With 156 players poised to start the season's second major on Thursday at renowned Westchester Country Club, $3.5 million in prize money and network television coverage in place, the former LPGA Championship looks to be on the ascent.
A parallel goal was met on Wednesday as the KPMG Leadership Summit brought together nearly 300 up-and-coming businesswomen for a day-long conference on how to rise in the corporate world.
"It's big and it's bold and I think it's fantastic," Hall of Fame golfer and businesswoman Annika Sorenstam told a news conference about the tournament and the summit.
"It's fantastic to put this event on this venue so close to the Big Apple ... I'm very proud to just have a little part of it and certainly get inspired by the leaders who have spoken."
Sorenstam was one of some 16 speakers at the conference that included a segment called "Road to the C-Suite" that featured KPMG International chairman John Veihmeyer, Nasdaq president Adena Friedman, Gabby Parcella, head of Mellon Capital, and Thomson Reuters president and CEO Jim Smith.
Dr. Condoleezza Rice, the 66th U.S. Secretary of State, was concluding the conference with a one-hour "Fireside Chat" touching on a range of women's issues.
The conference provided practical tips about advancing in the business world as well as personal anecdotes about breaking the glass ceiling.
Lynn Doughtie, U.S. chairman and CEO elect of KPMG, summed up the message simply: "Be confident. You can do it. You can do anything that you set your mind to."
The young girls who were age-class winners in the Drive, Chip & Putt Championship at Augusta National on the eve of the Masters were invited to Westchester to see their role models in golf and future women leaders in business.
"We hope to inspire the young girls that sit in front of us to maybe sit up here with us one day," said former LPGA Tour player Suzy Whaley, now Secretary of the PGA of America and the first woman elected to office in the organization.
"To sit in Lynne's chair as the CEO of a company; same as Adena. To have them perhaps be the next Stacy Lewis," she added about the American world number three, who was also scheduled to address the conference.
"Just show them that the opportunities are endless for them within the game and within the business world."
(Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)
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