Asked about the narrative that a guy that breaks the rules is now the one that makes the rules, Whan says, Im not sure Id say Im a rule-breaker. In the same breath, he says, The only thing I worry about is my pace of play versus the USGAs pace of play. The USGA announced Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, it has hired Whan as its next CEO, making him the eighth top executive in its 127-year history. Hell dictate between TV contracts and corporate sponsorships what the U.S. Open looks like and feels like, and if it delves further into commercialization. Its overwhelming the amount of golf business the USGA is involved in. When someone referred to Whan as Boss, he parried, Not yet. But he was just being literal. Theres a belief that the USGA is afraid to stand up to manufacturers because of the threat of litigation. After college, he worked as a newspaper reporter, first for the (Marthas) Vineyard Gazette, later for The Philadelphia Inquirer. For 11 years before joining the U.S.G.A. Since then, the three previous executive directors Frank Hannigan, Fay and Davis all worked for the USGA for anywhere from 11 to 21 years before taking the post. Quick Facts: Mike Whan Wife Age, Salary and Net Worth: Everything About LPGA Commissioner I need to figure out how to both fund and create a U.S.A. development program. Unfortunately, its just like the LPGA, Im sitting currently in a city that isnt mine and wont be home again for another few days. This year, it has 34 events and a record $76.45 . His main source of income is from his primary work as a golf executive. Michael (Mike) Whan joined the USGA as its chief executive officer (CEO) on July 1, 2021, becoming its eighth chief executive. Hes wearing an Oakmont CC golf shirt, one he picked up during the U.S. Because theres a strength in how the USGA tackles a problem and understands governance, and some of the stuff that I dont have the patience for will be good for me to learn. He was wrong. Lydia Ko can still talk to New Zealand Golf and have real support in terms of guidance, coaches and everything else. Technically, Whan was at The Olympic Club, at a memorable U.S. Womens Open, as the LPGA commissioner. I think the USGA would be uniquely suited to do that. Considering his rsum, he couldve sat around, waited for the right opportunities to come around, maybe joined some boards and made absurd money back in the business world. Stu Francis, the current president of the USGA board, asked him to meet with a few members of the search committee during the U.S. Womens Open at Champions Golf Club in Houston. Whan is in the middle of it all. Take, for instance, our countrys lack of a formal organization to courier its talented junior players? Who is Mike Whan Wife? He thought about LPGA rookie Albane Valenzuela, a former Olympian and Stanford All-American . I was MUCH more lucky than @candace_adkison she is the best Ive ever worked with!! I think the bottom line is youve got to be committed to the overall mission of making the game better, growing the game and making a difference to make sure the game will be just as healthy in 100 years as it is today. This is a fundamental issue facing the USGA: Does it want to be an all-powerful ruling body or a partner with everybody else in the game? The timing of this event was ideal. Whan said TaylorMade CEO Abeles was the first person to call and ask if he was thinking about the USGA job. . What it wont do is worry too much about the traditionalists out there complaining about the influx. And the USGA doesnt usually dodifferent. Im talking about a statewide, then regional, then a national team, and working with our state and regional partners to help these kids. Those 5,000 become golf nuts working in the equipment industry, building courses, working in golf shops. GOLF.com and GOLF Magazine are published by EB GOLF MEDIA LLC, a division of 8AM GOLF. Mike Whan is a married man. If the publics feelings about the USGA could be distilled into a building, the result would look something like the clubhouse at The Olympic Club: formal and old-fashioned. What incoming USGA chief Mike Whan was thinking watching the U.S. Women's Open. Since then, he has worked very hard and became one of the well-known names in his field. Whan took over the job a little more than a year ago after spending 11-plus years as commissioner of the LPGA Tour. After golfs year of growth during the pandemic, what should be the USGAs role in growing the game and maintaining that momentum from 2020? Theyre steady that way. He enjoyed a salary of $1,176,119 per year during his time at ALGA. You know me, Id rather be talking about that more than they used to because I think we should. He was saying, That was something. Tour Confidential: U.S. Womens Open, Jon Rahm and Covid-19, Brooks-Bryson, Inside Lexi Thompsons collapse: How her U.S. Womens Open lead evaporated, It was just electric: 17-year-old