear a little bit of some of the challenges.

When you walk in, you're like, "This is a real challenge we're gonna have to crack," and share some of the opportunities that you saw when w- in the early days, you're now about, I don't know, 14 months or so into the job, when you were walking into it.

Yeah.

Look, in the spirit of vulnerability, maybe I could tell you a story, and the, the headline is the, the challenges are the opportunities, and I've learned that pretty quickly here.