LPGA names Craig Kessler as new commissioner
After a six-month-long search, Craig Kessler has been appointed as the newest commissioner of the LPGA, the tour announced Thursday.
Kessler, 39, replaces interim commissioner Liz Moore, who stepped in when Mollie Marcoux Samaan resigned in December.
Appointed by an LPGA search committee and approved by players and sponsors alike, Kessler is the league's 10th commissioner.
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'This isn't just about leading a sports organization — it's about redefining what's possible,' Kessler said in a statement. 'This role is deeply personal to me — not just as a professional opportunity, but as a chance to make a difference in the world and create new opportunities for others.'
Kessler most recently served as the chief operating officer of the PGA of America, which runs the PGA Championships and the Ryder Cup.
Before focusing on golf, Kessler got his start in consulting at McKinsey & Company and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. He also served as the chief operating officer at Topgolf from 2016 to 2021.
'We set out to find a transformational leader with a deep appreciation for the LPGA's legacy and a clear vision of what's possible for our future,' John B. Veihmeyer, chair of the LPGA board of directors, said in a statement.
Kessler's appointment comes at an inflection point for the LPGA. Nelly Korda made tour history last year with a run of five consecutive wins, and since the pandemic, more women are taking an interest in recreational golf than ever.
Despite record-breaking LPGA purse sizes, the league has battled the departure of key sponsors and limited TV windows, which are governed by the PGA Tour's contracts with networks. Players have been given spots in events for which they are not eligible, and a tournament, the FIR Hills Seri Pak Championship, was cancelled earlier this season due to a payment dispute with the event's underwriter. Since former commissioner Mike Whan left the LPGA in 2021, the general sentiment among players is that there is a lack of communication from tour leadership.
Kessler has not addressed LPGA membership in person, but recorded a video shared with players Thursday morning. He will be in attendance at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship in Frisco, Texas, from June 19-22.
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Advertisement Josh Valdez: What was the criterion for what made them good stories for you to include? Keegan Matheson: In one regard, I wanted some of these stories to be fresh. Now, there's always going to have to be a chapter for Joe Carter's home run. There will always have to be a chapter about Bautista's bat flip and those great teams of the mid-80s. And I've written those a hundred times, and I wrote it for a 101st time in this book, I hope more interesting than before, but those stories always matter. They're always going to matter. But I wanted to include some new stories as well, because, again, I really do see this book as just adding to the stories that have been told about the Blue Jays. This is not the first book written about this team, and it won't be the last. But I hope to add some things that haven't been written about before. That can be in terms of players' lives around this city, the experience of playing in Toronto, and playing in Canada. Some of these chapters focus on the COVID years. When I was on the road with the team, some of what they went through and some of my experience being on the road and what I had to do to cover the team in the U.S. and Dunedin and Buffalo, the chapters on Shohei Ohtani and that pursuit that I was there for and had some stories I've been saving about. So some of these stories are old stories from a new angle, but some of them, I hope, are brand new stories for people, and I wanted to balance that out, because there is such a rich history with this team, but it's still being created, too. There's still new stuff to add, and I think that's what makes a team like the Blue Jays exciting. They're no longer the new kids, we're coming up on half a century here. 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Advertisement Those great teams of the 80s, Dave Steve, those great lineups, George Bell, kind of changed the perception around the team. I think they made people take the team seriously, because they were not taken seriously whatsoever when you're playing at a football stadium that's crowned in the middle, it was a bit of a mess early on. So I think that was a really fun part for me. Josh Valdez: Do you think learning about the history will help younger fans realize that it used to be a lot worse than it is right now? Keegan Matheson: Yeah, I think it matters in both directions, honestly. Like I was alive for '92 and '93, but I wasn't old enough to remember, and I won't pretend that I was. So a lot of this book for me was talking to players in that era, coaches, broadcasters, to understand it. And I think that's really important for younger fans, too, because there are a lot of fans, younger generation, if you're 25 and under, maybe 30 and under, where Bautista's bat flip was your moment. And that's really cool, but there have been a lot of other cool moments with this team. And in baseball, in particular, I think the history of a franchise really matters because you understand where they've come from. You understand the history and the lore that goes behind these players, uniforms, and these stadiums. I think that's what makes it so cool. It's what makes the Blue Jays matter, because they have one. They did go back to back. Joe Carter did hit that home run. They did have that incredible era where they were the hottest ticket in the country, and the entire baseball world was chasing the Blue Jays, and they couldn't catch them. And that's what makes it important right now, both the Blue Jays are losing because they need to get back to that, or even when the Blue Jays were winning in 2015 and 2016, they were still chasing that. And for younger fans who really got into the Blue Jays in '15 and '16 with Bautista, [Edwin] Encarnacion, [Josh] Donaldson, and all of those guys. Advertisement However fun that was for you, multiply that by 10,000. That's what it would have been in the early 90s for people, and there's an entire generation now of fans who