Megha Ganne had an epic U.S. Womens Open (and even got to skip calculus), Jon Rahm just broke the PGA Tour single-season money record. I remember showing it to my wife, who wouldnt have had any interest in New Jersey at that time either. Also, learn details Info regarding the Current Net worth of Mike Whan USGA Salary, Wikipedia, Wife And Net Worth as well as 's earnings, Worth, Salary, Property, and Income. I know the industry enough to know that Mike Whan was probably a bit of a misfit, relative to what the USGA typically has, Whan says with his mouth full. If we dont figure out some answers on distance, we might put that in jeopardy. Brendan Quinn covers college basketball and golf for The Athletic. Mexico, Caribbean, Atlantic islands, Central America, Top 50 Classic Courses in Great Britain & Ireland, Top 50 Modern Courses in Great Britain & Ireland, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. The distance debate is a 100-year-old problem, Whan said, and hes impressed that the USGA and R&A have committed to making changes that will be good for the game for the next 100 years. In that role, he was praised . Mike started working with LPGA as a commissioner in 2009 and is working to date. Shell get her name on that trophy before shes through, Whan said of Lexi Thompson. It is difficult, though, to get him to acknowledge the weight he now carries. He knew what it was like to sit on the other side of a table as a check writer and used that experience to grow the tour fromonly 24 tournaments and official prize money of $41.4 million to the record $76.45 million and 34 official events thats on the 2021 calendar. Ourpurpose is toUNIFYthe golf community, toSHOWCASEthe golfers who inspire us, toGOVERNthe sport to ensure a solid foundation and toADVANCEthe good of the game,for the next 100 years and beyond, Beth Major - Managing Director, Commmunications , Janeen Driscoll - Director, Brand Communications , Julia Pine - Director, Championship Communications. Mike Whan with an LPGA-USGA Girls Golf member (Getty Images/LPGA). Thompson, who made a bogey on the last to finish a shot out of a playoff, was a central figure in Whans 11 years as commissioner. He is a former commissioner of the American Ladies Golf . We all watched that parade and cheered. That is, until Whan made a few quiet phone calls to other leaders in the industry Jay Monahan (PGA Tour), Keith Pelley (European Tour), David Abeles (TaylorMade) and the man he would replace at the USGA, Mike Davis. There are people at the USGA, hopefully, much smarter than I am on venue selection. Eight years later, in 2010, the job of LPGA commissioner came open when Carolyn Bivens resigned amid heavy tumult. Whan, in a longer session with this reporter, was saying the same with a thing. He left a year later for a post at TaylorMade as vice president of marketing. Check out the prize money payouts at the 2023 JM Eagle LA Championship. To me, it's one of those technological improvements that can improve the viewer experience and the pace of play. I feel like sometimes when you sit at the highest office, by design only the good news makes it to you because nobody wants to tell you the bad news, right? That group is really what I consider my friends. Hannah Green couldnt hold back the emotion after clinching her first LPGA title in nearly four years. He is a former commissioner of the American Ladies Golf Association and has made a pretty [] Whan knew nothing about Ganne, the low am, and was charmed about everything he did learn about her. We understand that we have to protect the game enough to make sure we dont obsolete ourselves, said Whan, but at the same time were not trying to stick R&D in a box. Im deep into that right now. And that settles that. A company backed by star golfer Tiger Woods and star singer Justin Timberlake involved in design. I think my conviction that its time to relook at something that was done in 1976 is stronger than it probably was before I got here. I dont know many players on the mens tour. Hecurrently resides inGladstone, N.J.,with his wife Meg and hasthreeadult sons: Austin,Wesleyand Connor. He flew home on Friday because thats what he always has done at U.S. Its doable, I can guarantee you that.. Thats who she is.. We all went through this awkward transition, and that got a lot of attention, but today, I cant think of a rules change in that modernization that wasnt a home run. If we dont make distance decisions now, well have to make much tougher decisions later. He joined the TaylorMade Golf Company as vice president of marketing in 1995 and later served as vice president of sales and marketing and executive vice president/general manager for Taylormade-adidas Golf. Whan, 56, will replace Mike Davis, the top executive at the U.S.G.A., which conducts the United States Open and 13 other national championships. I dont know who should start a USA Developmental Team, but