For New LPGA Commissioner Craig Kessler, "There's no Silver Bullet Solution" to the Tour's Growth

We're 10 days into the new era of the LPGA, and Commissioner Craig Kessler is making sure that folks get to know him and his goals.

The newly appointed head of the Tour joined the Inside the Ropes podcast hosted by social media host Hope Barnett and LPGA Tour player Emma Talley this week as a bit of a check in after his first official week.

Kessler's first day on the job was quite a special one, right on the heels of Evian, where Grace Kim had one of the most dramatic major championship finishes we've seen all year long. "This is what the LPGA is all about," Kessler said. "These incredible athletes doing unbelievable things. I talked to Grace briefly afterwards, she's on cloud nine. To have that happen at the outset of my time with the organization...how cool is that?"

Throughout the 40-minute episode we get glimpses of his personality, with each host ping-ponging different style questions at him, but towards the final few minutes, Kessler begins to dive into what I think most of what fans wanted to hear.

With the continual rise of popularity and buzz around leagues like the WNBA and the NWSL with women's soccer, Barnett posed the question to the commissioner, asking if and when that moment will hit women's golf. The growth of women's sports is clear, but a major issue that plagued the previous commissioner was the failure to capitalize on the moment.

"There's no silver bullet solution here. The way the LPGA will have it's moment and break through is lots of little things that will layer on top of one another," explains Kessler, who goes on to detail three main focus areas," Kessler said.

"The more players can lean in and tell their stories on social and generate fans, not just people who watch the LPGA but people who root for the LPGA. Players carry an enormous amount of weight because they can inspire in ways nobody else can."

Kessler goes on to call on the Tour's partners to also help centralize women and women's golf in their commercial content that helps showcase LPGA athletes.

And finally, he calls on the organization to do more research and data analysis on the fans, identifying who they are engaging with, but also who they seem to be missing out on.

The full conversation is now available to watch on YouTube and on platforms where you listen to your podcasts.