Barbara Humpton, Chair of The Economic Club’s Global Intiative & President and CEO of Siemens USA, interviewed Mollie Marcoux Samaan, Commissioner of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) on March 25, 2024.
What a joy and a privilege today to host Molly Marco San right here in Washington DC getting ready for the upcoming solheim cup and I know we’re going to get into all of that and I know you’re going to have questions at the end of
Our session but what I want to do is spend a little bit of time getting some context from Molly about golf in general did you know that between 20 20 and 2022 800,000 women picked up the game of golf this is incredibly popular we’re going to delve into a lot of things
About how how does this look from the inside and the LPG we’re going to learn a little bit about Molly as well you heard from David about Stellar Stellar background we’ll have a chance to ask a few more questions and then I do want to
Delve into the solheim cup so all of us get a good picture of how we can get engaged but but let’s start let’s start with the big picture the LPGA and Molly serves as commissioner and you have for the last two and a half years uh the LPGA is a large and growing
Organization that’s been in business for 75 years recently announced a major um recently actually built out your U partnership with CME Group we’ve been hearing on the men’s side about live and other things how important are Partnerships to the sport overall and and tell us about where you’re taking
Partnerships in the LPGA yeah I mean I think partnership first of all thank you guys for being here this is an awesome crowd I love how tight it is and how much fun you guys have so really thrilled to be here uh today I think Partnerships really are everything to
The LPGA I mean we the interesting part of the organization is that we are a Missi driven um membership organization with a very clear Mission but we have to be really commercially viable in order to be able to hit that mission so in my career I’ve worked in sports on the very
Much for-profit side and then as the athletic director at Princeton in the very much Mission driven education through Athletics with a clear Focus this is really a combination of that we are very uh passionate about our mission and our mission is to be the global leader in women’s golf and then to
Really intentionally use our platform to Elevate Empower and Advance opportunities for girls and women on and off the golf course so we sort of start with all of our Partnerships with that mission and I think we we look at a couple things you know how will any type
Of partnership allow us to reach that mission um you know can we make sure that that sport remains very much unfractured you know in the men’s game there’s a little bit of a fracture right now our real goal is to keep the the collaborative Global Golf all working
Together and leading to have the best on best compete on the lpj tour which is really what we’re doing um and you know we’re very much focused on listening to opportunities for our membership so when we go out to to talk to Brands and we have a number of amazing Partners in
This audience today we sort of say can that partnership can we help them Elevate their brand can we help Elevate our mission and how do we come together to accomplish that I think the beauty and I think many of the people in this room and really our top Partners right
Now they’re saying like we we really see the commercial value of this investment so we’re getting exposure people are hearing about our brand we’re talking about our company with a with a pretty big platform but probably equally importantly we get to really talk about our values we get to talk about our
Support of women women’s leadership women’s empowerment we get to help Inspire that next generation of young girls to see that if you can make it in sports and we can get to some version of equity you can kind of do anything in the world so you you mentioned the CME
Partnership that’s one of many and I think this year you know the women at the end of the season will be playing for $ 11 million which is the second highest uh purse on the LPGA Tour but I think most importantly first prize is $4 million and we only can do that because
It’s the culmination of the whole season so it’s a little bit different so one woman this year will walk away with $4 million which is the the biggest prize in the history of women’s sports so that’s exciting um but everything throughout the season builds towards that we have some amazing events that
Happen throughout the course of the season and only the top 60 players make it to the end but that’s just one example of a CEO and a corporation that said I love the exposure I get but I’m really I I I really feel strongly that I
Got to push towards Equity oh that yeah so all right so partnership matters and here we are 75 years into the history of the LPGA and here we it’s women’s history month and so it’s a perfect time to talk about parody in sports I mean this has been a month when we’ve seen
Caitlyn Clark take Pete maravich’s record right we’ve seen Cole Brower I how many of you all watched the fact that there was a solo woman who sailed around the world competing against men finished you know right at the top and and so how oh and last year we
