Mollie Marcoux Samaan

l p g A Tour. UM. I think the women's game has never been stronger, and to get an opportunity to sit down and talk with Molly about it, UM is a really cool opportunity for me. We had the commissioner of the Asian Tour, Showman Fat on recently. UM. If you haven't had the chance to check that podcast, check it out. Um Hey. This past summer I asked Jay Monahan if you wanted to come on the podcast.

Still waiting for that call from j. But UM, it's really cool to to to listen to Molly talk about all the great things UM that's going on at the l p g A. If you haven't had an opportunity to go to an LPGA event, whether it's a regular event, whether it's one of their majors. Do yourself a favor and go check it out because I'm a huge fan of the product. M I'm a huge fan of the players,

and I think they're doing some great things. So really excited to um, have everyone listened to what Molly has to say about the LPGA tour, So sit back and enjoy. So Molly, the LPGA three season underway. The Tournament of Champions at Lake No No last week. UM, I was up there. What a great event. Brooke Henderson wins the first one. You've got all the stars, Um, A lot of the stars on the LPGA were on the leaderboard. You must be pretty happy with the way the season started. Yeah,

it was awesome. But first of all, it's great to meet you in person, and um, it was a fabulous week. I mean, I think again the leaderboard was was fantastic. At the end, I got to um sort of see the finish and the crowds were awesome. The music, the eighteenth team, so much energy, so much positivity. The celebrities were amazing. You know, you had a really wide variety of different types of players playing in it, and all were just so impressed by the talent of our players,

but also just the personalities and the engagement. So overall it was a great start. Hilton Grand Vacations, what a fantastic partner. I got to see Mark Wang at the end of the at the end of the tournament and he was just beaming and did a great job with the trophy presentation, and Aaron Stewart and I think they were all flying pretty high, and it was. It was

a really great week. So the three season, UH thirty three events, over a hundred million in prize money, UM eleven states, twelve countries, service a great UM thing going around social media and animated version of all the places UM the LPGA is going to go in m Do you feel like, probably more than any of the tours around the world, the LPGA really is a globe tour, not only from the amount of players that are playing from around the world, but the destinations that that the

LPGA goes to. Yeah, I mean it's incredible, particularly being you know, a first year UM commissioner and I traveled to I think I hit twenty eight or twenty nine of our events, and I got to see golf in all over the world, you know, and see how people embrace the game, how people love our athletes seeing you know, you're sort of one week in in a Midwestern town and the next week, you know, you're in Europe or you're in you're in Asia, and you're sort of seeing

the commonality among golf fans, which was really fun for me to be able to see. And I really wanted to do that. I really wanted to get out to as many events as I could possibly get to and see our fans and see our partners and see how our players engaged so so as you said, so globally and it's it's so I love that about our tour. I think that is a significant competitive advantage, working with brands and partners all over the world, and you know, you really are, truly we are the best players in

the world playing on this tour. You know, it's not just the best players from the United States, it's the best players from the from around the world. I think we have thirty five countries may be represented who have cards this year, which is is pretty incredible. And we had I don't quote me on this, I think we had winners from fourteen different countries last year. Um, which

again the commonality is golf. The commonality is women exceeding at something succeeding and um excelling at something that's really hard, really challenging and inspiring people through the work that they're doing over five hundred hours three on broadcast TV. I mean the obvious question, Molly, because I mean I work with girls from the l p G a UM, I go to the tournaments. I think the product is great, But the constant theme around women's golf is how do

we get more eyeballs? How do we get more people involved? How many how do we get more people to the tournaments? Um, you're the ninth commissioner of of the l p G a UM, how do you feel that's going and what is the plan moving forward to just try and get more people to see what what the ladies on the LPGA are doing. Yeah, it's definitely a you know, it's

a it's a chicken and egg, right. If you don't have the fans, you can't drive some of the same revenue that you need to have the manpower and the technology and all the things you need to have more fans. So I think we're trying to sort of start that

chicken and egg cycle. A little differently and it really invests in it, really invest in you know, fan engagement, fan development, fan acquisition, really trying to have I always say, you know, the world needs to see how amazingly talented are athletes are, and how engaging they are and how interesting they are and hear their personal stories as well as their their golf talent. So that's a huge priority of ours. And it's sort of this you know idea

of two way communication too. We have to know who our fans are. We've got to be able to talk to them. We've got to be really aggressive and creative. But even things like with the with the tournament this past week, you know, were bringing in um, people who love golf that aren't necessarily always connected to the LPGA to start to spread the word and start to promote

our brand. And you know, you have a whole new audience that you bring in with some of these celebrities have huge fan bases um themselves and so getting them to say the things that they were saying, you know, I mean you hear the quotes from Marty Fish and others saying that if anyone thinks that they could play

with these women, they're a hundred percent wrong. You know, any any single digit hand I think he said something like any single digit handicapper wouldn't have even a morsel of a chance playing against UM these best in the world athletes. So we're also focused really a lot on technology.

