The LPGA, PGA of America and KPMG this year joined forces to create the inaugural 2015 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship with a new twist: the creation of the KPMG Women’s Leadership Summit that added a cause-related component to the major event.
Organizers of the event, played in mid-June at the premier Westchester Country Club outside of New York City, already are at work to add even more prominence to the major championship that next year moves to the Seattle area’s Sahalee Golf Club.
So what are the strategies being bandied as the two golf properties, sponsor KPMG and consultant CAA plot to
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KPMG Chairman and CEO Lynne Doughtie speaks to guests at the leadership summit.
Photo by: Getty Images |
make year two bigger than year one?
“For this event, it is about creating different fan experiences,” said Kevin Ring, chief revenue officer of the PGA of America. “That is how we make it feel bigger.”
Under consideration is the development of a fan festival at the event next year to draw more general golf fans to the tournament.
“We do need to create more events on-site and in the community,” said Jon Podany, chief marketing officer of the LPGA.
Attendance at this year’s event in the cluttered New York sports market averaged between 15,000 and 20,000 and organizers want more fans on the course next year.
“A key area is attendance,” Podany said. “New York is a tough market and that is part of it. We need to do a better job of getting more people on-site to create more energy.”
A key strategic element is to continue to put the tournament at premier sites such as Sahalee, which played host to the 1998 PGA Championship and the 2010 U.S. Senior Open. Such a move satisfies not only the tour players but also delivers top quality golf for the event broadcast on NBC and the Golf Channel.
“The approach with the LPGA, us and KPMG was to bring the best female players to the best golf courses in the country,” Ring said.
It is also no accident that the tournament is shifting from the East Coast to the West Coast in order to attract a new roster of leading female executives to take part in KPMG’s Women’s Leadership Summit that is a key part of the event’s activation.
Condoleezza Rice was the keynote speaker of this year’s summit, which brought together women leaders in sports, business and media with the goal of empowering and encouraging the advancement of women executives.
With Sahalee located near Seattle, the hope is to draw top women leaders up from Silicon Valley and other parts of the West Coast.
“Having it at Sahalee and in the Pacific Northwest creates the opportunity to take it to another level,” said Kelly Hyne, vice president of strategic partnerships for the LPGA. “KPMG will look to take advantage of the location and West Coast CEOs. The thrill of moving it around is to showcase it to a whole new fan base.”