I know what the first two letters of the USGA are, so why not us?. He likes to lean back onto the two hind legs of his chair when making a point, the way a kid does before the teacher tells him to quit it. Is that one of your mandates, to change the culture? I know theres plenty of people that Ill work for now who probably will be scared to death of the term bifurcation. Always one that was pushing it higher. He was saying, Onward. Its a complex job, being the CEO, but you need to distill it in understandable ways to a variety of constituents. Of course I want to preserve the game, but only after I promote it.. GOLF DIGEST MAY EARN A PORTION OF SALES FROM PRODUCTS THAT ARE PURCHASED THROUGH OUR SITE AS PART OF OUR AFFILIATE PARTNERSHIPS WITH RETAILERS. employee . I question if we need change for the average player. . 2/24/2023 . Carpeting that dates back to Willie Stargell. Julia Pine - Director, Championship Communications. What can the USGA do to grow the game? Then the question becomes, What partnership do you need? If you need agronomy help, then we could be there with agronomy help. His upbringing in golf was spent sweating. When asked if he had any ideas jotted down on cocktail napkins yet, a classic Whan-ism, he held up a legal pad with seven bullet points. Whereas we picture USGA-types walking out their country clubs and into the association, Whan found the game by chance as a kid back in the late 1970s. It will instead take an industry huddle to get to the finish line. But why now? I hope when we have big ideas that can take this game further, were a valuable resource and partner, or were holding the flag at the front of the parade. Relax, people. Through the years Whan, 56, fielded calls on everything from pin positions to the clubhouse buffet, but it was the open dialogue on weightier matters that changed the culture of the LPGA. Here (from left) with Jess McAlister, Randi Zuckerberg, Kira K. Dixon, Jeehae Lee and Marissa Mar. Theres virtually no doubt about that. He holds a U.S. patent on The E-Club, a utility golf club. As someone who is constantly praised as an innovative and bold leader, he makes every effort possible to divert the attention and credit his team. Its a word he uses constantly. Most of which, kind of like girls golf, nobody talks about or necessarily writes about, but its pretty impressive to walk into one meeting room and were talking about a grass research project that lessens the amount of water fairways need and the importance of that over the next 50 years. Shell get her name on that trophy before shes through. It only seems like Thompson has been around forever. He championed the creation of the International Crown, Founders Cup and Race to the CME Globe and helped transform the Womens PGA. Michael Bamberger writes for GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com. The only ones who dont have that are the U.S. players. Take a look at the rules changes from a few years ago. That is, until Whan made a few quiet phone calls to other leaders in the industry - Jay Monahan (PGA Tour), Keith Pelley (European Tour), David Abeles (TaylorMade) and the man he would replace at the USGA, Mike Davis. I also know that we live in a world where stuff happens. They understand youre different, but you come from a place of knowledge. I remember thinking when I got off the phone, Maybe theres something here. Hes in the early stages of his tenure as only the eighth USGA executive director since 1922. We also do not know when the couple got married. And it needs clarity. It's still April, How can golf courses use less water? I live on Hamilton Farms (in Gladstone, New Jersey). I cant say definitively, but I think your memory of my perspective is true. I havent been asked that question, but Ive read that. Im enough of a marketing guy to know if Dustin Johnsons driver is slightly different than the one I can buy at retail, that will have very little impact on the number of drivers he sells. Much of Whans success at the LPGA building the tour up from near ashes when he took on the job in 2010 and then passing the ultimate stress test by seeing the tour through a global pandemic has been the strength of his partnerships. So Ive moved there. This water-conservation whiz's is among them, Pros playing two different balls?! Thats more important to a USGA person than any other counterpoint of view. Back in 2011 and 2012, I used to count on the USGA pushing everyone else along. Aw, no, no, I cant. Likewise, Whan currently resides in Lake Mary, a city in Florida. I really like figuring out businesses, figuring out the right formula to really make them move their best. What are some venues you would like to take the U.S. Open to that have not been showcased recently or ever? My wife said at dinner, Youre totally not listening to me, thats how I know you like your job., Then the LPGA commissioner, Mike Whan looks on from a golf cart