I mean, I think technology can be a great equalizer, and so we want to invest and you know in improved scoring and UM improved a website and improved just overall UM you know, CRMs, and ability to sell, sell and promote our our product to such a broader me and some technology is now allowing that. So thinking about how we utilize more digital assets and streaming opportunities, so

just to bring more people into under our tent. And I think the product will speak for itself, but we have to be really really intentional with that, and I think we have to invest in it. I will say. The other thing is getting partners to help us with that, and I think that you know, one example would be

the KPMG Performance Insight program. You know, when when we invest in the in the performance insights and the and the data, we can start to tell our story and start to say, you know, hey, this is what the women were doing on the tour last year and this is how it compares to what the men were doing. And you know, we're exceeding um some of their numbers in a lot of categories. You know, the proximity to the whole from various distances. Um Minji Lee was leading

the world, not just the women's meaning. If you look at the way that Lydia Co played last year, if you look at her bowl striking, if you look at as you mentioned Minji, I mean, they're doing things that no one else in golf. He's doing the way that their performing. I thought a great moment from last week Molly was in her interview Nellie Corda. I mean she played the p n C with her dad and a bunch of the guys were saying, you know, justin Thomas

Jordan Smith. They were all saying, she's got the best golf swing, you know, in the world, and I thought it was great. Nelly said, well, you know, they should come to more lazy mons because I spent last year.

I went to the Women's US Open down at Pinehurst, and I got to the Raine early because there's so many girls that I've seen on TV, but I haven't had the opportunity to actually see their golf swings up close in in person, and as a golf instructor and as a golf swing nerd to actually just be able to stand on the driving roid. So the first time I'd really seen Nellie Corda hit golf balls in person,

and I got there about a half hour earlier. Before you know, Marine Alex did what I was working with, and I just sat and watched um Nellie hit balls. And she she has one of, if not the best technically sound golf swing in the world. And and when you play and you you go out in practice rounds with these women, I mean, first of all, they hit

the golf ball so unbelievably straight. It's it's hard to fathom because the guys, the guys hit it all over the place, right, because they're hitting it with much more speed. But when you look at the quality of the product, do you think sometimes, Molly, that you're a little bit behind the eight ball because everything is compared to what's happening on the p g A Tour right from the way they run it, from their sponsorship, from the brands

associated with it, from the television contracts that they have. Um, It's it's almost like it's not a fair comparison. It's not apples to apples. It would seem it would be because you're both in the competitive professional golf space. But trying to compare to what you all are trying to do on the LPJ versus what J and the boys at Pontovidra are trying to do with the PGA Tour,

they're two completely different things. Yeah, I mean, and that's what you know, that's a little bit what I was talking about before with the with the chicken and egg you know, I mean, you you have a set amount of resources that you can use to to activate and are you know, be for many structural reasons. You know, most of it stems from TV deals, right and media deals and kind of how the revenue flows in there.

And so you're you're you just don't have the same set of resources to use to put on the same type of product. But we're we're thinking of this as an opportunity to to keep growing and to keep doing things differently, and we still have a lot of room to go. I mean, if you think about, um, how interesting the product is and how some people just don't yet know about it and haven't quite engaged so we

think there's a huge opportunity there. We think that the talent and the and the data that we're showing will continue to grow that. Um but yeah, it is. It is apples to oranges, and so we've got to make sure that we do everything we can do within our power, and we use our partners, we drive revenues in different ways, we continue to be creative, we continue to to to give different opportunities for new fans to come on. And uh, I think we'll get there. I mean, we are growing.

We're also working with you know, a lot of the industry to sort of help grow and and and to to use resources from around the you know, from around what they've been doing. So yeah, I do see that as a different we'd apples and oranges, But I think we're making really good progress. And um yeah, I did love to what Nellie said. It's like, this isn't a surprise.