don't remember that. Even if you're 40 years old, you would have been, what, nine, 10 years old around then, your memory's probably not the clearest. So a lot of Blue Jays fans, probably half of Blue Jays fans, don't really remember the World Series years. But I think learning about them and knowing about where the teams come from, back through Roy Halladay, back through Joe Carter, back through Dave Steve. It helps frame everything that happens today. Because when we talk about Vladdy being a great Blue Jay, well, who's he up against? Who does he need to be better than? I think stuff like that makes everybody a baseball fan, and it's something that I nerd out about anyway. I'm really interested in the history of the team, where they've come from. I'm happy to be covering the Blue Jays from the fancy Rogers Centre press box and not the Exhibition Stadium press box. It's probably a bit better spread in the one I cover them in. It's been fun to learn about that. Josh Valdez: You mentioned Vlad just now. Do you cover him and this era a decent amount in the book? Or is it more focused on past years? Keegan Matheson: Yeah, it's pretty evenly balanced in terms of time. Now, I start at Exhibition Stadium and how Skydome was built, which I really love writing, but I also include two chapters on Vladdy. The first chapter on Vladdy is about his prospect years, and it's just about his prospect years, because I think that's a big example of something that I had on my mind throughout this whole book. And it's the reason that I included the Shohei Ohtani chapter as well, because, yeah, it's over. He plays for the [Los Angeles] Dodgers, sorry. But I think that was an interesting enough story that I wanted to kind of cut it out and have it exist all by itself just to document it. So like that exists, and I can look back on it. Advertisement Vladdy's prospect years were the same. I don't think I'll ever see anything like Vladdy as a prospect. I really, I don't know if I covered this game 40 more years, I might not see another prospect like Vladdy. And it's one of the only times I can remember where the hitter was controlling what was happening in it at bat. It was unbelievable. So to talk to people, and even talking to John Schneider, who was his manager back then, he just sits and shakes his head. He's like, "Man, I'll never see anything like that. It only comes around every 20, 30 years." So I wanted there to be a Vladdy chapter that was just about that, so that I can kind of frame that in history, and it's always there. The next Vladdy chapter was about his 2021 season, in which he nearly won the MVP, and when that team almost made the playoffs I think that's a great tragedy of the era, that that team did not make the playoffs with Marcus Semiem and Teoscar Hernandez in that lineup. But that frames kind of the best of Vladdy at this point. And that was really fun to write and document. Charlie Montoyo, his teammates speaking about what a superstar looks like. Like one of the best seasons we've ever seen in Toronto. Now, going into present day, the book was obviously written well ahead of Vlady's extension, maybe that's a chapter we can add if we go to paperback eventually. But my big fear was that he would get traded or something and blow the whole book up. I keep thinking of Tim McMahon, the NBA reporter, whom I really respect. He wrote the Luka [Doncic] book, and boom, Luka gets traded. I lost sleep over something major happening like that, thankfully not. But yeah, two Vlad chapters that were really fun to write, and hopefully it gives me reason to write a third or a fourth or another book someday. Josh Valdez: Has the book changed your perspective on this season or just the present day? Do you feel like you're not as stressed anymore about stuff that could change or outdate the book now that Vlad's contract is locked in? Advertisement Keegan Matheson: Yeah, I do, and that was a big anxiety point for me because things can change very quickly. You know, one swing, one game, one parade changes everything. And I'm really happy with where it's landed, And because this window is still kind of open, I struggled with that a couple of times, like, should I write the story on this era of Blue Jays baseball, under Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins? We're still in it right now. And while it has not been good yet, they have not won a postseason game since 2016. I started covering the team in 2017. So, all I have covered are teams that don't show up in the postseason. But all they have to do is do that once. And whether I think that's going to happen or not, probably doesn't even matter at this point. The moment you break through, when the Blue Jays get hot and go on a run this year, next year, the year after, the last 10 years immediately don't matter anymore. Because when you have a moment like that, like '92 and '93, even like '15 and '16, those [latter two] teams didn't even go to the World Series, and I think they're forever going to be held up by a lot of people as a couple of the great Jays teams that really mean something to people, because they got them back into baseball, or they reminded them of how much they loved the team. All you've got to do is have a moment like that, and it can change everything. So I'm I'm happy with where it landed honestly, I don't even mean this as a marketing play. I genuinely mean that it changed this whole job for me, because it changed how I approached stories every day, it changed how I understand this team. It made me much happier doing this job. And it made me realize that, yeah, probably tomorrow or the next day, I might have to write a story about how somebody's curveball didn't work and it got hit a few times. That's fine, but that's factory work. By the next day, that story's not going to matter, but it made much more interested in the bigger stories around this team and the stories that have a little likes to them. And it reaffirmed for me, I guess, that those stories do matter, because when you have a moment like Joe Carter, that lasts forever. When you have a career like Dave Steve did, that lasts forever. Like Roy Halladay, like José Bautista with that one home run. I'll be 70 years old talking about the bat flip. It reminded me that those can come around anytime, even though it's been a rough decade for the Blue Jays, if just