RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – Mike Whan tells the story of how one of the critical moments of his first few days as commissioner of the LPGA came when an official of Kraft told him that the company would not be renewing its contract to host the women’s major championship at Mission Hills Country Club.
Nearly 12 years later, as Whan enters his final days as LPGA commissioner, he believes that the work he and his staff have done to secure the LPGA’s five major championships will continue to pay off well after he departs.
“Majors have been our foundation at least the whole 11, 12 years that I’ve been doing it, and we really built a schedule around these foundations,” Whan said Wednesday as he prepares for his last ANA Inspiration as commissioner.
The future of the ANA Inspiration has been a topic around women’s golf since 2018, when Augusta National announced it would host a women’s amateur championship the same week as the ANA Inspiration.
The Augusta National Women’s Amateur has attracted plenty of attention in golf, with many critics saying that attention is taking away from the ANA Inspiration’s status on the LPGA. Some believe the LPGA will have to blink in the conflict and move its tournament from its traditional date of the week before the Masters to avoid the ANWA.
ANA Inspiration: Leaderboard | Photos
Whan admits the situation isn’t optimal for the ANA Inspiration, but it’s not a situation that requires an immediate fix.
“With time, we’ll move out of this date,” said Whan, who will take over as executive director of the United States Golf Association. “Just like you know, moving a major sounds so simple to a fan or to a Twitter follower. To a commissioner, it requires 15 other people agreeing to move things around.”
Whan and the LPGA understand that a move of the ANA Inspiration to earlier in March might not work well for television or for Mission Hills Country Club, a move one week later would be against the Masters and a move two weeks later would put the tournament in the desert the same week as the Coachella music festival.
All Nippon Airways has a contract with the LPGA through 2022, meaning that next year will be an interesting one as the tour and ANA talk about a possible extension of the sponsorship. ANA has fully funded the $3.1 million purse of the tournament each of the last two years despite no fans being allowed on site under California and Riverside County COVID-19 restrictions. But Whan said he’s not concerned that whoever takes over as commissioner will have too many sponsorship issues to deal with.
“We’re in real good shape. I don’t think the new commissioner is going to come in and instantly be petrified about contract, perpetual sponsor deals,” Whan said. “Right now, as a future sponsor said to me yesterday in a meeting, this is a real good time to be joining with the LPGA. We feel good about what you guys mean and what you represent. I didn’t start a lot of meetings like that back in 2011.”
Larry Bohannan is The Desert Sun golf writer. He can be reached at (760) 778-4633 or larry.bohannan@desertsun.com. Follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @Larry_Bohannan. Support local journalism: Subscribe to the Desert Sun.