And I also like what she said is you know, come in and you'll see a whole whole lot of women who's playing the club really really well and who are phenomenal athletes and phenomenal players. Nellie obviously being one of the biggest stars on the LPGA Tour and and and in my opinion, one of the best players on on on in professional golf, regardless of whether it's men's

or women's. How important do you think um Nellie getting um new sponsors, big massive sponsors, Nike coming in and looking at Nellie who plays on the LPGA Tour and saying, listen, we want to have her as one of our athletes. Taylor made one of the biggest club companies in the game. We want to have her as part of our brand. Do you think that's hopefully going to be a catalyst for more of the golf manufacturers and the golf companies

saying okay, let's invest in these great players. Yeah. And I think also just other brands, not just the manufacturers, but I think others seeing you know, the the value of these ambassadors. And if you think about it, you know, the numbers have grown really high, UM from prize earnings for our players. You know, we had twenty seven players make over a million dollars last year UM, which is which is great, and a couple more over the two million dollar mark and the three million dollar mark. So

that's all growing. But I think that some big dollars like in tennis really comes from the endorsement deals that they have, So we want to we want to put our players out there so the world sees the value of them as as really strong corporate ambassadors as well. So we we think that that's a big opportunity and we think that they should be showcased in that way. I mean, these are athletes playing the hardest sport in the world, under the most sort of intense pressure situations

and performing like none others. So yeah, I mean, I think it's a big Some of the big announcements over the last couple of weeks have been really good for the LPGA, obviously really good for our players, but we see that as a big growth opportunity for the top of the leader board as well. We'll continue to grow purses, will continue to grow their earnings UM, but we also think that they can take a really big leap up

in the endorsement dollars that they bring in. We talked last week on the range at like not to UM. You know, you were saying that you were really proud of the fact that there were so many women that had made over a million dollars UM in prize money last year. The payum, the pay gap between what the men are making and the women. I mean, how do how do you as an organization go about trying to bring that gap closer together and have more players on

the LPGA tour. Because it's interesting when I when I do talk to some of the girls on the LPGA to the difference in their lives versus what they can afford to do off the golf course. I'll give you a great example. Um, there are girls that come up and and take lessons from me and they said, listen, can I get on a launch monitor? And I'm like,

you don't have a launch monitor? And they're like no, they're they're thirty grand I can't afford that, um, Whereas pretty much the majority of the guys on the PGA tour, everybody's got a thirty launch monitor. That's an easy thing. You see that on the PGA tour as a way that you have to have something a product like that to try and get better. But that's hard for a lot of of of the women on the LPJ That's that's a big investment for them to make relative to

how much they're earning. Yeah. I mean again, it goes

back to a little bit. I hate to use that phrase though, but the chicken and egg when when you don't have that technology or you don't have that team around the team that can elevate your game, then you're one step behind when you reach the first tea and so and even things like travel, you know when yours when you're first of all, we're traveling all over the world, which is a really great thing for us, but it's it's hard on the body, it's hard on recovery, it's

it's hard on all of those things. And when you're you know, doing all of your own travel planning or where you're not flying privately and you're you know, having to be on long flights and and you need that ability to to get your body ready to compete. And so those are all things that we're working on. What are ways that we can get partners to help reduce expenses. Think about how we you know, we have some minimum payouts for some events, so you because don't don't forget

when you get to an event. You may spend all this money and you get there and you don't make the cut, and you come home without any revenue, and you now have a decent amount of cash that you've outlet to be there. So we're we're thinking really holistically about the player experience, both from what's the environment at the tournament site, what's the environment that they had before they got to the tournament site, and then how do we help them make a living. I always say that's

commensurate with their with their world class talent. I mean, the differences are pretty intense, you know. I said that we had twenty seven We had twenty seven people make over a million dollars last year on the PG Tour. I think they had a hundred and twenty seven players make over a million dollars um. That's a big difference. The hundred best player on the LPGA last year made a hundred and sixty seven thousand dollars and earnings, and

it probably cost her that amount to be out there. So, you know, that's a really tangible goal for us to say that the hundred best player in the world should make a living playing golf. I mean, that's a that's something that has to change, um. And yes, we're doing much better at the top, and we want to continue to to pay our stars. When when there are stars and when they're winning at that level, they should also make money that's commensurate with that really world class talent.

But hundred best players, the hundred best players in the world should make more than they spent, you know, significantly more than they spent. So we're looking at all of the ways that we can do that, obviously raising prize funds and and being able to to grow our corporate sponsorship business where we can invest and subsidize and kind of grow those term and that's the most important thing we do, but there's other ways to do it too. Short term that that we're focused on. Let's take a

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com slash podcast. Your predecissor Michaelan who's now at the U s g A UM I read that you asked him for hit some advice and he said, the tournaments are the most important thing. Have a relentless pursuit of trying to get the best tournament opportunities for the players. UM. In three, where everybody is trying to get corporate dollars. UM the usps that that the LPGA has for you when you go out to try and sell that to

corporate sponsors. Um, what is that message that you're trying to to to get across and and bring them into the world of of the LPGA. Well, I think there's a couple of things. We I think we have some significant, you know, competitive advantages in that area. Obviously we've got the best in the world, and that sponsors and and everyone wants to align themselves with the best in the world. We so there's there's real commercial upside and golf, right,

I mean, there's tremendous hospitality opportunities. We are on television with great branding opportunities. So there's a great business case for in aging with the LPGA, and that continues to grow as we get more fans and as we grow our audience, and as we grow the talent and the player's talent continues to grow. There's that real strong commercial value that they're getting out of engaging with us. But in addition, they're helping us solve a really important problem.

