The Mollie Marcoux Samaan Exit Interview

A little over a month ago, news broke that LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan would step down from her post just weeks before the start of the 2025 season. My initial thought was how abrupt the announcement felt, especially given how the end of the season shaped out. Drawing in attention from a Caitlin Clark pro-am appearance followed by the largest pay day in women’s golf history—all signs were pointing in a positive direction. But there’s more to it. Marcoux Samaan told me herself, the LPGA is more than just a tour, it’s an organization with many complex moving parts, and no matter how well things seem to work for one part of the overall machine, you need the whole thing to hum a pretty tune, at all times.

It’s not a job for the faint of heart. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it—women’s golf is teetering on the cusp of what we are currently witnessing with women’s basketball and the WNBA. Increased interest is trickling in, it’s only a matter of time before it will be pouring in. Or will it? Finding Marcoux Samaan’s successor is a pivotal moment for the tour and a decision the Tour’s search committee can’t afford to get wrong.

Liz Moore, the Chief Legal and Technology Officer and Corporate Secretary of the LPGA officially steps in as the interim starting today. As for Marcoux Samaan, she sat down with me yesterday afternoon, on her final day as commissioner, to reflect on her time with the tour.

This is the second time in 49 days that I've spoken to her. The last time we chatted was at the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fl. A lot has changed, but Marcoux Samaan hasn’t. She held the same demeanor, friendly but a bit guarded at the start, we exchanged pleasantries before diving in and with time we found a groove in making each other more comfortable in the conversation.

Every time I leave our conversations, I’m reminded that this is a person who truly cares about the growth of women’s sports. You can see it in her eyes, you hear it with the intonation of her voice—and for that I tip my hat and say, thank you.

(Author's note: This conversation was edited for readability.)

ADDIE PARKER: Walk me through the last month or so that you've had since the announcement went out that you were stepping down. What's been your list of top priorities in the last month before you leave your post as commissioner?

MOLLIE MARCOUX SAMAAN: The number one priority is obviously making sure that Liz Moore is set up for success in her interim role. So that transition is really critical, and making sure that I'm giving her all the information that she needs, giving her background on all of the projects and initiatives that we're working on. Giving her, you know, all the knowledge that she needs to be able to move forward.

And obviously, she's been with the organization for a long time. She's been involved in a lot of the big strategic initiatives and the things that we've done over the last three and a half, almost four years of my time, and six or seven years before that. That's been the main goal.

So a lot of communication, a lot of conversations, a lot of meetings with our team and staff. I feel really confident in the team that we have. I feel really confident in Liz. I feel really confident in the board and where the organization is going.

AP: I'm curious to know your relationship with Liz prior to her stepping in as the interim. How closely have you worked together prior to this?

MMS: Yeah, we've worked really closely. I mean, we’ve been hand in glove in a lot of the work that we've done. She has a really important, senior role, and a role that has expanded during the time that I've been here, giving her more responsibility, and [we] brought her into a lot of the big things that we've been working on and decisions that we've been working on. So yeah, we've worked really closely together.

AP: You said in your previous answer that over the course of the last three or four years, you [and your team] developed these big initiatives for the organization. Do you feel as though you were able to accomplish what you set out to do when you first took over this role, despite your time being cut short?

MMS: I mean, I'm really proud of what we've accomplished. We've worked really hard, and fast, and furiously, and we've gotten a ton done. When I reflect back to when I started, starting with just the metrics that are so important and that we put out there—you know that people have seen just the growth of the organization in the last three and a half years is really quite remarkable.

To go from $68 million in purses to $126 million this past year, and $131 million for 2025 and still growing, you know, that's over 90% growth right now at the first levels before the season starts. And I expect that those will continue to grow.

The player incomes doubled. At the start we looked at what the 100th best player in the world was making, if you're the 100th Best Female golfer in the world, you should be able to make a living that's commensurate with that talent. We've grown that from $120,000 in 2021 to over $200,000 this year. Do I think we're there yet? Not yet, I mean, but I do think the growth will continue.

Something that I've been very passionate about my entire career is player performance. Making sure that we're providing an environment for the athletes to be able to reach peak performance. So we really looked at the schedule. We met with our athletes and heard what was really important to them and how they want to move around the world, how the schedule looks geographically, but also the type of tournaments that we have, and what we do when they're at the tournament. Providing them that environment, with better food, with better strength and conditioning spaces and physio spaces.