during the final round of the KIA Classic at the Park Hyatt Aviara Resort in 2016 in Carlsbad, California. That would be a feeder for the Walker Cup or Curtis Cup? "With the stuff that went down at 9/11, I have a hard time getting involved with them. At Olympic, 30 percent of the players I didnt know at all. But what should be the organizations role in supporting the game at the grassroots level? For anyone who was around in the late 90s, it happened. Why dont we? Whan asks. He checks out a breakfast menu on the wall, makes a quick decision. This man, the one the USGA has entrusted with the whole damn game, hes moving fast and is full-throated. A typical day at the USGA is like 15 or 20 people, because we havent reopened yet. As a former vice president of marketing at TaylorMade and vice president and general manager at the Wilson Sporting Goods Company, Whan brings instant credibility and can relate to equipment manufacturers and tour leaders from first-hand experience. Getty Images. You walk into another room where theyre talking about NIL (name, image and likeness) rights of college kids. He was a youth-sports quarterback who idolized an older, grittier neighborhood kid who became a mentor: Sean Payton, who played two seasons in the NFL and later coached the New Orleans Saints to a Super Bowl title. This U.S. Open wasnt you go, girl it was you go, period. Whan says that, during his tenure, the USGA wont be alone in a lot of its actions. I know Im very different. USGA CEO Mike Whan was apparently listening to SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio on his way into the office Friday morning when a conversation piqued him. He has written a variety of books about golf and other subjects, the most recent of which is The Second Life of Tiger Woods. Saso, of the Philippines, the winner, Whan had met once, briefly. He thought about Sierra Brooks, the promising Symetra Tour rookie with grand plans for the LPGA. He and his wife, Meg, were going to take 2021 off. I went from having zero white polos to having seven, Whan says. His foot was on the gas. Im still trying to understand why bifurcation scares everybody as much as it does. We were building courses, not closing them. A friend sent me a photo of her signing autographs when it was over, Whan said. Prior to joining the USGA, Whan served as the commissioner of the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association), one of the longest-running and most successful womens sports organizations in the world, from January 2010June 2021. Apart from working at LPGA, he has also worked for companies like Mission-Itech hockey and Taylormade-Adidas Golf Company. Thats our job to make sure we dont put the game in jeopardy. They are Austin, Wesley, and Connor. Longtime USGA CEO Mike Davis retired from the role in June. But Whans heart was always in sports, and he jumped at the chance to work for Wilson Sporting Goods, overseeing the golf-ball division, and later became an executive vice president at TaylorMade. Golf Digest talked with Whan at The Olympic Club, where he nursed a Coke Zerohe refused to say how many he drinks in a day, but suffice to say it is a lotand radiated a caffeinated enthusiasm for the challenges that await. How do we build a development team so these kids who have real prowess and opportunity could get developed earlier and with more help? Before that, he spent nearly 23 years as senior writer for Sports Illustrated. New USGA CEO Mike Whan chats with a guest at the Kolbe Conversations "Let's Talk Golf" held Tuesday at the Patterson Club in Fairfield. But its gotta start with me. My assistant [at the LPGA] always found it strange that Tuesday when I was at a tournament was blocked in my schedule. With that, a 56-year-old who prefers playing golf with a speaker pumping music in the cart and who is admittedly unqualified to make on-course rulings became one of the single-most impactful decision-makers in the game. Kristie Kistner / Contributed photo Show More Show . One, Ive always looked as the USGA as the standard-setter in the game, certainly on the womens side, but mens as well. Lets know some more interesting facts about the commissioner Mike Whan. You cant be the commissioner of a sport, you cant be the CEO of the USGA and think youre gonna win a popularity contest. He often went off-script with reporters, apologizing to executives in the back of the room. Whan graduated from Miami University of Ohio and began his corporate career at Proctor & Gamble. What is Mike Whan Nationality ? Everybody evolves not only to make the game better, but to make sure its great for the next 100 years. When asked last month what hed miss the most about the LPGA, Whan said the front-row seat he had to watching young women achieve their biggest dream in real time whether that was earning a tour card or winning a tournament. This, for the record, is not how the leader of the USGA usually