You know, they're they're really getting to show the world that they care about equity, they care about women's sports, they care about highlighting and empowering women who are doing something really hard. So I think we're really positioned very well, and our our partners are really responding to that. A lot of them have said, listen, we we love the business value of this, and we're super excited about that

because we think it's moving our business forward. But we also love that we get to say to our female employees or to our customers, we care about women, and we care about equity, and in sports, you know, pay equity is one of the last places where women are not paid properly. Where in corporate America could you say, hey, listen, I know you're really good at your job, but you're gonna make five percent a ten percent of what Joe

is gonna make. UM, because you know that that's where you are in life, and so we want to change that. And I think our partners want to change that, and they want to help us solve that problem. So it's a really best case scenario in my mind. It's like, listen, you get these great benefits of being an LPG partner, a traditional sponsorship benefits and partnership benefits, but we also help us solve a really important challenge and you get to really talk about your values to your customers, to

your employees, to the world. One of the things that you and I spoke about um last week. UM, I know you're incredibly excited about some of the venues and some of the courses that the LPGA is going to play, not only on the LPG, but also if you look at what your major championships, the venues that they're starting to go to, those are going to be some of the great venues. Some of the great iconic golf courses in the United States that people that follow maybe the

PGA too, or have seen other tournaments playoff. Um, the US Open this summer at Pebble Beach. I think that's going to be a fantastic showcase, um for the women's game. Yeah, I mean you we talked about it. I mean just the Pebble obviously, Bolta's Rale, Liberty National, Well Heath. I mean, it's just that the list goes on and on. I mean, we're we're UM and then we've what we've always played at some great golf courses that are regulars on our on our tour, but um, you know, to be able

to showcase their talent at venues the people know it. Again, I think a big part of this is saying, listen, we value your talent, we value your skill, we value how good you are at this really hard game, and we're going to have you play at the very best venues in the world. And and that's what we're doing. And I think it makes a gigantic difference, and UM, our players are really excited about it. I mean when I when I sit and have dinner with some of

the players, you know, these are athletes. This is their their forum, this is their career. They care about the golf course, they care about the details of the game. Their nerds, they're they're they're golf nerds, and they that's their whole venue, that's their that's their work environment. So it matters when they roll to a golf course. You know where they're playing and what it feels like, and how people value and respect you know those venues. So we've got a lot of great ones on the schedule

and we're excited about it. How do you balance, Molly um the tours role and the player's role Because I've always been on the players side of thing. I mean, obviously I was never a player, but I've always worked for professional golfers, professional athletes, and so it's easy when you're in on my side of the fence. My lens is listen. Without the players, there is no tour, regardless

of which tour it is. But then coming from your standpoint, you're like, okay, well we're providing you this opportunity, So how do you you find that balance between what the tour listening to what you have to do from the LPGA standpoint and growing what the LPG is doing, but also understanding and listening to what the players want as well. Well. I mean, I don't think that they're separate. I mean I think that they're actually the same. And one of the things I really love about this job is that

our job is to serve the membership. I mean, at the end of the day, we wake up every day trying to make the LPGA better, which in turn really is to make the players experience better, to make their lives better, to give them more opportunity. So obviously there's times when what the full organization needs might not be exactly what one individual needs on the tour, but ultimately what we're trying to do is elevate their experience. So

I don't see them as separate. I think sometimes, you know, people disagree on the way to get to the end result, but at the end of the day, we're all working towards the same thing, and this is essentially this is their tour. That's the way the founders set it up. It's a membership organization. Um, we want to do what

they want us to do. At the at the same time, they don't always have the full perspective, right, they don't understand the ends and the outs of selling sponsorships and partnerships and and growing the business, and it's it's certainly challenging, but they're really I think they believe that it's their tour and that they have a voice and all of that. We have, you know, player directors on our board. We very much value and listen to what they have to say.

We hear their input. We try to get as much input input from players as we possibly can, because ultimately we're all in this for the same purpose. You know. That's one of the great things about this job is we're not we're not serving an owner, you know, I always think about that in professional sports, we're serving the membership. UM. In some professional sports you obviously have the team owner,

you've got the league, and you've got various levels. Here, we work directly with the players to grow the organization for for them. How important has the international presence, in your opinion, been to the growth and the development of the LPG. I mean, if you look at the amount of players coming from the LPGA tour in the last ten years from Asia, UM, I think we're starting to see a little bit more of that in the men's game.

