New LPGA commissioner finds warm welcome in Texas heat at Women’s PGA Championship

FRISCO, Texas — Craig Kessler has made quite an impression around here, working the driving range in the sweltering heat and humidity at PGA Frisco.

He’s shaking hands, giving hugs and introducing himself to many of his newest clients—LPGA players—at the KMPG Women’s PGA Championship, the third major of the season.

He went to the champions dinner on Monday and has been chatting in the players’ lounge. He’s been visible and approachable.

The 40-year-old Kessler, who is a month away from his official start as the LPGA’s newest commissioner, made an impression on the course, too. Kessler played in Tuesday’s pro-am with LPGA Hall of Famer Lydia Ko and two Rolex executives. They won. Many joked that the new commissioner isn’t supposed to do that. Kessler laughed.

“We had a pretty stacked team,” said Kessler, a 5.5 handicap. “Lydia didn’t miss anything from inside 15 feet. Any time you’re in a group with not just talent but great camaraderie, anything is possible this week. And we showed up in the pro-am this week.”

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Kessler has a home course advantage at the PGA of America headquarters where he has an office and spoke to Golf Digest. He’s in the final weeks of his job as the chief operating officer, and he’s played the Fields Ranch East course about 30 times.

They say you can learn a lot about someone by playing a round of golf with them, and Lydia learned plenty.

“I had only heard a lot of lovely things about him,” Ko said. “I'm not just saying that because he's our new commissioner. It was from former players to people that worked with him at other companies. Everybody said a lot of great things, and I think he was exactly that.”

“It was just great to pick his brain and even ask him why he wanted to go for the commissioner role because it's not an easy job. For him to have this passion and this excitement to see where he can take our tour, I think it's great to have a leader like that. It was, I think, a great first meeting.

“I'm sure he's busy with still wrapping things up with the PGA of America and transitioning into our role as well, but it's exciting,” Ko continued. “I think it's a great time for golf. It's great to have somebody like him that's enthusiastic and really wants to see how far we can go.”

Kessler has started each day this week at 6:30 a.m. with meetings and introductions. His positive attitude is unmistakable and it’s been returned. Kessler didn’t have an expectation of what his first unofficial in-person week on the job would be like, but he sure was happy about the way things have gone before the major championship started early Thursday.

“It’s been incredible. Their energy is palpable. There’s a sense of gratitude,” Kessler said. “One of the things that surprised me the most is so many of the players have said ‘thank you for taking the job.’ I’m the one who feels like the lucky guy. The fact they’re excited for the next chapter, and they’re asking ‘what can we do to help’ gives me a ton of energy.

“… I’m not sure I had expectations, but it certainly feels good to walk into a warm environment where your key stakeholders are excited about what’s to come.”

World No. 1 Nelly Korda spent a few minutes talking with Kessler this week. His three sons—ages 5, 8 and 9—hope to meet Korda this weekend, when the Dallas-based Kessler family will be here to watch the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. And, of course, they can’t wait to give Korda a new Lego set.

“It's great to see him making his rounds and introduce himself to each player,” Korda said. “It's already going in a great direction there.”

Recent U.S. Women’s Open winner Maja Stark met Kessler on the driving range.

“He seems great. You can only get so much from a hello, but he seems very excited,” the 25-year-old Swede said. “He had a lot of questions when I saw him talking to other players. It was funny, my college teammate [Jenna Solheim] who works for Ping walked up to me at the same time as Craig and I was so excited to see her that I started talking to her. I felt so bad.”

No doubt Stark’s enthusiasm was mirrored by the enthusiasm Kessler has this week, asking questions.

Span’s Carlota Ciganda met Kessler, but she had already received a congratulatory message from him after she won the Meijer LPGA Classic on Sunday. Kessler has been reaching out to players, and all winners on tour since he was announced as the LPGA’s 10th commissioner.

Amy Yang, the defending champion this week at the KPMG Women’s PGA, said she spoke to him briefly at the champions dinner as they were on opposite ends of the table. They dined on a menu curated by her of everything from a trio of kimbap (Korean sushi rolls) to sundubu-jjigae (soft tofu seafood stew).

“He’s a very nice guy and I’m really looking forward to what he will do for the tour,” Yang said.

There’s been many impactful conversations with players, from European Solheim Cup captain Anna Nordqvist to Ireland’s Leona Maguire. Many more are sure to continue for the rest of this week.

“Anna Nordqvist, who I’ve known for a while, and has wrapped her arms around me in so many ways said come meet me for lunch. I sat and hung out with her and Danielle Kang for a while,” Kessler said. “To sit across from two legends of the game who couldn’t be more different from each other, that was a special moment because it reminded me that different stakeholders will have different priorities, even if those stakeholders are players. Danielle has a point of view on where the tour can go, and I learned so much. Anna has a point of view on where the tour can go and how to make the Solheim Cup even better than it already is and learned so much from her.

“I sat down for maybe a half an hour, totally unprompted, with Leona Maguire, listening to her talk about what it was like to play at Duke and what it means to be on tour and her path,” he continued. “Super impactful conversation, particularly because it wasn’t staged, not planned, just happened organically. Those are three examples where I’ve left really excited about what’s possible.”

Ko had many questions for Kessler during their round and had the unique opportunity to have his ear for five hours. She had an important first question to start their round Tuesday.

“First of all, she is an incredible human being. I mean, she's a golfer, she's a leader, she's a friend, and she asks incredible questions. I mean, her first question right out of the gates was, ‘why did you want to be the LPGA commissioner,’” Kessler said.

“I think it also helped that we share some friends in common, Jeehae Lee, who's a remarkable woman, started Sportsbox. She graduated from Yale and played on tour. We worked together at Topgolf, having that common connection point I thought was just a wonderful way to start. I think what I learned from Lydia is that this is more than a job, it's more than a tour. She feels it's a family. And again, to walk into an environment like that, that's pretty special.”