Celebrated 50 years of pay equity in the women’s tennis Association right Billy Jean King and and Bobby rigs the Battle of the Sexes and you know since then uh the US Open offering the same purse to men and women where are we on that journey and and what are you trying to
Do uh from the LPGA perspective yeah I mean still on that journey I mean we’re not even close to to reaching where we we need to get to I mean the lpj as you said before B uh you know was formed in 1950 so we’re going to be celebrating
Our 75th Anniversary so if you really think about women playing sports in 1950 they traveled around the country in a caravan you know putting in the the stakes at the tournaments putting out flyers to get people to attend you know doing clinics writing their own press releases this was you know these women
Believing that in 1950 that they were first of all talented enough entertaining enough to make money playing sports which was really unheard of I mean even women traveling around the country alone at that time was a bit unheard of and these women doing it in this Caravan was quite an interesting
Spectacle but in 1950 babe deeton zaharas who hopefully you’ve all heard of she’s the best athletes of that era in multiple Sports she made $14,000 playing golf which is the equivalent of $175,000 today which in a lot of women’s sports we’re not most athletes are not most female athletes are not making
$175,000 a year so we’re on that journey I think the LPGA we we’ve had a head start um and last year which we’re really proud of our our athletes played for $108 million we had three women make over $3.5 million um which was the first time ever that three women had made over
Three million the year before Lydia Co had actually made $4.5 million playing on the tour that’s just their prize money not including their endorsements um but on the flip side the the 100th best player so we have athletes from all over the world these are the very best
Female golfers the H 100th best player last year made um 187,000 and she probably paid 150 to be out there because they have to pay for their own expenses their flights their hotels so that’s not where we need to be you know the the hundred best athletes
In the world should be able to make a very good living this is literally the hund best you know you we I say in a player meeting sometimes I look out and I see a hundred women sitting there and very rarely do you get the H hundred
Best of anything sitting in one room together so we need to make sure that they can make a living that’s commensurate with their talent we are years ahead of some of the other sports that are now seeing this amazing trajectory women’s soccer valuations I think you’ve probably all seen seen in
The news teams that traded for $2 million three years ago are were just recently sold for over a 100 million 50 70 over hundred million do so I think investors and people are seeing that if you have the right exposure that the talent is amazing of these athletes if
You Market it properly fans are interested and the growth is just sort of endless at this point so we’re we’re on that trajectory purses have grown 70% in the last two years at the LPGA well done thank you we were playing for 70 million in 2021 this year now we
Actually it may have been out in the Press we just announced another big PR uh purse increase at our tournament out in La if it’s not out yet don’t say anything it’s it’s coming in the next we love to make news stage the economic Club of Washington yeah so that purse is
Going from $3 million to 3.75 million and that’s the largest non- major purse on the tour and so I think we had um less than I think we had about five tournaments that were playing for over $3 million uh prior to two years ago and I think we now have 16 tournaments that
That play for over $3 million with all of the majors um obviously we have many KPMG Partners here today one of our very top Partners who has the KPMG women’s PGA Championship one of of our five major championships and they have elevated the sport in numerous ways as a
An official marketing partner and as the title partner of a major but also recently served as our strategic adviser as we built our strategic plan so we like to work with Partners in that way so way to go KP awesome awesome it’s interesting because there’s a lot about Partnerships
There’s a lot about the organization itself there’s a lot to do with um with groups but individuals matter too and this is very much um an an individual sport at times and um and you you cultivating some of the stars now yesterday we saw Nelly Corda actually
Double bogey at the back nine coming into the finish uh everyone was expecting her to be a winner and double bogey to go into a tie and everybody knows you got to go to a playoff then which I mean this is high drama right and do you actually script those
Moments yes yes yes how are you encouraged ing the development of those personalities if you will yeah I mean well Nelly has played three times so far this season and she’s won twice which is pretty remarkable but golf is so unpredictable in Bradenton which was her hometown it was the second Tournament of