I mean, everybody's you're raving about Tom Kim, who Korean came from the Asian Tour now playing on the PGA Tour and we're starting to see more of the Korean men start to come from. Where that's been going on in the LPGA for you know, the last ten fifteen years. Do you feel like the growth of different markets, he's been a big part of the LPGA's growth as an organization. Yeah. I mean, first of all, I got to play with Tom Kim by the way out in out in Vegas.

We had a great time. I played nine holes with him, and then I played nine holes with with Freddie Couples, So it was quite quite a day for me. Um and he was phenomenal. But no, I think like, listen to your your market is the world so and and it's the other thing that's different than other professional sports

leagues if you think about it. Um as the commissioner of the LPGA or the p G A when you when you wake up, you don't have someone handing you a schedule and saying, okay, this is you're gonna play Dallas this week, and you're gonna play um you know you're gonna play Florida this week and this is how this is gonna go, and then you figure out all the other pieces of the business. Our main thing, as you said before, is how do we create that schedule?

And that's really hard, you know to find the right partners and the right venues at the right with the right purses and so um. You know, when your world is bigger, when the market is bigger, and when you can hit you know, you can find the top sponsor in Korea, that gives you another playing opportunity over there, That gives you another opportunity in Japan, that gives you an opportunity in Scotland. It gives us an opportunity to to have as many tournaments as we can possibly have.

That makes sense for you know, for the schedule. So I think it helps with just the size of the market and the size of the interest around the world, um, the size of the fan base. It also helps with you know, international television rights. That's a big revenue driver for us and and so you know there's interest and I think we're in a hundred and seventy different markets that we were televised in, so that drives revenue for us, really really valuable revenue that we can reinvest in the tour.

So I do think that the you know, in embracing the global nature of our tour has been really good for us. And um, you know again we're back to the best players in the world competing on the LPGA. You think we'll get to a point to where so uh to me an interesting example, So I worked with see W. Kim for about three years and see what just got married and his wife played on the Ladies um Tour in Korea and she one tournaments and stuff

like that. And the running joke from sea who is she makes way more money and endorsements than I do because golf, women's golf and Korea is so big, right, is such a huge I mean when you look at the tournaments that get televised, Um, when the women go over and they play in Asia, there's certainly more people at those events then there are when the men go play on the Asian Tour or when the men go. Um, how do we get to a point where that, like

you said, that pay equality. Um, they're superstars in Korea and in the US they're not. Yeah. Well, I think that's just another another example of if if they see it, if people actually get to know it, and people engage with it. It's very a p link. It's the very

appealing product. I mean when I went to Korea, like you said, I was blown away as I was remember just driving out of the course and I was like, I don't know what the numbers were, but it was fifty sixty seventy thousand people there that day and I think it was the Thursday um and and there are fan clubs all dressed up in different colors for their favorite players, and there was just so much excitement. I think that's extremely possible here in the US and in

Europe and in various places. So just to me, it gives me hope and opportunity to say this, this game, these players are super appealing, and you know, we're going to continue to grow it in all markets. There's always going to be a segment of the US population to where if they're not American players, they're going to say, listen, I'm not. I think tennis is going through that a lot where there haven't been this amazing group of American tennis players, both uh certainly on the men's side, and

then people say listen, we don't. We don't watch a lot because there aren't Americans playing? How do you guys balance that? Because I think some of the best stars you have are are not Americans. And I think that's one of the strongest things that the LPGA has that you have all of these unbelievable stores that aren't from the US and it makes the product more unique and more interesting just by the fact that you've got these people that have come from completely different backgrounds and they

speak different languages. Um. I think that's one of the strong suits. Yeah. I mean the world is trying to be more global now, right. I mean if you look at all the other professional leagues, UM, they're really trying to brand the US based. Um, top professional sports leagues are all trying to branch out internationally. We've been doing it for a long time, so um, we just have to keep recognizing that. But I mean, like you said, look at some of the stars on our tour, they're

they're not Americans. I mean, we have many amazing Americans and we're really we're proud of them and we continue to to elevate what they do. But Lydia, I mean, who who could be more appealing than Lydia co right, I mean from a worldwide superstar. She has everything from the personality to the gratitude to the I mean not to mention the most amazing golf game. So I think she's been fantastic for the LPGA, and she's just spans so many different audiences. I mean, look at Brooke winning

this weekend. I met a guy at the tournament who's I'm not going to get the numbers right, but he follows her around. She he's from Upstate New York, He's an American. He follows her around. He's become like super fan, and um, you know, just because he's so engaged by her and the person that she is and the talent that she has. And there's a lot of that. So I think we're an inspiration in an example of what a real global, you know, tour can look like. And

