We’re in the heart of the women’s professional golf season and the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the third of five major championships on the schedule, is set to tee off today at Sahalee Country Club, 20 miles east of Seattle.
KPMG stepped in ten years ago to take title sponsorship reigns of the major previously known as the LPGA Championship. Previous top-of-the-ticket sponsors, including Mazda, McDonald’s and Wegmans, helped lay the foundation for what was to come, but the tournament was badly in need of a refresh and a new identity that would stand the test of time. Rebranding it as a sibling of the Men’s PGA Championship turned out to be a brilliant move.
Seth Waugh, CEO of PGA of America, recalls chief championship officer Kerry Haigh’s passion for the undertaking and determination to do right by the players.
“If we were going to do this, we were going to this well and right. This is a major championship, and we are going to treat the women the same way we treat the men—the courses we were going to bring it to, the courtesy cars, the food, everything we could create to make them feel special was how we thought about it,” Waugh said.
U.S. Solheim Cup Captain Stacy Lewis remembers walking onto Westchester Country Club in 2015 for the debut KPMG Women's PGA Championship and experiencing a night and day difference compared to prior majors. The magnitude of the build and the investment that had been made to level up the tournament was well beyond her expectations and marked a sea change from the standard of the past.
“It made us as LPGA players feel important and made it one of the best weeks of the year,” Lewis said. Preceding majors to her had felt almost like regular LPGA events, only “with just a little bit bigger purse.”
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“That was the only difference between a non-major and a major at the time. And we had zero stability in our majors. We had Canada for a long time and then they left and we lose McDonald’s and that was one of the big problems for our tour. KPMG and the PGA really started this movement of our majors becoming bigger and feeling like bigger events,” Lewis added.
Elevated Venues
Rather than parking in smaller market venues, previous editions of the tournament, when it bore its former sobriquet, held multi-year stints at Locust Hill Country club just outside of Rochester, New York and Dupont Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware. The KPMG PGA Championship now travels to top tier prestigious venues very familiar to those who follow men’s golf. Previous hosts have included Congressional, Baltusrol, Aronimink, and Atlanta Athletic Club.
To effect a massive glow-up, the audit, tax and advisory powerhouse took a very intentional approach to crafting the blueprint for the tournament, which remains to date their biggest annual sports marketing endeavor.
“Our objective was to have the tournament played on iconic storied courses where men had played major championships. At the end of the day, the PGA of America decides where the event is held but that is the criteria,” KPMG CEO Paul Knopp said.
The vision also contained other important elements such as increasing network TV coverage, which has tripled over the past ten years. Total coverage, including Peaco*ck streaming, has doubled.
“Another goal was to see the purses grow, and it's satisfying to note that other major corporations have followed suit,” Knopp added.
In 2014, the purse was $2.25 million, ascending over the years before really supersizing over the past several editions. The prize pool for the KPMG was $4.5 million in 2021, and this year players will compete for a share of $10.4 million.
“We’re at $47 million over the five majors and the growth is pretty remarkable considering it was half of that just two or three years ago and KPMG was really a catalyst to all of that, stepping up and saying lets really elevate this,” LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan, explained.
“The money matters not only because of money but also because I think it shows the value for the athletes and that’s what we’re focused on. The women, they’ll play for $5 because they’re really competitive but we believe and all of us believe that they should be playing with money commensurate with their talent,” Samaan added.
Achieving pay equity was part of the original vision and remains a steadfast goal. The PGA Tour/LIV Golf business scuffle, which caused the compensation levels of men’s golf to skyrocket certainly moved the goal posts further out, making the objective seem out of reach in the near term. But as the economics of the LPGA continue to improve, it is only a matter of time.
Three years ago, the total combined purse for the season was just under $70 million and this year the LPGA Tour is playing for $125 million in total prize money. That has translated to the average income of top 100 players in that same time jumping from $574,000 to $841,000.
“We think women’s sports in general and certainly women’s golf is actually undervalued. Certain sponsors have gotten involved because it is the right thing, but now they’re getting rewarded for that. The economics of it are what is going to drive that purse growth going forward,” Knopp predicted.
In the meantime, KPMG strives to continue to enhance their product by introducing additive elements annually. New to this year’s championship is KPMG ChampCast, embedded in the championship’s app and also online and utilizing the same ShotLink Pro 2.0 technology from the PGA Tour. The collab with T-Mobile and the PGA of America showcases 3D ball flight tracking and rollouts for every player in the field, offers advanced analytical insights and access to on-demand televised shots.
“Every year we try to do something a little different and make it as fresh as we can and are really excited about this new technology that has been brought to bear,” Knopp said.
Setting the Scene
Sahalee Country Club, which gets its name from the Chinook verbiage for ‘high heavenly ground’, is a Pacific Northwest tapestry of tight fairways framed by super tall red cedar, hemlock and majestic douglas firs.
“I was out there early this morning and when there is nobody out there it is very quiet and serene, you’re just back in the trees playing golf so maybe that’s where the name comes from but it’s definitely a major championship test—it is tough. You have to hit it straight and control the golf ball into the greens and then you have to have a short game. It is a complete test this week,” Lewis said.
The last time Sahalee Country Club hosted this major eight years back we witnessed a duel between two of the game’s marquee names who were both teenagers at the time. Brooke Henderson would go on to best Lydia Ko in a playoff to win her first major.
“We had two of the best players to play the game in the last fifteen years going down to the wire. I think it was tremendous for our tour and I would expect both of them to be right up there this year,” Lewis said.
Knopp, who wasn’t yet in his current position at KPMG, watched the tournament on television from home.
“I remember watching the ending and thinking that the quality of that golf with Lydia and Brooke battling to win in a playoff was exceptional and absolutely as good as Men’s golf. The excitement level was amazing. For me that’s part of my desire to keep after this and make sure we drive for more equity,” he said.
Closely contested championships where the top talent fights their way to the top has been the norm at this major whose recent winners include the likes of Chun In-gee, Nelly Korda, Hannah Green and Danielle Kang.
“I look back over the ten years of the different golf courses we’ve been able to play and you look at your list of winners. That just tells you the quality of golf courses we are selecting are correct. There have been no fluke winners of this championship. The best of the best have won,” Lewis added
