The Aon Risk Reward Challenge is a unique, season-long competition across the PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour that highlights the game’s best players while celebrating the achievements of both men and women. On this special episode of the “On Aon” podcast, Aon’s Chief Executive Officer, North America, Jennifer Bell has an important conversation with Mollie Marcoux Samaan, commissioner, LPGA Tour, and Hannah Green, LPGA Tour professional and 2021 Aon Risk Reward Challenge winner, about gender equity in sports and how Aon’s Risk Reward Challenge is bringing attention to this issue.
The Aon Risk Reward Challenge is a unique, season-long competition across the PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour that highlights the game’s best players while celebrating the achievements of both men and women. On this special episode of the “On Aon” podcast, Aon’s Chief Executive Officer, North America, Jennifer Bell has an important conversation with Mollie Marcoux Samaan, commissioner, LPGA Tour, and Hannah Green, LPGA Tour professional and 2021 Aon Risk Reward Challenge winner, about gender equity in sports and how Aon’s Risk Reward Challenge is bringing attention to this issue.
Additional Resources:
Hannah Green Wins The LPGA Tour Aon Risk Reward Challenge And $1 Million Prize
Aon Announces First-Of-Its-Kind, Season-Long Golf Competition In Partnership With PGA TOUR And LPGA
Aon’s Risk Reward Challenge Recognized For Providing Equal Opportunity To PGA And LPGA Tour Members
Tweetables:
“Sometimes in sports it’s just accepted that women will get paid less, and Aon has really stepped up and asked why?” — Mollie Marcoux Samaan
“It’s really nice that Aon has stepped up and finally made a move in helping all of us women.” — Hannah Green
“What are other things that we can do to provide great opportunities for these remarkable athletes and get people changing their mindset?” — Mollie Marcoux Samaan
Voiceover:
Welcome to “On Aon,” a podcast featuring conversations between colleagues on, well, Aon. This week, we hear a special conversation around gender equity in sports between Mollie Marcoux Samaan, commissioner, LPGA Tour, and Hannah Green, LPGA Tour professional and 2021 Aon Risk Reward Challenge winner. And now, this week’s host, Chief Executive Officer, North America, Jennifer Bell.
Jennifer Bell:
Welcome to On Aon. We're so delighted to have our special guest Mollie Marcoux Samaan. She is the commissioner of the LPGA and Hannah Green, the LPGA tour professional and winner of our 2021 Aon Risk Reward Challenge. Thank you both for being with us and we are really excited to have you. It just seems like yesterday that Hannah, I handed you the trophy and the check. I can't believe we are here today, but I would like to just turn it over to Mollie and kick us off.
Mollie Marcoux Samaan:
Yeah, absolutely. Thanks so much for having me here today. It's great to see you again and great to see Hannah. The Aon Risk Reward Challenge has been an amazing part of the LPGA. I'm looking forward to diving in and talking more about it.
Jennifer Bell:
Why don't we start the discussion? I just want to take a moment to level set here and ensure that our listeners are familiar with the Aon Risk Reward Challenge. Mollie, would you mind just giving us a brief overview of the program?
Mollie Marcoux Samaan:
Yeah, absolutely. The program started in 2019 and it's a season-long competition. That's actually across both the LPGA tour and the PGA TOUR that really has this opportunity to highlight golf’s best decision makers as they compete on the most challenging holes on tour. Each year, the player with the lowest average score to par on the designated holes over the course of the season wins the challenge. They take home the Aon trophy and an equal $1 million dollar prize, is really just an amazing opportunity for our players. And I was so thrilled and I know the whole LPGA organization, so thrilled for Hannah to win this remarkable trophy life changing award. I just had the great pleasure with you Jen, to help present that award at the CME group championship in November. It was just a great honor.
Jennifer Bell:
It sure was. It's a day that I'm never going to forget. So, thanks Mollie. Now, I would love to hear from Hannah. Hannah, it was my privilege to award you with that Aon trophy, it was so beautiful. The crystal trophy that you held up high in the air in November when we were together. During that time you shared your plans for the million dollar prize. Are you still planning to buy a home with the winnings or did you buy a home with the winnings?
