Why the KPMG Women's PGA Championship Is a Good Move for LPGA

By: Nancy Berkley


Get used to asking: Do you mean the KPMG Women's PGA Championship or the Men's PGA Championship? Beginning in 2015, there will be two PGA Championships.

On May 29, LPGA commissioner Mike Whan, the CEO of the PGA of America, Peter Bevacqua, and KPMG chairman John Veihmeyer announced the re-branding and sponsorship of one of the LPGA's five annual major tournaments.

What has been the Wegmans LPGA Championship will have a new name, new sponsor and new location - Westchester Country Club outside New York City. The championship will also move from mid-August to mid-June, a week before the men's U.S. Open.

Here are 10 reasons why I think this is a good move:

1. Any time two really big, major golf associations cooperate to grow women's golf, it's good.

2. Any time two major golf associations do something innovative for women's golf and label it a "celebration" of women's golf - as Whan did in his announcement - it's good.

3. All too often LPGA Tour players "don't get no respect." Or said differently, the women take a back seat to the men's televised tournaments. But now, with the PGA of America and a TV partnership with NBC and Golf Channel, it will be in everyone's best interest to draw an audience, show off women's golf and attract more women to the game.

4. This team really thinks ahead. The logo for the new championship has already been designed and posted. The LPGA, PGA and KPMG share the glory. We will never know how much negotiation and give-and-take went into that logo design, but it says it all very nicely.

5. With only about 2,000 female golf teaching professionals (about half in the PGA and the rest in the LPGA), female instructors will be given the opportunity to show their skills by qualifying for the new championship. Yes, good female teachers play good golf! And we need more of them. Sounds like a merger in the making of female teaching professionals from both the LPGA and the PGA. Hmmm . . . let's watch that unfold.

6. With increased sponsorship money coming from the PGA and KPMG, the prize money will draw viewers to the tournament and increase the quality of the field. This may be the biggest purse in women's golf . . . or the race is on to make it so.

7. NBC and the Golf Channel will show off their skills in making women's golf fun to watch and educational, with NBC applying all the good stuff it does for the Olympics. LPGA golfers will be seen in prime weekend time on NBC - a long-time goal of Whan.

8. KPMG is the perfect sponsor. Its accounting, tax, advisory and audit services are topics women are interested in. Women hold major business positions and make about 80 percent of a household's financial decisions. This is a great platform for the KPMG Women's Business Summit, which will be held in conjunction with the tournament.

9. All the 26,000 PGA of America male members that are the gatekeepers of the game at almost every local golf facility will have to promote this tournament at their courses, that is, if they know what's good for them. PGA professionals must put out the welcome mat for women golfers. And this new tournament may just motivate them to do it.

10. Finally . . . it's about time this happened! Congratulations to Whan and Bevacqua. You - along with KPMG and NBC - are now a team, sharing goals and accountability for finally putting the growth of women's golf in America on the front burner.

Nancy Berkley, President of Berkley Golf Consulting, is an expert on women's golf and junior-girls golf. She is a frequent contributor to www.cybergolf.com/womensgolf. Her book, "Women Welcome Here! A Guide to Growing Women's Golf," published by the National Golf Foundation, is an industry reference on marketing golf to women and spotting trends within the industry. She offers information and advice about the golf industry on www.berkleygolfconsulting.com and is often quoted in national publications. She was a contributing editor of "Golf for Women" magazine and a founding advisor of "Golfer Girl Magazine." Her interviews with women in the golf industry now appear on www.golfergirlcareers.com. Nancy lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, Harvard University and Rutgers Law School. After a business and legal career, she decided to write about the game she learned and loved as a teenager. She describes herself as a good bogey golfer with permanent potential.