comes to power. One of your pet peeves has always been that range finders are not allowed in competition. When I buy my Ford truck, I dont believe theres a NASCAR engine under the hood. Theyd interviewed a number of promising candidates, Francis said, but Whan was the shining light, the man who checked every box and could come in ready to move at 100 mph. Mike has 4 jobs listed on their profile. The USGA announced on Wednesday that current LPGA commissioner Mike Whan will succeed Mike Davis as its new CEO, becoming the eighth top executive in . You mentioned LPGA-USGA Girls Golf, which has been a tremendous success. MORE: 33 things you dont remember from Tigers epic 2008 win at Torrey Pines. Hopefully theres something powerful in the middle, he said. I was built with a marketing bone thats out of whack, so I wont know how to tamp that down. He also oversaw the expansion of the LPGA to include both the Symetra Tour and Ladies European Tour, as well as a nearly 50 percent increase in membership of LPGA Professionals, the associations teaching division. I think youre stretching if you dont think at some point we need to make sure we establish some new parameters. Whan is planning to introduce a U.S. Developmental program for young women, first, then expand it to men. I kept telling my wife I promise Ill help tonight, but Ive got to get to the office to get some stuff done. Just as lasting is the close connection he forged with the players, each of whom was famously given his cell number. In February, Whan was named the next Chief Executive Officer of the USGA. Then the LPGA commissioner, Mike Whan speaks during the LPGA announcement of new brand positioning encouraging girls to #DriveOn in 2019. Maybe disappear, spend the . The USGA wont be alone in getting it up and running. The final round of . The announcement was made in a Manhattan ballroom as part of USGA CEO Mike Whan's first press conference as the organization's top boss. If youre there, theyll talk to you. His predecessor Mike Daviswho was beloved internally and regarded as an expert on golf-course setupswore the traditionalist tag as comfortably as a blue blazer. But Im not sure the USGA would ever take a bow. As we are dealing with a period of significant change, his ability to get our points across becomes critical.. Is that something youre going to legislate so that they will be allowed at USGA competitions? Since April, hes been enveloped in lengthy talks with everyone from Monahan and Waugh, to Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley and R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers, to manufacturers like Callaway and TaylorMade. So we need to make decisions now. Not in a bad way, in a good way. Theres zero doubt in my mind, after sitting in one board meeting, there is a clear feeling of responsibility to the game and making sure we can give back to that game with this money. Mike Whan is a commissioner at LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) as one of its longest-running commissioners. But really, these arent the areas Whan will make his waves. The suggestion of an overhauled identity for the association causes Whan to lean back in his chair and slow things down a touch. Davis said, yes, but that it could work. Im not really sure its fundamentally different from a question you could ask other major owners. As LPGA commissioner, one of your quiet goals was to have equal purses in the major championships for men and women. Whan reached out to Fay, who also served on the LPGA board during Whans tenure and is a friend, but a polar opposite. Fay was a singular institution as USGA executive director from 1989 to 2010. Lets continue to do what were building together. It mattered to me that it mattered to them. To hear Whan tell it, the odds, as he saw them, were overwhelmingly stacked against him. We seem to be living in a time when people arecravingfairness, equality, equal opportunity, in golf and beyond it. Whan, meanwhile, is, in his own words, a salesman.He started at Procter & Gamble in 1987, rising to a position as director of marketing for its oral care department before leaving in 1994 to take over as vice president and GM of Wilson Sporting Goods. No ones wants to take away grandpas Big Bertha. I hope you would like above article in which I have included all information about Mike Whan Wiki, Girlfriend, Boyfriend, Husband, Wife, Dating, Relationship, Breakup, Children, Son, Daughter, How rich is he and she, College, School, University, Born country, rumours, latest news, Race details which is given . Connor Whan, a Senior at the University of Virginia, graduating in May 2020 with a degree in Kinesiology is the youngest son of Mike and Meg Whan. He keeps moving, not breaking stride. Back when he formally took over the job on July 1, replacing outgoing executive director/CEO Mike Davis, he received a box with seven white polos emblazoned