Princeton athletic director hired as LPGA commissioner
This photo provided by Princeton University shows Princeton athletics director Mollie Marcoux Samaan. The LPGA Tour chose Samaan as its commissioner Tuesday, May 25, 2021, the second woman to lead the tour since its formation in 1950. The LPGA said she would spend the coming months transitioning from Princeton to the LPGA. (Courtesy of Princeton University via AP)
This photo provided by Princeton University shows Princeton athletics director Mollie Marcoux Samaan announcing awards for members of the senior class, at the 2019 Class Day ceremony in Princeton, N.J. The LPGA Tour chose Samaan as its commissioner Tuesday, May 25, 2021, the second woman to lead the tour since its formation in 1950. The LPGA said she would spend the coming months transitioning from Princeton to the LPGA. (Courtesy of Princeton University via AP)
Mollie Marcoux Samaan chose to write her senior thesis at Princeton on a historical construct of women in sports and the role golf played. Some 30 years later, she had reason to ask her mother to dig out that 100-page thesis for no other reason than to be amazed on how it all has come…
Princeton athletic director hired as LPGA commissioner
This photo provided by Princeton University shows Princeton athletics director Mollie Marcoux Samaan. The LPGA Tour chose Samaan as its commissioner Tuesday, May 25, 2021, the second woman to lead the tour since its formation in 1950. The LPGA said she would spend the coming months transitioning from Princeton to the LPGA. (Courtesy of Princeton University via AP)
This photo provided by Princeton University shows Princeton athletics director Mollie Marcoux Samaan announcing awards for members of the senior class, at the 2019 Class Day ceremony in Princeton, N.J. The LPGA Tour chose Samaan as its commissioner Tuesday, May 25, 2021, the second woman to lead the tour since its formation in 1950. The LPGA said she would spend the coming months transitioning from Princeton to the LPGA. (Courtesy of Princeton University via AP)
“The right leader to guide the LPGA’s next chapter of growth, impact and achievement”
DAYTONA BEACH, FLA., May 25, 2021 – The Board of Directors of the LPGA has unanimously elected Mollie Marcoux Samaan as its next Commissioner. Marcoux Samaan, currently Ford Family Director of Athletics at Princeton University, will become the ninth Commissioner of the LPGA since its formation in 1950. She will succeed Commissioner Mike Whan who notified the LPGA Board late last year of his intent to step down in 2021. Whan was recently announced as the next Chief Executive Officer of the USGA. Marcoux Samaan will be working with the LPGA Board and the University to transition to her new role in the months ahead.
Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan
Mollie Marcoux Samaan was a passionate multi-sport athlete from the moment she was introduced to sports as a young girl. After watching the LPGA and seeing her older brother play golf, Marcoux Samaan convinced her parents at age 11 to allow her to spend her summer days playing at Newman Golf Course, a public course in Ithaca, N.Y. At 14, she was runner up in the women’s city championship, losing in a playoff. She is a five-time club champion at the North Fork Country Club in Cutchogue, N.Y.
Marcoux Samaan graduated cum laude from Princeton University in 1991. A history major, she wrote her senior thesis on “The Social Construction of Sport and Gender: A History of Women’s Golf from 1895 to 1955.” She was a two-sport varsity athlete, earning four letters each in soccer and ice hockey. In addition to being named First Team All-Ivy in ice hockey all four years, Marcoux Samaan was named to the collegiate women’s ice hockey Team of the Decade