The LPGA is aiming for a breakthrough moment.
With new commissioner Craig Kessler at the helm, the LPGA is entering a whole new era, planning to improve its product and increase its profile to compete in the ongoing attention wars that have consumed professional sports.
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Kessler has only been on the job for just six months, but he’s already made some important changes that hint at a different landscape for the LPGA going forward. He put together a groundbreaking new television broadcast deal to ensure every tournament round will be broadcast live on Golf Channel or CNBC. He brought in Golf Saudi as a new tournament sponsor with a purse of $4 million. He moved the Chevron Championship to Houston’s Memorial Park Golf Course and has begun reworking the schedule to maximize its value.
Mr. Kessler has big vision and has thus far demonstrated the ability and willingness to do what his predecessors were unable or unwilling to do. The 2026 season will be a big one for the LPGA and the Kessler era. It could be the starting point for the big growth envisioned by players and management, and could lead to the breakthrough that women’s golf has been waiting for.
The pivotal season begins at the end of January, with five key players and five questions shaping the season, which could be the beginning of a slow build to the moment Kessler and the LPGA envision.
Craig Kessler’s next move
Let’s start with Kessler.
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As mentioned earlier, he has been all in since taking office, and it’s clear that the flurry of action at the beginning was just the beginning.
At the CME Group Tour Championship in November, Kessler further outlined his approach to establishing the high-profile position the LPGA seeks. That starts with an already improved television broadcast deal, but it also requires increasing the visibility of the LPGA’s biggest stars both on and off the ropes.
Join us: WTGL is a women’s simulator league announced this week by TMRW Sports, which owns the LPGA and TGL.
Kessler said she started hearing from players about the possibility of a women’s TGL even before she officially took over. Mike McCurry of TMRW Sports said that while the current focus is on getting the WTGL off the ground, there is interest in LPGA players sharing the stage with PGA Tour stars in crossover events. As the LPGA seeks to reach a broader audience, WTGL provides an avenue to reach a younger, more diverse audience.
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“I think it means a lot,” Lexi Thompson told ESPN’s Matt Barry about the creation of WTGL. “It’s just brought a whole different fan base to the game of golf, and I think that’s what we need. Golf is getting faster and every shot is hitting the screen. I think the fans are getting more involved and understanding the personalities of the men and now the women. I think it’s really great for the game of golf as a whole.”
From her new TV deal to WTGL, Kessler has already made some notable moves to elevate women’s golf to where it belongs. His next move will be just as important as his first.
The Resurrection of Nelly Korda
In 2025, a year after winning seven times, Korda was unable to win, even though statistics showed her game was at about the same level.
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“I would say it’s definitely been an interesting year,” Korda said at the CME Group Tour Championship. “There were some good things, some really good signs, and there were flashes of not knowing what happened. Overall, I think it’s just like golf. It’s always hard to back that up considering what happened last year.”
Korda had a chance to win the U.S. Women’s Open, but couldn’t defeat eventual champion Maja Stark on Sunday at Erin Hills. She fell to second place in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and failed to qualify for any of the final three majors of the year. Still, even though the 2025 title was a goose egg, Korda, the LPGA’s biggest star, didn’t consider it a failure. It was just the ebb and flow of a sport where people win and lose by the slimmest of margins.
“Honestly, it’s a fine line,” Korda said. “At the end of the day, sometimes it’s a one-shot. It’s like missing the lip of a one-putt and you don’t have any momentum. It’s really a fine line when it comes to golf.”
“I don’t necessarily think I’m a bad golfer, I don’t necessarily think I’m a good golfer. I think maybe a few more things went my way last year. That’s how golf is. I’m never going to have a pity party or, oh, why this You never wonder if it’s in a divot or why it bounced so badly. That’s how it is. Sometimes you get a good bounce, a good break, and sometimes you get hit back.”
