‘Double-edged sword:’ LPGA’s big conundrum has no clear answer

NAPLES, Fla. – The 2025 season is a historic year for the LPGA. But that history also raises a question that must be answered as new commissioner Craig Kessler looks to take the tour to new heights.

This season, the LPGA has shown its depth and strength. Entering this week’s CME Team Tour Championship, there are 29 unique winners. There had been zero repeat winners this season until world No. 1 Gino Titicul made an improbable comeback last Sunday at the Shanghai Buick LPGA. A year after Nelly Korda’s seven wins, including five in a row, the LPGA experienced the opposite. There are 11 first-time winners. Star amateur Lottie Woad turned pro and immediately won the Women’s Scottish Open. Rookie of the Year winner Miyu Yamashita won the AIG Women’s Open and then the Maybank Championship, becoming the only player besides Thitikul to defend the title.

Korda, who has yet to win in 2025, will be the first to notice that the LPGA talent is getting better every year. This is a good thing, especially in the long run. With a transformative new television deal, Kessler and the LPGA’s vision is to attract more eyeballs and reach a wider audience. But can the LPGA do that with depth and parity, or does the tour need one or two stars to dominate and transcend the larger sports conversation and join them on the tour?

As the LPGA season ends this week in Naples, the answer is vague at best.

“As a tour, and even from a fan perspective, yeah, it’s great to have someone like Nellie who was so dominant last year,” said Hall of Famer Lydia Ko. “It raises a lot of eyebrows, especially for her — in Nellie’s case, being an American player. It raises a lot of different eyebrows. Even if you don’t play golf, you know who Tiger Woods is. Like having a body like that, yes, it’s very important, but at the same time, just the level of play between being a No. 1 player on CME to 100, I don’t think talent is that big of a difference.

“I think as a tour, having better talent and more talent on the leaderboard is just as important as having a superstar.”

The problem becomes even trickier when you consider the LPGA’s global reach. The Tour’s Asian swing showcases its popularity around the world. But with most tournaments taking place in the United States, and a large portion of the television revenue there, perhaps it takes superstars to elevate the LPGA in the U.S., while the depth and parity can elevate it around the world.

“I think the tour is the strongest it’s ever been,” said three-time major champion Lee Min-ji. “I think because of our tour, we play mostly in the United States, so I do feel like if we had a star or two on the LPGA, maybe that could help us in some way.”

“We marketed ourselves as a very global tour and I think that’s what we saw, that’s what we saw, especially [11] There were a lot of first-time winners this year, last year and the year before that,” Ko said. “It’s a double-edged sword in the sense that you want depth and talent because you just want to see the whole game grow, but at the same time, if I’m pitching someone, it’s a lot easier to pitch one person than it is to pitch 30 people. “

Lexi Thompson, one of the tour’s star players for more than a decade, believes the LPGA’s growth strategy shouldn’t rely on one or two players lifting most of the trophies. There is strength in numbers.

“This is a global tour,” Thompson told GOLF. “These ladies come from all over the world. It’s not a matter of multiple wins. That’s fine, but I think people like to see different winners and different personalities, you know, and different approaches on the golf course.”

Kessler knew one of his biggest goals was to create and market stars. The talent on the LPGA is undeniable, but stardom doesn’t just exist within the ropes. It takes the support of the Tour to raise their profile and make them greater than golf. Quality play is important, but so is the ability and willingness to go beyond the pitch. If you want to attract eyeballs that you wouldn’t normally get, you have to go where they are. You can’t expect them to come to you.

“There’s no magic bullet for creating stars, and that’s where an ecosystem is needed,” Kessler said. “We had a partner meeting yesterday and at the end they kindly asked: How can we help? We said two things: if you have an idea or a megaphone you’d like to share, please raise your hand; and two, make introductions to those who can also help.

“We could give so many examples, whether it’s what Nelly did at the Met Gala or what she did with Sports Illustrated or Charley [Hull] Going to England for a state dinner or something she’s been doing socially lately. I can take you through a variety of players and what they do to reflect in the culture, not just within the ropes. These things make a difference. ”

For Kessler and the LPGA, their job is to find players who have the ability to attract a wider audience (those who don’t typically enjoy golf) and who want to become the face of the LPGA. It would be great if these players were also consistently at the top of the leaderboards, but it’s not non-negotiable. Kessler has delivered several major wins for the LPGA in his short time at the helm, and he’s willing to try different things to achieve his ultimate goal, with developing stars being one of his top priorities.

“You’ve got the best players, you’ve got the most marketable players, you’ve got guys who are really willing to put in the work and do the work,” Kessler said of developing stars. “We will dedicate resources to a handful of players at the center of the Venn diagram to develop global superstars and build player and fan connections.”

Kessler singled out Hull as a top player who is willing to do things off the golf course and become one of the faces of the LPGA.

“I’m just being myself,” Hull told GOLF. “I think it’s great that they invited me [to the UK state dinner]. I had a really good year, which was great. I do think it’s a good thing for women’s golf to have people recognize that, yes, I’m just being myself. ”

Hull won the Kroger Queen City Championship this season and came up short at the AIG Women’s Open on Sunday. She is one of, if not the stars of the LPGA, and she sees the explosion of talent in women’s golf as a cornerstone on which the LPGA is being built.

“It used to be like the top 10 guys could win, now it’s like the top 30, 40 guys have a chance to win because the standard has gone up and we have more depth and that’s what we want,” Hull said.

The LPGA would likely benefit from one or two dominant players breaking through to a wider audience. This certainly doesn’t hurt. But everyone, from Kessler to Hull, from Kodak Kodak, hopes not to put everything on the shoulders of one player.

“I think with where our tour is right now, I think there are so many stories that can be told that we don’t necessarily need to just rely on this one guy,” Gao said.

“So our job is to find the right holistic, balanced story to tell so that our fans are excited every week,” Kessler said as he lays out his strategy. “If we rely on one person, whether a star or a celebrity, to carry the weight of the Tour de France, I think we’ve missed the opportunity.

“There’s so much magic happening on the LPGA and we have to make it all happen.”

When they do, the answer becomes clear.

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