The year she was up um she she was behind and she ended up eagling the 17th hole and birding the 18th hole to send Lydia Co to a playoff and then she won in the playoff but yesterday she bogey the 17th and bogie the 18th to go to a
Playoff and then ended up winning in that playoff as well so it’s it’s great drama out there it’s great golf the best players in the world but I think for us and you sort of mentioned it with the with the USA going to equal prize money
Um 50 years ago I think the other big difference in tennis has been that the men and the women play together in those four major championships so they have the same exposure they’re on television at the same time they’re marketed in a similar way so the endorsement deals and
The familiarity of the public with those female tennis players is so much greater than any other sport because they’re given the resources and the platform to shine if you look at the Olympics every year the female athletes that emerge from the Olympics are among the most popular the social media following of
The female athletes at the last Olympics was the top top four three of the top four were females people follow their stories they’re engaged in the individuals and their stories off the court or the ice or um the field so our goal with more resources I mean women’s
Sports has really been about a lack of resources and a lack of exposure not about lack of a great product or great athletes and so our our mission right now as part of our strategic plan that we’ve been building is to really invest in the marketing and exposure of not
Only the tour but of our individual athletes so we’ve just actually signed a deal with a production company called Hanauma who’s Naomi Osaka’s production company to actually build the individual brands of eight athletes which is pretty far aoul from what a membership organization usually does you know some
Of the members when we first announced that we were doing that they were like so you’re taking the membership organization and you’re going to build the brand of just a few select athletes and we said well we can keep doing what we’ve been doing and get the same result
Or we can really decide that the rising Tide’s going to lift all boats so we’re going to help those athletes and the rest of the tour with some training but we’re going to help them build their social media presence we’re going to help them build their brand which we
Think will Elevate all of the athletes on the tour so things like that and we’re we’re digging in on marketing Partnerships we’re hiring companies to help us sell tickets I really believe that it all starts and ends with when you turn on that television there has to
Be a lot of people there it has to feel like it matters the arms are up in the air they’re cheering for Nelly Corda she makes a 20 foot putt to win like those are the moments so we’re really investing in getting fans at our tournaments we’re investing in the
Quality of the broadcast the exposure of our social media and just Marketing in general and we think that’s going to really and tracking the fist pump index the fist pump in that’s a big one I mean I think our women it’s such a cerebral sport you know sports are all about the
Energy people in their arms up in the air and sometimes our athletes you know they win like Allison corpo won the US Open $2 million first first prize and she was like Yay I I was running around you know like my arms up in the air I
Was like she just won $2 million so I think that we’re we were going to do a contest to say you know who had the best fist pump on it you know they get down and get get a little dirty with it but I think um oh we do this in business all
The time don’t we we have to fist pump in the in the you have to set goals but if we transition into solheim we have a solheim fist pump count you know count going there’s more fist pumps in solheim than the entire tour season because there’s so much energy around the team
Competition we’re going to talk about this yeah but before we do I just want this group to get to know you a little bit more Molly imagine two sport athlete at Princeton soccer and field hockey oh ice hockey I’m Excuse me ice hockey got field hockey on brain ice hockey and and
Then going from there to lawrenville school yeah and leading Athletics then going to the Chelsea peers I mean almost two decades with Chelsea peers how fun was that really fun and then ultimately going back to Princeton to lead the women’s Athletics yeah no it’s actually the I was the athletic director of all
The not not just women’s like the whole thing yeah I know that’s what he said but I think that’s a people would sometimes say so you football coach and I would say yeah sure do yeah yeah yeah yeah I love it okay I love it yes and as
David said you were highly accomplished winning a lot a lot but but actually so this this whole thread of Athletics has gone through your life and I I heard another interview with you where you picked up a golf club when you were a tike so I mean what is it about sports
How did soccer and ice hockey become that thing and how did that translate into a career in sports yeah I mean I think like a lot of people Sports were the thing that was just what I love to do at every moment that I knew that you
