KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

June 23, 2026

Terry Clark

Tim Walsh

Craig Kessler

Hazeltine National Golf Club

Press Conference

GREG DILLARD: Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you all for joining us this week at the 2026 KPMG Women's PGA Championship. On behalf of the PGA of America, KPMG, and the LPGA Tour, welcome to one of the finest major championship venues in the country, Hazeltine National Golf Club.

Before the best tee off on Thursday morning at 7:00 a.m., we're very fortunate to spend some time today with the leaders of each organization, who together make this a world class major.

Please say hello to KPMG U.S. chair and CEO Tim Walsh, PGA of America CEO Terry Clark, and the commissioner of the LPGA Tour, Craig Kessler.

Tim, let's kick things off with you. We saw some very exciting news yesterday regarding this championship's purse. What more can you tell us?

TIM WALSH: Let me just -- let me hit that news again because it is incredibly exciting certainly to KPMG. That news was that the purse for this event will be $13 million this year at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, which represents the highest purse, the largest purse that has ever been awarded in women's professional golf history.

KPMG has been part of this event now for 12 years, and what you see out here is a result of a lot of dedication and work for many, many people over those years. When we think back to that first purse, which was just over $2 million, now we're at 13, almost 500 percent increase in that award.

And what that does to support these incredible female athletes in this sport, we're just super proud and incredibly proud to be doing that with PGA of America and the LPGA Tour.

GREG DILLARD: Tim, as title sponsor of the KPMG Women's Championship, KPMG has been really setting the standard of excellence in golf for the last 12 years. How are you guys leveling up again this year?

TIM WALSH: So the purse is one part of the investment, but just one part. We have been really bringing what we bring to our clients every single day in terms of delivering that Tech forward, Ai forward experience in decision-making, data analytics, problem solving, and bringing that power to the game.

We've done that over the last number of years through KPMG Performance Insights, and this year is no different. We will be adding some features certainly this year, and one that we're super proud of is the players reel, and that is a recap for the players, each individual player as soon as they're done with the round, that can provide them a bespoke assessment hole by hole, shot by shot, in terms of their overall performance, fundamental with data analytics, et cetera.

The Ai part of that equation is it powers it. It makes it realtime. They literally will step off the course, and that player reel will be delivered to them into their mobile device. They can step off, and they can go to the practice range and work on what they may want to in terms of changing strategy, et cetera.

In addition, and this is really exciting for the fan experience and the media, is the KPMG Predictive Engine, and that is also an Ai-enabled predictive engine that will essentially help the media see -- again, hole by hole, shot by shot -- the predictive sort of analysis that will help them think through how they want to form their commentary.

And of course that will be across NBC broadcast and digital, the Golf Channel, broadcast and digital, and Peacock. So that's really exciting.

GREG DILLARD: Next we'll hear from PGA of America CEO Terry Clark. Terry, this week of course marks your first KPMG Women's PGA Championship as CEO, and it's also a home game. How special is it to be here in Minnesota?

TERRY CLARK: Thanks for the question, Greg. I spent the last years living in this market. Twin Cities has been home for our family, and it's just great to be here as part of that.

Part of it is just being around bringing championship golf to Minnesota. This is a market that really supports it and comes out. You see it again this week. We're at an incredible venue at Hazeltine National. We have nearly 1,500 volunteers; 82 percent of those are Minnesotans. I think I know 98 percent of those 82 percent, we'll see.

But we're at this place at a really important time in women's golf that I am just excited to be home and bringing a world class championship to the Twin Cities.

GREG DILLARD: Hazeltine is the golf course that is steeped in history and tradition. What makes it significant to bring this championship back here for a second time?

TERRY CLARK: Well, you really talk about being at one of the iconic venues in golf, and that's one of the things we really pride ourselves in with our championships, especially with the KPMG Women's PGA Championship.

One of the things we're focused on is having the best women in golf play on the best stages, and this is one of them.

It's one with a storied history, a community, and a membership that really supports championship golf. You see it, you feel it in everything you do. We're going next year to Congressional. We're going to Bethpage Black after that. It is one of the elements that makes this championship really special, is putting women, and the best women in the world, in a place that they can really shine.

I sat last night at the Champions Dinner and talked to so many current champions from today that are still playing and some of the champions from yesteryear that were all talking about these venue selections being so important and how welcoming and big it meant for the game when we could be here.

It's a really important part, and we thank the membership here and the leadership at Hazeltine for making this happen.

GREG DILLARD: Next we'll go to LPGA commissioner Craig Kessler. Craig, in your opinion, what is the state of this championship?

CRAIG KESSLER: Greg, thank you. Thank you to all the members of the media for being here today.

The state of this championship is better than it's ever been. Tim and Terry have both hit on some of the highlights, but let me share with the group what excites me about the KPMG Women's PGA Championship.

First, we're playing some of the greatest courses in the world. And to go to Congressional next year, Bethpage Black the year after that, I said yesterday during our welcome reception at the pro-am party, one of my favorite parts of the job is walking the range during tournament week, and particularly during a major.

You can feel the energy from our players when they're extra excited to be here. That is the range you get this week at Hazeltine. Our players are fired up to be playing such an iconic venue.

Also, it helps that KPMG announced yesterday they're playing for the largest purse in the history of women's professional golf.

By the way, the player experience is better than ever before. The fan experience, the viewer experience, with all the investments that both KPMG and the PGA of America are making, they're off the charts.

One other thing I'd say is it's no coincidence, I believe, that if you look at the growth in the women's recreational game over the last five years, it's up 50 percent, and that doesn't happen on its own.

It happens because these two organizations have made such a substantial investment. When you turn on the TV this week to watch the best athletes in the world compete, you can't help yourself but to be inspired.

