Former PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem wasn’t autocratic enough to summon people to his modest office at the old Tour headquarters building.
Often, he would surprise a member of his executive staff by showing up, unannounced, at their office or cubicle.
So it was that Ty Votaw was in his office in the spring of 2008 when Finchem dropped by with an idea. … and a charge to the 46-year-old former LPGA commissioner, who was then the Tour’s executive vice-president for International Affairs after overseeing a significant international expansion of the women’s professional game when he ran the LPGA from 1999-2005.
“Tim had been in a meeting with a number of the golf organizations in the world at the Masters and the U.S Golf Association and R&A, which were the founding members of the International Golf Federation, said that golf had another opportunity to get into the Olympics for 2016,” Votaw said, referring to an on-again, off-again debate that had been bubbling since 1996 when Augusta National member Billy Payne had tried to get golf into the Atlanta Games he chaired.
“The question was asked, ‘What’s the best way to grow golf in your country?’” Votaw said of what was posed to more than 100 representatives of the IGF. “Ninety-some percent of the responses was to get golf into the Olympics, which was the only way they could get money from their governments for their national golf federations.”
There was a catch. Those among golf’s governing bodies who had connections to the International Olympic Committee — such as Payne — said the only way the sport had a chance of returning to the Olympics for the first time in more than 100 years was to get the game’s top professionals to commit.
Since most of the top male players in the world played on the PGA Tour, and Votaw had been highly successful as the LPGA commissioner, he was a natural to coordinate with IGF president Peter Dawson to develop a presentation to the IOC in Denmark in 2009.
Votaw agreed to become the executive director of the IGF Olympic Golf Committee and he and Dawson went to work over an 18-month period, first at the 2008 Beijing Games, then traveling around the world to make their case to IOC members at subsequent meetings — backed by World Golf Hall of Fame members such as Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam.
They won. In a 63-27 vote on Oct. 9, 2009, in Copenhagen, the IOC members approved golf, which began at the Rio de Janeiro Games and was played for the second time last year at the Tokyo Games.
Finchem said tapping Votaw as the point man was a no-brainer.
“Ty had a great background in the game, was really good with people, handles himself well and he’s smart as a whip,” Finchem said. “He was superb … and I think it’s fair to say that there has been a significant benefit to everything on an international level to have golf back in the Olympics.”
As Votaw nears the end of a three-decade career that began in 1991 as the LPGA’s general counsel, his work in Olympic golf is the crowning achievement of a life devoted to increasing the sport’s reach to as many parts of the world as possible.
Votaw, who has most recently been the Tour’s executive vice-president, International, will retire on June 30, 16 years after leaving the LPGA and traveling 90 minutes north to begin at the PGA Tour. He hit 31 years in golf administration on June 6 but told commissioner Jay Monahan last year that he was thinking of retiring.
Votaw said timing is right
At the end of each year I always try to reflect on how I feel about the year that just passed and the year coming up,” said Votaw, who also has been the Tour’s executive vice-president for international affairs, chief marketing officer and chief global communications officer. “And knowing that I will have served over half of my life in golf on the LPGA or the PGA Tour, I just felt it was kind of the right time for me to have the conversation with Jay about what was the right timing for me to retire.”
Monahan talked Votaw into staying on for the first six months of this year and also will be open to the idea of consulting with the Tour on an as-needed basis.
“His combination of leadership, business acumen and diplomacy has undoubtedly changed the LPGA, the PGA Tour and the global game for the better,” Monahan said in a statement on Feb. 15 when Votaw announced his retirement.
Since Votaw wore numerous hats — legal, marketing, communications — and has contacts around the world, with every governing body, the phone might ring sooner than he expects.
It could be Monahan with a simple question or a request for help. But it also could be someone else who wants to utilize the talent and enthusiasm of the Ohio University and North Carolina graduate who hails from the small Ohio town of Greenford, a small farming and mining community near Youngstown.
“If the phone rings, and there’s somebody interesting on the other end of the phone, I’ll listen,” he said. “If the phone never rings, I’m okay with that too.”
In that case, Votaw will enjoy life in Ponte Vedra with his wife Kelli and 16-year-old daughter Grace. He has two grown children, Sam (28), a Stetson graduate who works at a web design company in Florence, Alabama, and Caroline (24), a realtor in Charleston, South Carolina.
Votaw has a part interest in a bourbon company, Blue Run Spirits. He might actually play more golf or take advantage of the First Coast lifestyle he missed because of his workaholic ways.
“When I lived in Daytona, and to a great extent here, I knew my way from my house to the office and to the airport,” he said. “I always wanted to do a good job so I didn’t necessarily take advantage of what the rest of the community has to offer. If I have any regrets, it’s about that. Now I have an opportunity to do that.”
But Votaw’s driven ways first transformed the LPGA and then golf on the worldwide stage.