I certainly think that's a competitive advantage for us. The Solheim Cup is a huge part of of what happens in women's golf. Um it's the equivalent of the Wryter Cup. But with so many players coming from Asia, um, is there a way that you think that we could get more team involvement with all of the various teams. Team

from Asia, team from Europe team from the US. Um, do you think that's something that could could could happen in the future to make it a real competition between the best women's golfers, not just the best team concept from the women in the US and the women in Europe. Well, we have you know, we're we brought the International Crown that life plus you know International Crown, which I'm really excited about. We changed that's a great that's a really

good event. It's a great event, and and you know we're we changed the format around. I heard that there was a little bit of sort of confusion on Sundays and our team kind of, um, change things up a little bit for Sunday. So it's gonna be a phenomenal competition. And um, you know we already know which teams are in it, but we don't know which athletes are are are going to be a selected per team, and um,

that'll be a really interesting competition. But again you know, Lydia and Brooke are not in it, which again too just because they don't have the the they hadn't qualify their the Canada and New Zealand didn't qualify. So but we gotta figure out a way to get them playing in that event too, right, I mean, just because those guys are amazing. So I think that's a great competition. And I know that I've never seen it. Obviously they we used to play that event, and from what everyone's

told me, it was really popular. There was tremendous energy out on the course, great affinity towards their country team, Golfs Fund and so yeah, so I think that's a great opportunity. The Olympics are obviously a really great opportunity to showcase the various talents from around the world. But yeah, more of that is exciting and and um, you know, we'll keep being creative. Um. Obviously in three the professional golf landscape, um, you know, across the board has has

really shifted in the last couple of years. What what lives done on the PGA Tour, um and and that kind of constant battle. But the LPGA UM, the the European Tour, the Ladies European Tour, they have the ARAMCO series. UM. I think it's been interesting that that you that you as an organization have taken an opposite attack to what the PGA Tour has done to where your let Lydia Co is going to go play in Saudi Arabia, that tournament is going to have the exact same purse as

the men. We talked about trying to bring that pay equality down. How do you as an organization balance just the all the craziness that's going on in professional golf right now. Yeah, I mean, I think obviously, like you said, we're in a we're in a very different situation. Um. But with the with the events on the l A t you know, we have a set of rules and regulations that allow our players to play, you know, again within the confines of our rules, to play on different tours, um.

You know, in a limited way. They have to get releases if it's happening at the same time as one of our events, and we balance that with our with our partners to make sure that we're still providing them with the very best you know players, and we're it's just a constant battle of that. But we do want players to be able to go play in their home country and to be able to grow the game. Um. And we we think, you know, sort of a connected

golf community is important. And you know, we had a number of women play on the uh the Women's Australian Open in December, and I know from speaking to them they had a great experience there. So it has to

obviously all be balanced. We are the leader and women's golf, and we you know, plan to continue to be the leader in women's golf and to have the very best players play on our tour, but we also want to provide some flexibility when it makes sense for them and when you know, they want to go play at different places. We we can do that within the confines of our rules and regulations, and so we're trying to be flexible where we can. There your relationship with j Monahan, Um,

you know who runs the PJA tour. How much of an asset is is having that relationship and being able to have that open communication with J and say listen, um, this is what we're trying to do. UM. Let me pick your I mean, do you have that kind of relationship where you talk to Jay and say listen, UM, let me run this idea by you. We're we're thinking

about maybe doing this. We're thinking about maybe going in that direction, um, because obviously, with with the leadership that that J has had to get the p g A to or where it is UM, he must be a huge, huge resource for you. Absolutely. I mean Jay has been phenomenal from I mean I think he he called me the day that I was announced as the commissioner, and UM, you know, he's one of the first phone calls coming

in to say congratulations and to offer his assistance. And UM, you know, I definitely have learned a ton from from him and from his experience. And he's been very you know, very very willing to UM not only just to talk, but to share information and to share knowledge and to to help the LPGA. I think the golf community really sees the value of the LPGA and they see the

value of of helping us. I mean that we've gotten assistance from you know, Augustina National has been unbelievable and helping with you know, introducing us to partners and being

supportive of what we do. Obviously the R and A with the UM, what they've done with the A I G. Women's Open has been phenomenal and the way they've really pushed on equity there raising purses the PGA of America, you know seth Wa and and his commitment with the KPMG UM you know, PGA Women's championship is really important, and his commitment to to the women's game, UM, you know, and obviously having Mike at the U s g A,