Could do it and I think my parents you know I wanted to play ice hockey because I got a little flyer in the mail um actually distributed in first grade and I came home and told my mother I was going to play Ice Hockey and she was
Like no you’re not she like girl girls do not play Ice Hockey and I said I’m going to play Ice Hockey and so I had to sort of beg her for a little while and the whole drive down to pick up the used equipment she kept saying how about
Swimming you know how about dance and I’m like no I’m going to play Ice Hockey so I this is just what I wanted to do is play sports and and that’s where I got all my joy and passion but I think it also and that’s why I’m so passionate
About working in sports particularly for young girls is I think that’s where I gained any bit of confidence that I had any sense of competence and and ability to compete in hard settings and you know all the things we know we learn through sports but I think for women it’s really
About that identity and that that confidence that you gain by playing sports which I think is really important so I just that’s what my passion’s always been so I knew that I wanted to work in sports I probably wasn’t going to have a career after college there
Wasn’t a lot of great opportunities at that time either in soccer or ice hockey to continue so I knew my roommates and I all sat around my senior year and said what do you want to be doing in 5 years and 10 years and I just kept saying you
Know a really cool job in sports and then in 10 years a cooler job in sports and then a cooler job in sports so you know that’s kind of what I’ve always wanted this is the power of Imaging right yes have a vision cool job and sports yeah and cool things happen y
That’s fantastic and and I think we’ll come back and learn a little bit more from you about you know sort of leadership in a a situation like this but now I mean Let’s do let’s get into the the solheim cup because what is it that sets the solheim cup apart yeah I
Mean I think when you look at the big sporting events that we all wait for we put on our calendar we you know we sort of plan our life around the weekend we want and we think it is the solheim cup to be something that’s on everyone’s schedule whether you play golf whether
You’re interested in golf because it has all of the components of the things we look for in sports so first of all you have the best in the world competing against each other which is really critical they’re playing for something that really matters this cup is something that they talk about all year
Round and Europe has had the cup for the last several go arounds last year Stacy will always tell you we actually tied uh we had the same number of points but because they had the cup they retained the cup so that’s a little Nuance that
You need to know I’d like to change that because I don’t think you should tie and lose but we’re working towards that but so it has this this some they’re playing for something that really means something we’re playing at a fantastic golf course in a community that loves
Sports and is obviously very committed to it um we have really good television exposure we’re going to be on NBC um on Saturday and Sunday so it has all the ingredients and then it’s a team competition and you’re playing for your country playing for the United States obviously Europe’s playing for for all
Of the countries in Europe but it really means something you’ll talk to our athletes and they’ll say they don’t get paid to play in the solheim cup this is their job but it’s the thing that they want to do most in life is to make the solheim Cup team so the energy the
Excitement from the fans it is like nothing you’ve ever seen seene my first um tournament I went to the KPMG women’s PGA before I started as the commissioner but then I didn’t start until August and solheim was in September of 2021 so I hadn’t you know been to many of the
Tournaments I’d been a fan my whole life but I showed up on the first tea of solheim Cup in Toledo Ohio and it was during covid so it was just the US fans there were there were zero European fans which was kind of nice but it was it was
Um don’t say that you’re not picking Sid you are a global organization but but I am you know I’m an American so but we had this terrific build all the way around the first tea that had thousands of people I think we had 10,000 people around the first tea with this all the
Athletes right right in center everybody looking imagine when it gets really quiet and you’re about to hit a golf ball and you have 10,000 people standing around you I I couldn’t believe that the women could endure that and actually hit the ball some of them want the crowd to
Keep clapping you know golf is always very quiet but some of the US players and the European players will say no keep screaming just keep it consistent because I can’t stand the silence it’s just way too yeah so everyone’s screaming and yelling there’s music playing it’s it’s a quite a scene for a
Golf event um so I was just blown away by someone interviewed Amanda balonis interviewed me on the fresh tea I had just started and she said what’s the the best sporting event that you’ve ever been to and I’ve been to most of them Super Bowl and the World Series and I
