Whaley would like health care and retirement benefits to be universal for all PGA membersGETTY IMAGES
The PGA Championship teed off in May for the first time today with PGA of America President Suzy Whaley in the first year of her two-year tenure, and "helping raise the profile of the organization's showcase event" is a "key plank of Whaley's vast and ambitious agenda," according to Edgar Thompson of the ORLANDO SENTINEL. The "real work" for Whaley and PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh "involves improving the lot" of the organization's roughly 29,000 members. Whaley, who remains an active instructor, "would like health care and retirement benefits, like pensions, to be universal for all PGA members." Whaley also said that a "top priority is to partner with communities and municipalities to revive struggling golf facilities" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 5/14). In Philadelphia, Joe Juliano noted Whaley has been in the "forefront of creating more playing opportunities for girls and women." She "proudly notes that National Golf Foundation data released last month showed the No. 1 demographic in the game's growth is girls." She "credits in large part the PGA Junior League, which is in its seventh year" and counts USWNT F Alex Morgan, golfer Rickie Fowler and Warriors G Stephen Curry "among its 'ambassadors.'" The creation in '15 of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship has "generated clinics across the country for women who play or want to learn the game" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 5/14).