one of those moments come around, you forget about everything else. Advertisement Josh Valdez: And what do the Jays have to do, in your opinion, to finally get back to the mountaintop? Keegan Matheson: They need to develop some sort of identity. I keep going back to that 2021 team, which was one of the best lineups we will ever see in Toronto, period. They had Semien having an all-time season. Vladdy was playing MVP-caliber baseball. There's not always going to be Shohei Otani to win it in front of him. He was playing like an MVP, and you had a lineup that was threatening from top to bottom, because it had power. And the Blue Jays have gotten away from that. Right now, they're a team that is stuck in a lot of 2-1, 3-2 games. And when you're playing that type of baseball, you need to be perfect. because one mistake can send it sideways. When you're playing a game like they played in 2021, and I'd argue even like '15 or '16, you can make five mistakes. You can completely screw up, but if someone hits a three-run home run, guess what I'm writing about, the three run home run and a win. So I think they need to get back to more of an identity, and identity is usually based on offense, which hasn't been there lately. So you can not only get out to lead, but chase teams down if they get a lead on you, and I don't see that lately. That's why we've seen three trips to the postseason go 0-2, 0-2, and 0-2. And each one has come with an extra layer of heartbreak. There was the José Berrios decisoin in Minnesota. There was the meltdown against the [Seattle] Mariners at home. Like they haven't just been losses, they've been tough losses. Those stick with you. But in order for them to shake that off, I think they need more life offensively. And since 2021, the reason I bring that up is that it seems like they've pivoted away from that. Like, it kind of spooked them a little bit, but I think that's the way. Because the 2021 team, I really believe this, and I'll tell you a lot of players and coaches really believe this, that if they had have gotten into the postseason that year, they were going on a run. Like, I think they could have been a World Series team, period. And they just, just missed. Advertisement Josh Valdez: Lastly, who's a Blue Jays player, either that's in the book or not, that you feel like is underappreciated in the fan base? Keegan Matheson: Oh, great question. I think of a couple of answers here, but I don't think that Dave Steve gets enough attention or respect from newer Blue Jays fans. And Blue Jays fans who were around in the 70s, 80s, 90s, they will talk your ear off about Dave Steve because they watched him pitch. But I think that anyone around my age, even 40 and under, I don't hear enough about Dave Steve. There's a couple of reasons for that, and one is that Dave Steve has not kept himself present or public-facing, and I write about that in the chapter. That's okay, that's his choice. If I had to deal with reporters for 20 years, I would probably ride off into the sunset and hide in a log cabin myself. Totally his choice, and that's okay. But a lot of former players who we see them more on TV or doing radio appearances, they kind of stay in the public consciousness. But with Steve, talking to his catchers and other players, like I talked to Buck Martinez, talked to Ernie Witt about him, Pat Borders about him, the three men who caught him the most. And Buck Martinez, the first thing out of his mouth, he said "Best right-handed pitcher the Blue Jays ever had." And it's the team that had Roy Halliday for a decade. People talked about Dave Steve in ways that surprised me and ways that were really fascinating to hear. Now, yes, he would blame his infielers for every error, and he had evil eyes. He would stare two laser beams through your chest if he screwed up behind him, absolutely. But I think he was not just a dominant pitcher, but a fascinating character as well. Advertisement A lot of this book was around reading old archival newspaper coverage or archival magazines, Sports Illustrated, other weeklies and monthlies. And it was a big lesson for me that players were a lot more open back in the day. And I understand why, but some interviews and conversation with Steve I would read just really opened my eyes to a guy who was kind of battling with the spotlight, and he knew that spotlight was there because he was great. But greatness and the attention that comes with it is not always comfortable for people. I see someone on the other side of this, like Joe Carter, who is at events, and he has embraced it. He'll talk to every single person like it's the first time he's ever talked about that home run. Not everyone's that way. So hearing old teammates talk about Dave Steve, even old hitters who faced him, I think, made me appreciate just how great he was. He did deserve, and he still deserves a much larger conversation about the Hall of Fame. Whether he's worthy or not is still very much up for debate, but even if he's just closer than he's been, that's still something that deserves to be talked about, because he fell off that ballot, and I don't think that we have the proper conversation about him. Because Steve was a more modern pitcher than the 80s would suggest. Like, he's a guy who you could drop in today, and he'd have success. You know, Buck Martinez said he was throwing a sweeper before it was a sweeper. Like he had that incredible, incredible slider, and he represents the generational divide among Blue Jays fans for me, because fans who were around to watch him pitch will go on and on about Dave Steve, and they really should. But younger fans, I think they're just not exposed to as many Dave Steve highlights. They don't see him on TV, they don't hear as much about him. And that's something I hope can be a little more alive in the minds of the Blue Jays fans, because it's really too bad Steve pitched in the era that, you know, you didn't have three teams getting a free pass into the playoffs with the Wild Card. I wish there were more opportunities for him and those great 80s teams, that would have changed everything. But still, someone who I think deserves, even a guy who's considered one of the greatest Blue Jays of all time, I still think he deserves a much larger place in the Jays' history conversation. This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