Was like I’m pretty sure it’s this you know there was just the energy was incredible and the the Precision that was required of our athletes and the pressure on them so it’s an amazing event it has everything that sports fans want and I think we couldn’t be more
Grateful to be in this market and to have the support of so many amazing companies that have come out to help get fans there but also buy hospitality and and really promote the event well so you’ve got the competition on that happens at the event but before that
There’s the competition of who will host it so the Robert Trent Jones Golf Course in Gainesville was the winner I know you weren’t part of selecting that but you’ll be part of selecting the future what is it that uh as you as you look at folks who as the communities who are
Raising their hands and say we want to host uh what What’s the the play like what what are we looking for yeah yeah I mean I think we’re looking for this I mean we’re looking for the community both the fans the economic Community to really embrace it to Value it to see the
Economic impact it can have but also to see the fun and the building the community that it can build um obviously need a great golf course it it has to be an unbelievable Golf Course these are the best women in the world they have to play at a place that’s worthy of that
Talent so we look very closely and then you look at the partners that you have I mean like Penny and team and and John and others have been so incredibly supportive they I think this is your full-time job at this point isn’t it Penny I mean it’s she putting a ton of
Effort into it and and uh the committee that is helping organizing it is fully invested in so those are the things we look for Great Golf Course great Community great economic community that sees the value of of doing this and I think you know we’re we hope that this
Solheim cup will uh will have a Guinness world record of the number of uh fans at a women’s sports event over the course of the time so that’s what we’re shooting for we’re trying to get the Guinness book here we’re trying to just drive the engagement and we’re trying to
Put this area on the map for women’s sports to say you really didn’t well Molly and I had a bit of conversation at the table about the fact that if you think about it there are very few things in this world where we as people everywhere have a shared experience once
Upon a time we could All tune into National broadcasts or Global broadcasts of all kinds of things now in our streaming offline world what do we actually tune in for together and sports is the answer and so I think what we’ll be focused on is trying to raise the
Excitement around this and really and help make this a Guinness World Record winning event no I mean I love what you said there I mean I think that’s what I always love about sports is that I think we if we think about it it builds leaders that character and the the
Skills that you learn by playing sports but I think Sports also build communities and particularly when you’re playing for something that means something to other people you know and I think when you’re playing for Team USA there’s really not anything better than that so I think that’s that’s what this
Has and it’s going to be super exciting and we’re you know for the LPGA it’s so important because we’re really using this as a tent pole event to bring in a whole new audience of fans that they put this on the calendar every year I mean there’s no reason why they should put
The Ryder Cup on their calendar and not put the solheim cup on the calendar and I think part of it has been the investment that people have made in the riter cup versus the solheim cup and that’s really the only difference I think they have a much bigger media
Rights deal for the the but for we we need to work on that you know because if you put it on we found that if you put on the LPGA um on cable television versus putting it on network television we get four times four or five times
More viewers when it’s on network so has to be you know a place where people can find it quickly it has to be invested in you have to have the resources to Market it but then when you do it the world’s sort of our oyster and we can continue
To grow so we’re looking forward to this event being that tent pole event for us that’s beautiful I I’m watching the clock because we are going to go to um comments from the audience questions from the audience in a minute but I I do want to get very specific about where
Are there opportunities for the this Washington economic Club Community to get involved and support you in the Sim cup yeah I mean we have and that’s why I brought my iPad I didn’t want to miss anybody but we we have a number of our sponsors and partners in this room
Here today which we couldn’t be more grateful for your support just to list um AWS Brown advisory Comcast uh danaher Grant thoron KPMG next era PNC Toyota T-Mobile Hilton I mean those are all people who have already dug in and and bought Hospitality or bought some type
Of sponsorship to the events so we we have more opportunity there not a ton left but we definitely have more um which is great it’s golf there’s nowhere better to entertain clients you know you have that opportunity to sit and actually have a conversation to be a