Hannah Green:
Yeah, that's still my plan. I haven't found anything that I quite like yet. Obviously, now having this million dollars gives me a little bit more flexibility of where I can buy. I'd love to buy a house here in Perth, Western Australia, where I've grown up and where all my family is. That's hopefully going to be on the cards in the next three to six months. Then hopefully give myself some comfort for playing the 2022 season back on LPGA this year.
Jennifer Bell:
Great. That sounds like an exciting time. I have to mention our global CFO, Christa Davies, is from Australia and she was so thrilled that you won the award in her home country. Mollie, as you know, inclusion and diversity is so important to Aon and it's an important topic. When we created the Aon Risk Reward Challenge, our goal was to really create a platform where achievements could be equally celebrated across men and women's game. Hannah joined the PGA TOUR’s Matthew Wolff as winners last season. Can you talk a little bit about what it means, as a leader of an organization, to have an initiative like this that helps continue to drive this conversation around gender equity in sport?
Mollie Marcoux Samaan:
I talk about this program all the time, both in letters and writing and any kind conversation that I have. It's one of the very best and most interesting creative things that we do on tour. I think it highlights some really important issues in sport, in women's sports. It gives this opportunity to change mindset and just the way people think about it. I think sometimes in sports, it's just accepted that women will get paid less and Aon has really stepped up and asked why. And not just asked the question, but then really changed the paradigm directly and took action on that. For me, it's a great example of what we can do with just changing mindset and being committed to this idea that in sport, these remarkable women who are the best athletes, the best golfers in the world should be valued for the talent that they have. It's a really unbelievable program and we're very grateful for Aon's leadership in this area, creativity and support of our women.
Jennifer Bell:
I would say, I'm really proud that we are sponsoring this. I would say that I'm hoping others will follow, Mollie. Because I think about gender equity and sports, it's where we need to be and where we need to go. Hannah, from your side, how does it feel to take home an equal million dollar prize?
Hannah Green:
It's pretty crazy to be honest. I guess a lot of golfers know the difference between how much the men get paid on the PGA TOUR versus us on LPGA. It's actually really nice to have a different discussion and people actually know that we're going to get the same exact prize. You guys at Aon have done a great thing. Like you just said, I think a lot of other companies are probably realizing the great things that you are doing and probably are actually going to start doing similar things, not just within golf, but within women's sports. It's really nice for you guys to step up and finally make a move and help all of us women.
Jennifer Bell:
Great. We're so proud of the program that's been created. But also realize, there's still a lot that we can all do to keep pushing and ensuring that there's more parody in men and women's sports and equal representation in business, as well. Mollie, I want to stay with you on this topic because you've shared some really interesting data points with me that I actually shared with our Aon Executive team and anybody that I can talk to. And before that, I'd really like to dig into that. Would you mind sharing some more of your sound bites on the disparity, you’re seeing in sport?
Mollie Marcoux Samaan:
To be honest, we do, the LPGA does quite well compared to the PGA TOUR. We're still just, the women are still making a fraction of what the men make. Some sports, the disparity is even bigger. It's like a pyramid. At the top, the difference between the top women golfers and the top male golfers is pretty significant. I think we may make, and I don't have the exact data in front of me, but somewhere around 30 percent of what the men make, on just actual prize money at the very, very top. It might be a little bit less when you add in some of the other specific initiatives that the PGA TOUR has. But then as you get down to the hundredth best player in the world, and again remembering these are the hundredth best female golfer in the world, which is you don't get to really think about that very often. There's so many people in the world.