Golf is hard, as you know, Addie, when, when you go out to play and you don't make the cut, you've just spent a lot of money to be out there and you haven't made a dime. And so we really looked at, how many guaranteed earnings can we give? When I started, there were maybe 10 tournaments that had some type of a missed cut stipend or a travel stipend. And there were over 17 tournaments this year that offered that benefit.

And then health insurance. You know, we're offering health insurance to our athletes in 2025. That was something that I heard from the athletes from the minute I started. And we worked really hard to grow the stipend, and then this year to be able to really give them full health insurance is really important.

Lastly, building a marketing team, building a communications team, to be able to grow the fan base and to bring more people under our tent, which is really important. Obviously, the most important thing we do in sports is to make sure that we have fans consuming our content and really watching these amazing athletes compete.

So I feel like we've accomplished a ton in that short period of time, and when I look back, I'm really proud of what we've done.

AP: All that being said, what do you hope that your legacy as commissioner is? To the fans, to golf at large, what do you think people will really take away from your time as commissioner?

MMS: Well, I hope they take away that growth. This period has been the biggest period of growth of the LPGA, a 75-year history, which is quite remarkable. I think that people should look back and say that we really looked to take the LPGA to the next level and modernize the organization. To build that infrastructure to handle this growth that's here with us now, but also the growth that's coming.

Another area that I hope people look back on and say that we really focused on, is the second part of our mission, how the LPGA can have an impact outside of golf, for young girls and women. To use our platform to elevate girls and women, you know, outside the golf course, and we've really been very intentional with that.

AP: What would you say was a “rose” moment of your time as commissioner? The thing that you look back on, and you had to just kind of pat yourself in the back a little bit?

MMS: I think just this year at CME [Group Tour Championship]. Announcing the 2025 schedule, that's been a real work in progress for a lot of people. A ton of people work on that, our partners really stepping up at so many different levels to understand the importance of the geographic flow, to understand the importance of growth, to understand the importance of making every event be a great experience for our fans and and for their guests. The schedule that we put out, I'm really proud of this year. I mean, there's so many moments and so many things that I've been like, "wow, we really did it," and we really accomplished that. But I think probably putting out the schedule for 2025 is really something I'm proud of.

AP: To coincide with the "rose" moment, I have to ask—is there any point where you wish you had a mulligan? A re-do?

MMS: In a complex organization like this that has a lot of moving parts, if you don't reflect on those mistakes, and you don't try to build off of things that didn't go perfectly, then I don't think you're doing a good job of leading. Obviously, we would like to have a do over on the buses for Solheim. That was something that was a miss on our part, that we quickly rectified. And I believe the team came together in a really effective way to solve the problem very quickly.

But, yeah, we would like to have a do over on that, you know? And obviously there's others [moments] along the way, but generally, when you have an organization that is growth-minded, team-oriented, we come together and say we're not going to be perfect, but we are going to be reflective, and we are going to try to get better every day. Then I think you're running a good organization.

AP: You said it best, this is an organization that has many, many parts to it. It's very complex. It's almost unlike anything else I've seen in sports as a whole. I’m curious to hear from you, your perspective on what are the challenges that come with being the head of a women's sports organization, especially in 2025?

MMS: I think the biggest challenge is really resources. You know, when you have more resources than you can do more things, and women's sports have always been under-resourced. Whether it's in actual financial resources or whether it's in media exposure, media coverage, staffing and and all the things that go into running a great organization. When you're under-resourced, it's hard to really hit your peak potential. And I think that's what people are seeing in women's sports when you know it's put on at the right time, when it's marketed aggressively, when it has the resources and the staff to be able to grow the demand is there for the product.

That’s just a universal challenge with women's sports, is just making sure that you have the infrastructure, you have a great strategy for the infrastructure, and you have the people to be able to implement that strategy.

The LPGA being a global tour, it's complex, and it's so exciting, and there's so many amazing things about it. I'm really proud of how global our tour is. We have seven countries represented in the top 10 players in the world which is really amazing, but it comes with challenges, right?

You're moving all around the world, and you have to manage all of that and balance all of that. Every event is a different animal, and you have to make sure you're great at every event. So what you did the week before doesn't matter for the next week. You have to be just as good the next week. And so you have to keep being attentive to all those details and making sure that you're working closely with your partners at every single event to hit their goals and to make sure that they are getting the return on the investment that they're making and the commitment that they're making.