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But as the LPGA enters a critical season after a season dominated by parity, how Korda bounces back and has any chance of re-emerging as a dominant force in the women’s game will be crucial. The depth of talent on the LPGA is clear. Without it, we wouldn’t have a season with 29 unique winners and just two repeat champions. But as the LPGA looks to strengthen and advance, having one or two strong stars who can reach a broader audience is at least necessary, if not essential.
“Certainly from a tour and fan standpoint, it’s great to have a player like Nellie, who was so dominant last year,” Hall of Famer Lydia Ko said. “Especially in her case, she’s getting a lot of attention. In Nelly’s case, being an American player, that’s getting a lot of attention. Even people who don’t play golf know who Tiger Woods is. Having numbers like that is certainly very important, but at the same time, it’s just the level of play from No. 1 to No. 100 in the CME rankings, and I don’t think the talent is all that different.”
“It’s kind of a double-edged sword in that sense because we just want to see the game as a whole grow, so we want depth and talent, but at the same time, if you’re going to pitch someone, it’s a lot easier to pitch one person than it is to pitch 30.”
How will Nelly Korda bounce back in 2026? That could be the deciding issue for the upcoming season.
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Nelly Korda watches Gino Titicle shoot.
Gino Titicle encore
While Korda is lumbering toward a winless 2025, Titikul dominated the season in every way that matters except one.
The 22-year-old has won three times, finished in the top three eight times and finished in the top ten fourteen times. She won the Player of the Year award and the Vale Trophy, breaking Annika Sorenstam’s record for lowest scoring average in LPGA history in the process.
Titikul overtook Korda to become world No. 1 in 2025, achieving everything except winning his first major. She entered this weekend’s KPMG Women’s PGA as one of the main contenders, but watched Minjee Lee pass her in Frisco over the weekend. Titicle held the Evian championship until Grace Kim snatched the title from her in a playoff on Sunday.
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In a year that came to be defined by common years, Titikul was the dominant force. She has a chance to back that up in 2026, break out on the major stage and become one of the faces of the LPGA.
Charlie Hull’s potential breakthrough
Charlie Hull is one of the cornerstones of the LPGA. When she is in the field, crowds flock to her. Her popularity has increased over the past few seasons and rivals Cordas.
As I said above, the LPGA needs stars, and we need them to win on the course and prove themselves off the course. Kessler praised Hull as one of the LPGA’s top stars who is active in more than just golf.
“I’m just being myself,” Hull told GOLF. “I think it’s great to be invited[to the British banquet]. I’ve had a pretty good year and it’s been great. I think it’s good for women’s golf to let people recognize that. Yeah, I’m just being myself.”
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But at 29 years old, Hull is still waiting for his big breakthrough moment. She has eight career wins, including three on the LPGA, but has yet to win a major championship. Hull has finished runner-up four times in major tournaments, including the 2025 AIG Women’s Open, where Sunday’s Charge fell short and Miyu Yamashita walked away with the trophy.
Hal is a star. She is a tremendous talent with long-hitting power and has the type of personality that the LPGA needs to further expand on. But can her performance match or even surpass her explosive popularity? The answer will be important for the important season ahead.
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Lexi Thompson looks on during Annika
Emergence of new (or old) stars
Star amateur Lottie Ward had a memorable summer in the 2025 season.
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Ward won the KPMG Women’s Irish Open, came close to winning the Evian Championship and then won the Scottish Open shortly after turning professional.
As the LPGA looks to develop new star players, Ward appears to be the frontrunner.
So is Rose Chan, who is cutting back on her schedule to pursue a communications degree at Stanford University. Due to schedule changes and a neck injury, it was a “struggle bus” season for Zhang. However, she played well at the FM Championship at TPC Boston and is scheduled to receive her degree in March, which should prepare her to return to a full-time playing schedule.
A two-time winner on the LPGA Tour, Chang made his first professional start and quickly became one of the most popular players on the tour after a star amateur career. Dividing time between professional golf and studies will be difficult for her game, but Zhang expects to be back by the time the major season begins in 2026, when the balance is over.
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