I mean, that's that's amazing for women's golf. And he has a whole different lens on what to do to grow women's golf through the U s g AS platform. UM, you know, we so so I think that the golf community sees, first of all how important it is for the women's game to grow just more broadly, um, but also wants to help. They want us to get closer to equity, and they want us to to succeed. And so that's been great and we're really appreciative of what

everyone does for the LPGA. You mentioned Mike Juan, who had the role before you did one of some of the things that that when you look back at his tenure at the LPGA, that you look back on and say, you know, that was that was a really really cool thing that he did. That was a really I mean, he really set this up for me to now help

this grow. When you look at kind of his tenure, what are the things that you take away from that, um, that are that are hugely positive not only for you but what you think his role has been in moving the women's game forward. Yeah. Well, first of all, Mike's like a he's a visionary, you know, he's an idea guy. He's very winning, you know, he people want to follow him.

I mean, he's he's been. He was awesome for the LPGA, and I think he had a real plan and he implemented the plan and he got the organization to the point where we now have. You know, we don't have PGA resources. We still need to grow revenues in every area. We've got to change some structures around. We've got to do a number of things to be able to to be able to invest in in you know, whether it's subsidizing purses, whether it's you know, sort of having other

programs for players for for their own performance. There's lots of areas that we still need to grow. But he set us up for that six s, you know. And again, as you mentioned earlier in the conversation, he really focused on the tournaments, which is what we have to do. Right. The first thing is what is the product that we're putting out there for our players to play in and

for the fans to engage with. So he really focused on that he focused on really good communication with the players and um, so I think he set us up for the next step. And what he likes to say is, you know, listen, everybody has the baton for a little while and then they passed the baton. And you know, obviously our our team, our leadership team, has the baton now, and um, we're trying to advance it to the next level.

It's all it's all linear, you know, hopefully it's it's linear and and it's it's very the upward trajectory is palpable, um, and we've been able to benefit from that. But I think our job is to say, Okay, what are the next big moments. How do we drive sort of revenues in different ways based on the technology, based on the sponsor interest to be able to reinvest in the in

the tour. But yeah, I mean again, Mike, just like like I said, with j and And and Martin and Seth they he you know, I called him two days ago, Hey what do you think of this? You know, what do you what do you what do you see us doing next? And so it's very much of a partnership and I feel that, and I felt that for a minute one with the whole golf community. So, WELLI where do you want the LPGA to be in five years?

I mean, what in a perfect world, if you could say, okay, in five years, we would have been able to do some of these things. I mean, obviously you can't. You

can't predict the future. You don't know what's going to happen globally, But the idea of where you want the the LPGA to be in five years, how would in your vision um if you could kind of go through your whish list, what would be some things in in five years that are different about the LPGA where it is today versus where you hope it could be in five years time. Well, I mean again, I think it

does start and end with the tournaments. I think we've got to we've got to make that tournament schedule be a little easier for the players to manage, to kind of line it all up a little better than I mean, it's it's pretty darn good this year, but there's a little back and forth that we've got to kind of work on and continuing to elevate all of the events and do that at the right time with the right partners,

you know. I think again, we're super grateful for all the partners that we currently have, and they all want to grow and and continue to to offer more opportunities to the players. But I think really nailing down what that schedule looks like and hearing from the players, like what's the off season look like, what's the you know,

when does the season start, when does it end? What's is the mix of tournaments in terms of, you know, the full field events versus some of these specialty events where we get more eyeballs, or the tent pole events where we get more eyeballs into the game like a Solheim Cup or an International Crown, or some of these unique match the Bank of Hope match play where where it's people are watching and bringing in new fans. But then how do we balance that with the full field events.

So I think it starts and ends there with getting that schedule that everybody gets the schedule and they go this is awesome, like this is amazing events at best golf courses with with really high purses that continue to grow. And then I think the result of that is maybe that's you know, part of the result rather than the process. But as I said before that the first of all to start with the hundred best players in the world. The hundred best players in the world make a living

that's reasonable and that's commensurate with their talent. Right now, we're not there, so we really need to fix that. I think we want to be more relevant in the sports community. Right We want people to know the LPGA players. People should know who Nellie Corta is. Everybody should know who Lydia Co is, who Lexi Thompson is. I can go down the list, Minji Lea, Tia Tinnico. You know,

people should know. Those should be household names. And so I want to make sure that those are household names as well as you know, so many others Jim Young, co and Brooke. I mean, you know, the people should say oh, just like they do with Serena Williams. You know, we we need people to be a bit to have our players be a bit more relevant in the in the global sports landscape. Um. And so we've got a