There are so many women and girls, even boys and men, who are going to say to themselves, I want to now pick up a golf club and be like Nelly. That only happens because of the investment these guys and their organizations are making.

GREG DILLARD: Can you tell us really about the value of these partnerships?

CRAIG KESSLER: None of what any of us have described happens without partnerships. Partnerships we've found are the key to inspiring, the key to unlocking potential.

Again, we're just -- if you walk away with one message from today, it's how deeply grateful the LPGA is to be partnered with the PGA of America and with KPMG.

GREG DILLARD: We've got time for a few questions from the media.

Q. With Nelly potentially being able to play her way into the Hall of Fame, no one votes on it, I was curious your thoughts on what makes that the best way to pick a Hall of Famer in your sport?

CRAIG KESSLER: Let's start with the obvious. Nelly is two points away from earning her spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame. If she wins this week, she does it.

I think one of the amazing things about halls of fame is they celebrate the best athletes of all time, and from time to time there's controversy because people have to decide who fits the bill.

It doesn't work that way at the LPGA. The LPGA, to your point, you have to earn your way in. Two points for a major and one point for a variety of other things, wins on Tour, the Vare Trophy Award, and so forth. I think that's the best way to decide who's the best because facts speak for themselves, and meritocracy is arguably the best way to decide who's in and who's out.

Q. I know the LPGA is making a concerted effort to capitalize not only on Nelly success but just the growth of women's sports. How have you seen the Tour do that since you started last year?

CRAIG KESSLER: I'm so proud of the steps the Tour has taken this year. Let's start with Nelly. Nelly is off to a great start. She's won four times on Tour. She won two majors in a row. Guess what she did after the U.S. Women's Open? She stayed true to her commitment to play in the Dow Championship with Olivia Cowan, one of her best friends.

Have deep respect for someone who has loyalty both to the Tour, to our sponsors, and to friends in creating opportunities like she did for Olivia.

The following Monday she went to New York. She got on a plane and went To the Today Show. We went on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with CNBC. We surprised Nelly at Times Square, and there were a bunch of girls from the U.S. Girls' Golf program wearing T-shirts. Jill Painter Lopez at Golf Digest.

These are the types of things we need our athletes to do in order to have transcendent stars that cut through sports and find their way into culture. She did it; she's doing it.

The other thing we did, we hired Chad Coleman from Dude Perfect to be our chief marketing officer. He and the content team, take a look at LPGA social content. It's better than ever before. People are following us. Our engagement rates are through the roof. These are just a few examples of what we're trying to do to win in the attention economy.

Q. I think Craig has proven this already, so I'll ask Tim and Terry. Tim first. Why do you think women's golf is a good investment?

TIM WALSH: It's a great question, and it's an easy one to answer, to be quite honest. Look right out here around this course. I mean, KPMG branded all over this venue, an incredible venue that Terry spoke about.

Then if you think about where that thing comes alive, last year this event was the most watched TV event on the LPGA Tour here in the U.S. We expect with the 100-plus hours that we're scheduled for this year that we'll exceed that, across TV, broadcast, and of course digital.

Then if you also consider this pavilion that you can see out there that is huge, we will bring thousands of clients through that pavilion over the next number of days and through the championship.

So to be quite honest, the investment is an obvious one for us to get an ROI on, but it's also the inspiration that Craig was just talking about, right? That is so attached in terms of who we are at KPMG. We've been at this event since 12 years ago, right? A catalyst for really studying and pushing this event for women's golf forward. It's something we're super proud of and something we're committed to.

Q. Terry, specifically with PGA of America, we spoke to two PGA professionals this morning who are playing this week and have a perspective on the evolution of golf but also why PGA of America is putting all these resources and investments in women's golf. So I wonder what is the perspective of the PGA of America?

TERRY CLARK: Mine starts with momentum. You see momentum in the sport. You see it's starting with the recreational side. Craig talked about some of the impact that we're seeing, the huge growth in women's golf as a whole and honestly in golf overall. Every metric you're looking at, golf is in a great place right now.

We see it with the momentum with our partners in KPMG and the investment they continue to see, broadcast increased rights, some of the storytelling around some of the incredible stories around there, which is something that's so important and something we talk a lot about across.

And the connection back to the PGA of America member. We're seeing it every day around interest. We're using platforms like this to get even more interest in the game, and we think that translates to all the facilities and all the coaching and lesson that's our PGA professionals do every day. That starts right there.

Then this week we're going to see what we think are record crowds. Got some really, really great momentum around ticket sales here. We've seen one of the best investments from the corporate community to come out this week. You see it in the build-out. You hear it through some of the people we're seeing at the pro-am this week. It all speaks to momentum in the game right now that makes us, PGA of America, believe in KPMG PGA Championship even more and the growth in the women's game.

Q. You were mentioning of how dear this place is to you, Terry. This is your first KPMG. What would be your dream? What would you expect to see here on Sunday?

TERRY CLARK: I think I expect to see what this course can produce, a championship worthy, really engaging finale to it. I think you'll see that.

We've seen it before if you look at the championships that happened here. It's the same place that in 2016 we have the Ryder Cup, and we're bringing back the Ryder Cup to the same location for the first time ever, and that's because it produces worthy champions, it creates an environment that we should see that should be incredible for everyone involved: Players, viewers, all the patrons and fans that are here. It will be really, really special.

So I think we're going to see something special on Sunday.

Q. Just a follow-up, you just mentioned the record crowds you're expecting. Can you give us an idea of sort of the numbers you're expecting over the four days of this championship?

TERRY CLARK: Tens of thousands, yeah (laughter).

GREG DILLARD: Thank you everyone for attending today's news conference. Thank you, Kim, Terry, and Craig for your insights as well. Let's have a great week at Hazeltine.