‘Mr. Boy’ revitalizes LPGA Tour
Shortly after former LPGA commissioner Charlie Mechem lured Votaw from a comfortable corporate legal career in Cincinnati in 1991, Votaw met founding LPGA member Louise Suggs at a tournament. Suggs, who spoke her mind unlike few other players, sized up Votaw, 29 at the time, and said, “You’re nothing but a boy. How can you be general counsel?”
After working tirelessly for eight years, Votaw was hired to replace Jim Ritts, who had taken over for Mechem. When he next encountered Suggs, she said, “Now I suppose I have to call you Mr. Boy.”
But no one underestimated Votaw, especially after he laid the groundwork for record TV ratings, attendance, purses and internet engagements as the LPGA’s vice-president for business affairs.
Upon becoming commissioner in 1999, Votaw first helped the LPGA stage a year-long celebration of its 50th anniversary in 2000, launched the first-ever player summit, where he unveiled a five-year “Fans First” strategic business plan and played a key role in forming the World Congress of Women’s Golf.
Se Ri Pak fueled an explosion of South Korean golfers to the LPGA Tour.
International participation on the LPGA also exploded, especially from Asia and led by South Korea. In 1998, the year before Votaw took over, U.S. players won 17 tournaments and international players 17. However, three players, Annika Sorenstam (Sweden), Karrie Webb (Australia) and Se Ri Park (South Korea) combined to win 10.
In 2005, Votaw’s final year, international players won 23 tournaments to 10 for U.S. players, but countries as diverse as Chile, the Philippines and Colombia produced LPGA winners — plus, from Mexico, a shy but nerveless 24-year-old from Mexico named Lorena Ochoa, who would go on to win 27 titles.
Votaw plays humble, and credits being fortunate enough to be the LPGA commissioner at a time when the players he said are on the “Mount Rushmore” of female international stars came along: Sorenstam, Webb, Pak and Ochoa.
He also pointed out that the four represented four distinct areas of the world: Europe, Australia, Asia and Latin America.
“It became a more globally-focused business,” he said. “For Asia, Se Ri winning was the catalyst for the growth in Asia. Before her, there weren’t any Koreans on the Tour at the time but when I left there were over 40. But all four contributed to the global reach of women’s golf.”
After Votaw came to the PGA Tour, one of his first big jobs was helping Finchem navigate the 2008 recession. Most of the Tour’s title sponsorships agreements were up by 2010 and the TV deal was set to expire in 2012.
But the Tour’s schedule did not contract, purses and charitable contributions were not cut and the economic storm was weathered.
Then came the Olympic quest.
Selling the world on golf
It wasn’t just getting golf approved, which was difficult enough. During more than a year of traveling the globe, Votaw communicated in some manner with all 106 members of the IOC, which included princes, princesses, sheiks, one Grand Duke and past Olympians such as Kip Keino, Jean-Claude Killy, Valerly Borzov and Sergey Bubka.
Once golf was voted in, a golf course was needed.
Rio de Janeiro did not have a course suitable for a major championship and architect Gil Hanse was enlisted to carve out a championship-caliber track for the world’s best players. Pursuant to Olympic requirements, the course had to be built with the utmost care in terms of environmental concerns.
Just for one more curveball, the Zika virus, carried by mosquitos, surfaced in the Southern Hemisphere and players such as Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson declined to participate.
However, the medalists were stars from both men’s and women’s golf: Justin Rose won the gold, followed by Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar, while Inbee Park won women’s golf, with Lydia Ko and Shanshan Feng also on the podium.
Xander Schauffele and Nelly Korda won gold last year in Japan.
The effect of golf in the Olympics can be measured in one key way: There were 100 national federations for golf before the sport was added to the Olympics, and that figure has jumped 50 percent to 150.
“It wasn’t easy,” Votaw admits. “The media questioned whether we should have golf in the Olympics, with major championships, and the Ryder, Presidents and Solheim Cups. We had to show that it would appeal to a younger audience. Is it environmentally responsible? Is it elitist?”
Votaw said golf’s ideals mesh with the Olympics code as well as any sport.
“We showed that the values of our sport are complementary to the Olympic Movement,” he said. “Given the global nature of our sport, golf would be good for the Olympics and the Olympics would be good for golf.”
Votaw again likes to share the credit … with Dawson, golf’s governing bodies, the last three PGA Tour commissioners and the top players in the world who lent their powerful voices.
“I’m very fortunate … I think I’ve set a world record for being around the most great people in my 31 years,” Votaw said. “I give Deane [Beman] credit, Tim credit, Jay credit, for having the ability to not view the world from behind their desk but understand where golf can go. I was in the right place at the right time.”
Votaw said professional golf is in a good place, despite the upstart LIV Golf International. He didn’t want to comment in specifics about the Saudi-backed tour but believed Monahan would handle whatever happens.
“All I can say is that like in any area, any business, competition can help you focus on ways in which you can improve,” he said. “I think Jay is doing a phenomenal job in not only growing the business but in responding to what the world outside of Ponte Vedra is dealing with. We saw recently that nine of the top-10 players on the world rankings are all under the age of 30. I think that shows the future is pretty bright, and certainly the same goes for the LPGA.”
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