Mike Whan happy with LPGA Tour's progress
Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Commissioner Mike Whan is clearly more than happy with the way things are going on the Tour, as he has said that it is amazing to see the number of professional tournaments growing and new players joining the field every year.
Whan was speaking to the media amid the hype of looming battle at Kingsmill Championship 2012, set to start from September 6-9, at Williamsburg, Kingsmill Resort, River Course, Virginia.
Although the Kingsmill Championship is not new as it had been played under different names before —but the 2012 edition is going t o be the first with the new title — Kingsmill Championship.
Whan, who has played a pivotal role in reviving the LPGA Tour—after it faced issues like sponsorship and fan following, is happier than any other official to see how the Tour has been able to attract plenty of new players despite some of the big names calling it quits.
The LPGA Commissioner was asked a string of questions about the competitiveness of the Tour and its tournaments. With some of the key players like Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam retiring from their professional career after only six months Whan had taken over, critics started questioning the sudden exit of fan-favourite players.
Whan, who has helped the Tour expand to regions as far as Taiwan and North Korea in recent months, did not appear fazed by the exit of some of LPGA’s big names. He said that as long as the Tour keeps churning out good players, things will go on smoothly.
He said that he was a bit shocked after Ochoa retired as he admired her so much. “I'm sure my reaction wasn't commissioner-like at all," Whan said of her announcement. "My reaction was purely fan-based, which is, 'I can't imagine the LPGA right now without you.' Then we started talking about Brett Favre and (how) coming back from retirement in America is certainly doable".
Whan went on to say that it should not make anyone wonder who is going to fill the void after the retirement of fan-favourite players. “What's true about sports is, when somebody hands the baton off, it gets picked up a lot faster than anybody thought it would”.
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