Mollie Marcoux Samaan:
And as we go down to that level, the disparity gets even greater, somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 percent of what the men make. Those are areas that we need to continue to focus on. Fortunately, with sponsors and partners like you guys, that is changing. We've had some really great announcements recently, in addition to the Aon Risk Reward Challenge, we've had some other sponsors increasing purses. I think we had nine or 10 different partners. This year already increased purses to our events. The US Open just went to a pretty remarkable purse size of 10 million dollars. For a lot of the same reasons that you guys have to say, Hey, this is a paradigm that we've been accepting for a long time, and we're going to take a leadership position on it and really show the value of the women athletes. We're diving into that and saying, what are other things that we can do to provide great opportunities for these remarkable athletes and get people changing their mindset.
Jennifer Bell:
I love it. I'm so glad that there is some change being made in a very positive way. That's terrific. Hannah, I'm interested to hear your point of view as a professional athlete. Do you feel like female athletes are being recognized enough? If not, what can we all do to change this?
Hannah Green:
I feel like over the last, probably few years, I don't know this is probably more in a golf world, but I feel like we're getting better with the media and social media. I feel like a lot of people recognize us golfers, whether we're not on a golf course now, so that's pretty cool. When you have people like Jin-Young Ko and Nelly Korda with their 2021 season, it's hard not to notice how good they were playing. I think it's actually elevated our goal. We're all striving to be the best that we can be and trying to beat one another and be number one in the world. It is got a long way to go. I think a rule on LPGA is you want to leave the tour in a better place than when you first arrived. I think that's already happened in the five years that I've been on tour. We're slowly getting there and every sport's going through the same thing. We're just really lucky to have Aon, to be able to be a part of what we're trying to achieve.
Jennifer Bell:
I've also been recognized the progress in the media too, with all the LPGA events on TV. I think that's great.
Mollie Marcoux Samaan:
Jen, just one thing to add to that if I could.
Jennifer Bell:
Sure.
Mollie Marcoux Samaan:
I think other thing that's really interesting is, our broadcast hours are pretty significant. I think we'll have over 500 hours on broadcast. But the way that media is changing, as you've all indicated here, it just gives us another opportunity to use different means to let us tell our story and to have us reach more fans and to use our platform to change mindsets just like you guys have been doing. Whether it's through streaming or social media, or just other forms of media that can allow our women to play this significant leadership role. We've had that great pleasure, because golf has really been leading the way for 71 years with the LPGA. I think there's just this great momentum going now, where we can capitalize on all of those new opportunities. And also companies like you guys saying, Hey, this is a way that we can use the LPGA platform to lead and to have a positive impact on the world together. I love that. That was one of the big reasons why I wanted to take this job. So again, thank you guys for all you've been doing.
Jennifer Bell:
Well, thank you both for November. Thank you Hannah, for winning the trophy. It was amazing. Thank you for today's candid discussion. Before we have to wrap up, I'd really like to remind everyone that the new season of the Aon Risk Reward Challenge is underway. Hannah, best of luck to you to defend your title this year. I'll be watching you throughout the year. And Mollie, I'd love to know what's on the horizon for the LPGA, anything in particular, we should be on the lookout for?
Mollie Marcoux Samaan:
You may have seen, we have 34 events this year, which is a great number and over 90 million dollars in purse. It's really shaping up to be an exciting season. As I said, the US Open just went up to ten... The US Open presented by ProMedica just went up to $10 million dollars. The CME Group Championship, the first prize went up to 2 million dollars. Several of our other great partners, including majors, have increased their purses. I think we've got some really exciting, different tournaments that will make for just great entertainment and inspiration. We're working hard on a lot of things we've already just talked about here, how we can get the world and people who haven't necessarily engaged with our players to see how great they are. It's exciting. It's my first full year as commissioner. I really just hope we can get you and your team again to come out and come to all sorts of events and cheer on Hannah and her fellow players. Because you guys are just amazing partners.
Jennifer Bell:
Mollie, you don't have to twist our arm. We will definitely be there.
Voiceover:
This has been a conversation “On Aon” and gender equity in sports. Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this week’s episode, tune in in two weeks for a conversation around inflation. To learn more about Aon, its colleagues, solutions and news, check out our show notes, and visit our website at Aon dot com.