KPMG Women's PGA: Ten years later, a look back on the rebirth of an LPGA major
KPMG Women's PGA: Ten years later, a look back on the rebirth of an LPGA major
Somehow, there was room for only one more name on the LPGA Championship trophy when Inbee Park won in 2014. Former LPGA commissioner Mike Whan joked that they could just start adding check marks beside Park's name as she won three in a row, but it was only fitting that the trophy receive a new base, as everything about the LPGA's flagship major was about to get an overhaul, including the name.
The 2025 KPMG Women's PGA Championship in Frisco, Texas, marks 10 years since the championship's rebirth. Not everyone was happy to see the LPGA's name drop from the championship's title in 2015, but no one can say that it wasn't the right move.
'It's gotta feel like a major,' said Stacy Lewis of what she hoped for the first KPMG Women's PGA in 2015. 'It's just got a certain feel about it ... we can feel it; fans can feel it.'
Venues helped remake the KPMG Women's PGA
From the start, the KPMG Women's PGA nailed the major championship aura. From historic courses, to the buildout, to the courtesy cars and network TV, what was once a floundering major suddenly compelled the rest to get better, too.
The venues – Westchester Country Club, Hazeltine National, Atlanta Athletic Club and Baltusrol Golf Club, to name a few – brought the name recognition and gravitas that were missing from so many of the LPGA's big events.
The KPMG Women's PGA purse has increased nearly 400 percent in the last decade to $10.8 million. Last year, 99 of the top 100 players in the current Race to CME Globe Rankings competed at Sahalee Country Club, where Amy Yang finally broke through in her 75th major championship start.
Yang will be one of 14 past champions in the field next week at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco June 19-22, joined by the likes of Nelly Korda, Ruoning Yin, Hannah Green and In Gee Chun. This marks the first women's major ever held at Fields Ranch, a 660-acre campus that includes two 18-hole courses. The event is already slated to return to Frisco in 2031.
'The course is playing tough but still fair,' Yang told the media during a recent visit. 'I think it's going to test all aspects of your game.'
KPMG Women's PGA brings commitment to LPGA
For a tour that has been around since 1950, there's precious little history on the LPGA, which is why the PGA of America's commitment to host a women's major meant so much to a league that, at times, has held as few as two majors per season.
When former PGA of America CEO Pete Bevacqua talked about the organization's commitment to the LPGA, he went far beyond the typical three- to five-year window, calling it a 50-year or 100-year decision.
'This is something that is going to change the tour,' Lewis predicted. 'It's going to change women's golf.'
KPMG's initial involvement with the LPGA traces back to Lewis, who wore the logo and impressed John Veihmeyer, the auditing firm's then-global chair, in how she interacted with female leaders at sponsorship outings.
Analytics helped to improve KPMG Women's PGA
As the tournament took off, KPMG looked for other ways to improve the tour, thrusting its analytics expertise behind the creation of the KPMG Performance Insights technology platform. Last year, KPMG CHAMPCAST was added, giving fans the same ShotLink Pro technology used by the PGA Tour. (The U.S. Women's Open also uses a version of ShotLink.) The Performance Insights also utilize AI-powered predictive analytics for use in the broadcast and across digital channels.
KPMG's success, however, hasn't been limited to what's happening inside the ropes. Tournaments up and down the LPGA schedule rushed to form their own version of the inspiring Women's Leadership Summit.
A decade ago, KPMG first called on the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies to send women they believed would be next-generation C-suite leaders. Hundreds of women gathered on the eve of the inaugural KPMG Women's PGA in Rye, New York, to listen to some of the most successful and influential leaders in business, politics, sports and media, including former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the event's keynote speaker.
At one point during the inaugural summit, Donna Orender, former president of the WNBA and a member of the Summit's advisory council, stood up and asked a panel of athletes how the women in the room could support them.
Lewis didn't hesitate.
'Go out and tell the world how good we are,' she said.
Ten years later, it's a message and mission that hasn't changed.
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Though her work with the foundation has come to an end, she's finding more ways to use her platform. 'You know, I have nothing to lose,' said King on the divisive gender topic. 'I don't have any sponsorships at this stage. I've always been kind of outspoken and strong about values that I think even if I were playing, I would speak up.' Her mother, Helen Szymkowicz King, graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 1940 and was elected into the university's Athletic Hall of Fame as a three-sport athlete. King looks at how much the landscape has changed for women's sports in recent decades and views the transgender debate as a step backward. 'Many of us fought for places to compete when none existed,' King said. 'We cannot surrender our sports or our spaces.' Put another way by one of golf's most decorated American players: It's simply not fair.