strategy and we're working on that. And you know, I would also like our players to to feel, like I said before, they arrive on that first team ready to compete at the very highest level of their ability, and so to reduce some of the the hardship of being out on the LPGA. So those are some big goals. Um, And I think we'll get there. I mean, I think we're close, and we've got work to do, but I

really do think we'll get there. Lastly, Molly, Um, what do you hope the ten year old girl that went to Lake Nona with her parents over the weekend and got to walk around and and and see the girls on the LPGA um play over over last week? What do you hope is is is to take away from

that for her? Because we hear so many times, you know, guys that that you see winning on the PGA Tour and there's a picture of them get you know John rom Getting getting Henrik Stenson's autograph when he was a kid at Valderrama, Right, I mean, what do you hope is to take away for the young for the young girls that were at the LPGA last week? Um, and and and and and how do you think that experience can can help them move, you know forward in the

in their golfing careers. Yeah, I mean, listen, part of what we do is we are you know, we we think that we have this huge opportunity to be a latform to elevate opportunities for girls and women not just on the golf course, but off the golf course too. So I hope that young young athletes and young girls see golf as a great opportunity for them to make an amazing living as an athlete and being valued for

their talent. But I also hope that they inspire girls just generally to be empowered and to know that they can do hard things, and they can be resilient, and they can be respected um at the highest level of things that they maybe traditionally haven't been UM front and center on. So I think that's a gigantic opportunity. We're a women's organization. We're promoting girls and women with everything

we do, and we're kind of intentional with that. So, you know, I, as a young young girl watch the LPGA, and my parents didn't play golf. They weren't we weren't a golf family. But that's what I saw on TV. So I said, I want to do that. You know, how do I get to the public golf course and and and play like uh, you know, Nancy Lopez, or play like um, you know Meg Mallon and Beth Daniel

and Cathy Whitworth. You know, these were people that I was, um, you know, just followed all the time because I said, oh, women can be athletes and they can make a living doing this. So I'm really excited about that. And I think that, um, you know this week for example, last week when they're playing next to the men, and people were much more engaged in what the women were doing because they were the truly the best in the world.

So again, that platform is really important for us. And the LPGA has been doing it for seventy two years. We've been doing hard things for seventy two years. And um, think about that, I mean twenty two years before title nine. The l p g A was founded by some incredible women and people have made a women have made a living playing golf for seventy two years. But now we've got to have them make a living. That's more, you know,

in line with with that world class talent. But it's fun being out there and seeing those little girls and you know, this club, but like who are better than our players with engaging with fans. I mean, Lexie Thompson is unbelievable. She'll she'll sign every autograph, she'll you know, lighten up the day of Lydia, the same thing, Minji. You know, the list goes on and on. Um Brooke is phenomenal at that. So these are ambassadors, ambassadors for women,

ambassadors for the game. They do a great job in the pro am as you know, I mean, UM, it was really fun to hear Taylor uh Twellman talk about how great um Maria and Selene. I think it was we played with who He said, if my daughters can be half the women that these women are, UM, I've done it. I'll have done a great job as a parent. So those are the things we're trying to do. I love that about this job. I love that about our players, and we have a platform and we've got to use it. Well.

Last week was a great success. I had a blast there and congrats. I'm excited to see what holds for the LPGA tour. Um, keep keep fighting the good fight. I think you're doing a great job and UM, I'm excited to see where things go. Well, thanks for caring and thanks for talking um so you know passionately about

what we do. I listened to your podcast with Ashley Boo Hi, which I loved, I mean, and it was great that you'd watched that whole you know, her whole back nine and that tremendous playoff, and she's just she's lovely. I mean, all the women on the tour really do love the lpg A and they they love the opportunity they have to to change the world. Well, we'll hope to see out there soon and keep up the good work. Okay, thanks a lot. So that was a really really good

talk with Molly Hooton. And as the commission of the ALPG Tour, listen, she's got a tough job, but I think she's she's doing a great job. And um, I think the LPGA is going from strength to strength. There are some unbelievable golfers on that tour, some of the best golf swings on the planet, um, in my opinion. So I hope everybody enjoyed that. That's kind of the goal of the podcast to try and bring more voices from all different kind of aspects of this crazy game.

And uh, who better to talk about the women's game than Molly, So I want to thank her for doing that. Um, had a great time at the lpg event last week. UM, it's always fun to I've spent so much time as a part of the men's game, and it's always really cool to to go UM to a women's event and see the products, see you know, the type of players and and and as I said in the pod, it's a great opportunity for me to go see uh some players up close that you know that I don't get

an opportunity to see all the time. So I want to thank everyone for listening and some of a buch comes to you every Wednesday. We will see everyone next week.