Mike Whan saw what the LPGA ought to embrace before anyone else did in this new, shrinking world.
Give him credit; his vision was transformative.
It’s really how the LPGA’s eighth commissioner turned what was perceived as the tour’s biggest weakness - too many emerging Asian players with unfamiliar names - into an asset.
With the LPGA preparing to go to Australia next week and then on to its first Asian swing through Thailand and Singapore, the tour’s international appeal will be on full display.
Rolex world No. 1 Lydia Ko will make her 2017 debut as the headliner at the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open, just north of her New Zealand home.