So you know, those are all complex things, but I think the result, the success we've had speaks for itself, and it's exciting and it's amazing to be a part of the longest standing women's sports organization. 75 years of women making a living playing golf is remarkable. But I do think that the biggest thing that women's sports organizations have to continue to focus on is getting those resources, because the demand will be there, the interest in the athletes will be there, and it will continue to grow with the right resources,

AP: At CME, we chatted about Annika [Sorenstam] and Nancy’s [Lopez] roles as mentors to players. At any point during your time, was there a specific person that you could really find yourself leaning in on and at times where you needed some advice?

MMS: There's so many of them. I mean, I've gotten to know many of the former players who care so deeply about the LPGA, and hearing their perspective, hearing their ideas, is something that I really enjoyed. I don't want to necessarily name one or two, because there's so many of them. Nancy Lopez [laughing]—I will name a few. Nancy has been great. Annika is obviously amazing. And Julie Inkster has been a phenomenal friend. Pat Bradley has been amazing. Patty Sheehan, I mean, the list goes on, Beth Daniel and Meg Malin.

I don't want to leave anyone out, because there are so many that have really still stayed so involved in the LPGA and have been committed to its growth well beyond their playing time. I feel very blessed that I was able to call all of those people—Kari Webb—again, I shouldn't have started naming names, because there's so many others, but they're all really committed to the LPGA and committed to the growth of the organization, and never look back and say, “Oh, I wish we were making that amount of money”. I think they're just very proud of what you know, where the tour has grown to.

AP: Moving forward, for Liz, and then whoever else will take up the mantle—is there anything that you can add some color on in what needs to change in the system of things? Things that you maybe were not able to execute in your time, but you're hoping that will continue to be implemented throughout the rest of LPGA time, and as it continues to grow.

MMS: We've got a really great partnership team, and we want to continue to grow that corporate marketing footprint and make sure that we're continuing to bring in big partners that can help elevate the organization, but can also build their brand and connect their values to the LPGA. So I think that's a real growth area.

I think tech is a real growth area. We launched a new website in the fourth quarter of 2024 which allows us to really have better communication with our fans, to have single user sign on, to know how our fans are engaging in our content, to be able to see who our fans are and what they are interested in, and that's something that we're really going to build on in the future. And so I'm really looking forward to that. I think the LPGA needs to continue to grow its data. Data is really important in this professional sports world these days, making sure that you know who your fans are, how you communicate with them, how you get them to be a part of your whole organization. So that's something that I know that Liz will do and the whole marketing, comms, and content teams will be out there pushing to continue to bring more people underneath our tent. I think we are behind from a tech standpoint, and so continuing to focus on developing our sports tech, but also business tech and marketing tech across the board, absolutely.

AP: You've dropped a few easter eggs to maybe what this answer might be for my next question, but what will you miss the most about the LPGA?

MMS: It's always about people. It's always about the relationships and about the people that you've met and that you get to work with every day. In work, I believe that you should work hard and have fun along the way. When you work in sports, it's not a job, it's a lifestyle. But at the end of the day, it always comes down to the people that you've met and that you've gotten to be friends with, and that you are in the trenches together with. That's the players, the partners, the staff, the media. I know that those friendships will endure and that I'll stay closely in touch with many, many people.

AP: One last question for you, Mollie. What's next for you? Do you see yourself staying pretty close to golf? Will you step away for a little bit?

MMS: As I said, I'm really proud of what we've built and where we are, and I know the LPGA will be in great shape. For me, it's a really great time for me to focus on cheering on our kids. My husband and I have three, three kids, two in college and one in high school. And to be able to spend time cheering them on and supporting them and their passions is really exciting for me.

I’m not exactly sure what's next. I got some fun projects that I'm about to start working on, but I will certainly be staying in sports and using my experience to be able to continue to have impact through golf and through other sports. I love the golf community. I love golf. I will probably be playing more than I've played in the past, and I'm really passionate about getting better at the game. And as I said to you, I'd like to have you come down and play. And I think that's just the beauty of that game, it is so social. You get to meet so many people from so many different walks of life, and you can all do it together, no matter what your skill level is. And so I'm excited for the future, but I'm also excited for where the LPGA is headed.