Ohio Golf Journal May 2020

The Solheim Cup started before Whan’s tenure, but under his leadership it has become one of the largest and most anticipated sporting events in the world. Under his leadership the biennial UL International Crown was created. It pits four-man teams from the top eight countries in the world in match play team competition. The UL International Crown, along with golf being admitted into the Olympics in 2016, has greatly stimulated the interest in women’s golf in other countries around the world. Along with these new opportunities for LPGA members, the LPGA Founders Cup, which honors the legacy of the tour’s original 13 founders, was developed under Whan’s leadership. The Race to the CME Globe, a season-long points race, debuted in 2014 and created an additional $1 million prize for the overall points leader, plus The Evian Championship has become the fifth major giving women’s golf ye,t another big stage on which to shine. Last fall the LPGA announced the 2020 LPGA Tour schedule would include, 33 events with a total purse of over $70 million that would compete on 11 continents. Seven events would be aired on network television, broadcast to 225 countries, giving the tour the most hours of network televised action in tour history. In addition, the 2020 Olympics and the UL International Crown would bring even more attention to women’s golf. It is a huge disappointment that many of those events are now lost for this year, but hopefully the tour will return to normal in 2021. Because the LPGA Tour plays several events in Asia at the beginning of the year, Whan was very much aware of what was happening in China by January. He was the first sports administrator to react to the COVID-19 pandemic. Citing the need to, first and foremost, keep the players safe, the LPGA reluctantly cancelled three tournaments scheduled in Thailand, Singapore and China. Ohio Golf Journal