ORLANDO — The 2025 LPGA season kicks off this week with the Hilton Grand Holidays Event of Champions, a 32-player subject with loads of star energy, hype, and fanfare.
However the daybreak of this new season additionally options loads of trepidation. Former LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan officially resigned earlier this month, and the board has not but chosen a brand new chief. As an alternative, Chief Authorized and Know-how Officer Liz Moore stays the Interim Commissioner, a job with a bevy of obligations contemplating the problems that plagued the LPGA in 2024. The Solheim Cup transportation gaffe involves thoughts, and so does the glacial tempo of play. However extra importantly, the LPGA has seen sponsors pull out of tournaments, a startling signal regardless of the overwhelming rise in recognition throughout girls’s sports activities.
That’s why Annika Sorenstam, the best feminine participant of all time, ought to assume the position of Commissioner. However the 10-time main winner would by no means do it and mentioned so on Tuesday at Lake Nona Golf Membership when requested by SB Nation.
Nonetheless, Sorenstam is aware of what this place entails and what it takes to steer such a prestigious group.
“I feel if you look it’s vital to have anyone that may talk. It’s a must to talk with lots of people. You bought the gamers, media, companions, and followers. It’s a posh job I feel for lots of causes, however I’ve little question they’re going to take their time and discover the proper particular person,” Sorenstam mentioned.
“I feel girls’s sports activities are an incredible place proper now. A number of alternative. A number of upside in so some ways. You speak to plenty of the gamers week after week, you see what sort of nice athletes they’re and people. I feel it is going to be an thrilling job for anyone that’s prepared to take that on.”
If solely Sorenstam may take it on. She is likely one of the most distinguished folks in all of golf, not simply the LPGA. She empathizes with numerous points, akin to tv publicity, sponsors, and scheduling. Heck, one other reporter within the media heart even quipped that she ought to have assumed the position of LPGA Commissioner a decade in the past.
However Sorenstam is a mom firstly and didn’t wish to decide to enjoying full-time. There’s a motive why she stepped away from the LPGA virtually twenty years in the past now. But, she nonetheless has that drive to compete, in order that’s why she’s enjoying within the celeb division of this week’s Hilton Grand Holidays Event of Champions.
“It’s enjoyable for me to nonetheless have the ability to considerably compete,” Sorenstam mentioned.
“I do know we’re not in the identical competitors as them however I will probably be enjoying with some LPGA gamers. Simply to have a foot within the recreation, I really like that. As you already know I actually nonetheless benefit from the recreation.”
Certainly, Sorenstam continues to like, assist, and cherish the LPGA in any approach she will. She nonetheless believes in the way forward for the ladies’s recreation, regardless of the problems the group has confronted.
“It’s an attention-grabbing time for the LPGA,” Sorenstam mentioned.
“I don’t wish to be the commissioner, however you probably have a crystal ball, all of us wish to be seen and heard, whether or not that’s TV or any form of publicity. The extra, the higher.”
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By. Observe him on X @jack_milko.