with the USGA logo. What I would tell you is, I dont think the world of golf comes to a halt with some sort of bifurcation. Have your views changed at all since you took the job? The executive, Mike Whan, is a changemaker, in the parlance of the corporate marketing world he came up in. When discussing change, Whan likes to present a conventional thought and roll his eyes at it at the same time addressing and dismissing, all at once. Whans first day as CEO was still a few weeks away, but the announcement on Feb. 17 that he would take the job had already sent a bolt of lightning through an organization that dates to 1894, and the energy he radiated at Olympic was palpable. It stinks to walk into a building and know that virtually everybody in that building knows more about the USGA, the current challenges, the partners and the problems than I do. I dont know that Im right, and I really want to hear other perspectives. I really want to listen to other people and understand their perspective. Former LPGA commissioner Mike Whan dishes on money, distance and what he wakes up thinking about as the new CEO of the USGA. Whans impact on the LPGA can be quantified in the schedule (34 tournaments in 2021 compared with 24 when he took over) and prize money (a record $76.5 million this year). LPGA players consistently praised Whans transparent approach. As per his date of birth, his age . Mike Whan was born on 1965, February 10. Maybe disappear, spend the year at the family lake house in Georgia. Ive said this before about Lexi, but youre not going to have days like that unless youre good enough to be there in the first place, Whan said. That could prove useful because, for whatever reason, tour players these days love to criticize the USGA. Whan, the longest-tenured LPGA commissioner who rebuilt the tour from near ashes when he took on the job in 2010 and passed the ultimate stress test by seeing the tour through a global pandemic, now takes on a new set of challenges as head of golfs governing body. Im not sure Id say that today, but I feel comfortable saying that will be the case again soon. If you need help from a membership perspective, then let us provide that. Shes had that since her junior days. We cant kid ourselves and think were going to be the business answer for everybody, but where we can aid, we should. If you need to showcase how you can conserve water, well be there. But I dont think you can say that as you elevate up to the best players in the world. In his opening comments, Whan alluded to "loving . Among Whans first public acts as USGA CEO was attending a press conference announcing Oakmont and Merion as long-term host venues to a number of championships, including multiple U.S. Whan acknowledged that the distance problem wont be solved in a team meeting in a board room at USGA headquarters. I raised three boys, but if I had daughters, Id want to be able to tell them, If you can get to the highest level, the treatment youre going to get, the feeling youre going to get, the pay youre going to make is going to be similar to your brother, as opposed to trying to explain why her dream is worth about 20 percent of his. It mattered. Im in a hurry to catch up. 2023 United States Golf Association. Theres a discipline there thats healthy. But thats just who I am. The times are changing. Mike Whan is a commissioner at LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) as one of its longest-running commissioners. It can be frustrating, though, because at times the USGA hasnt done a good job telling its story . An omelet with bacon andsausage. To continue to raise that bar. Ive heard you talk about wanting people to work for you who wake up thinking about, in that case the LPGA. Amateur, Senior Open, the U.S. Open to talk to the customers, which in this case are the players. Then there was Ganne, Jersey girl, making a putt on the last to take the low-am medal by a shot at age 17. I dont. This, though, is how Whan operates. The USGA has a unique role in golf in terms of we need to lead the way, said Francis, but we need to get people to come along with us.. I feel like its embarrassingly past time. The LPGAs Girls Golf program has been successful creating a large and diverse community of young golfers. USGA President Stu Francis, who oversaw the CEO search process, said hed wake up at 3 a.m. worrying about whether or not Whan would take the job. Obviously, the success were having now with a different face of the game and the future, weve got to pour fuel on the fire and were in a great position to do that. I wont lie to you and say its going to be popular, but its important and I think it would be irresponsible for us not to relook at something that the last significant look was 1976. Whans sports business career began at Wilson Sporting Goods as a vice president and general manager in the golf division. At the top of that list: invest in the best.