Part of the action to be really close to the the women are just walking around the grounds you know you see all of our stars right there and you can really see and hear what they’re doing so there’s there’s also Global sponsor opportunities you know we have three or
Four Global Partners right now we still have one left that we’re that we’re selling and um so that’s a big way I think the other way is just promoting it you know getting it out getting your employees to come getting your neighbors to come coming yourself marketing it in
Every way possible to make this the biggest event that the DC area has ever seen I think those are the the big opportunities Mary let’s just get this out to the economic Club Community to make it a put a calendar item from the econ Club to to get everybody involved
Here I think that’s what Tony said right you said you’re you’re yeah yeah everybody we’re all marking our calendars we’re all marking our calendars um you know think about it the the parallels between Golf and life and here is this beautiful sport that yes it requires well played requires precision
And Grace it’s mathematical I’m a math major right you got to read the angles you got to understand the lies you got to understand the physics of of what’s going on in this game so so lots of technicalities to the game it’s a game where some would say you might be able
To buy your way in right didn’t how many of us tried went to the golf store to try to get the latest equipment so we could buy our game and then you discover that it really isn’t about the equipment it’s about you it’s about you so Molly
I’d love as we wrap up this this broad section um I’d just love to get your Reflections on what golf brings to us in terms of Leadership Lessons and and close for us with if you would with what advice you would have for the Washington economic club members and our own
Leadership I mean golf’s a really special sport I I I grew up in Upstate New York I didn’t my family they weren’t golfers my parents weren’t golfers and I similar to the hockey conversation with my mom my my brother decided he was going to go play at the local public
Course and I decided I needed to do that too so I you know begged my parents to buy some clubs at a garage sale and went down and played but as a young 12-year-old girl I just my dad would drop me off in the morning and pick me
Up in the after afternoon and I would just play this nine-hole municipal course but what happened during that time was I got to engage with the the senior citizens who were playing because they didn’t have much else to do on a week day in the middle of the summer the
Young kids were there the adults came in the afternoon and just the relationships that were built and the behavior that I had to exhibit when I was playing with the older women or the older men the sportsmanship that you learn it it’s a sport that you call penalties on
Yourself every other sport you’re obviously trying to get away with something you know you’re pulling a shirt you’re Ian may have done that a little bit along the way in soccer you know you’re trying to get an advantage but in golf it’s all about there’s no hip checking there’s no hip checking
There’s none of that it’s just about your personal integrity and it’s about the it’s such a hard sport I mean we all know that I was out this weekend in my backyard I had a little tripod and I was working on my swing and my daughter’s
Like what are you doing like I just can’t I can’t get it you know so it’s a it’s an NeverEnding kind of quest for some form of perfection so it’s a it’s a great game it builds communities in different ways we can all play together no matter what our skill level is
Um so it’s a and it’s a great business tool as as we know for women it’s really important I think what happens is a lot of women are afraid to play they’re intimidated by the game they won’t take a chance in going out and playing in outings and so we’re really working hard
In other parts of our business to give the game to young girls who can’t afford it who don’t feel comfortable playing we don’t think that’s something that should be reserved only to people who have money we feel very strongly that it’s like education that you have to give
This gift to people who who can’t afford it or have them felt comfortable there that’s a big part of what our mission is using that platform to elevate and Advance girls and women so that’s why I love golf again I I played soccer and hockey in college but golf was such an
Important part of my personal development and I think for women it’s a great business tool it’s a phenomenal opportunity to have fun in our later I we can play golf now and still love it every day so I I’m really passionate about what the LPGA can do to change you
Know young girls lives but also hopefully to inspire women more broadly around the world girls and women so that’s what we’re doing and I don’t really have any advice I mean this I could take advice from all of you guys in terms of leadership and how to run
Your businesses I think it’s just a lot like sport you know put the team first and be passionate about what you do and and hopefully get the right result and I heard you talking about building a network of Partnerships and we all recognize the importance of that we are
All in this together Molly marus saman thank you so much thank you Barbara thank you fun
