Recently, Tee Times spent a few minutes with Laura Frick, Championship Director for the 2026 KMPG Women’s PGA Championship. Frick is the first female PGA of America golf professional to serve as Championship Director for one of the association’s spectator Championships. We are grateful for sharing this time with Laura and learning her unique perspectives on the 2026 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

Tell us a little about yourself and what credentials do you bring to the job?
I went to college for professional golf management, and I’ve been a proud PGA of America golf professional for 11 years now. I’ve only worked in the game of golf, since I was 16 years old when I started at the local club, working in the bag room.

I’ve been at the PGA of America for 9 years and have always had a vested interest in championship operations. I started as a championship coordinator, really learning all the ins and outs… kind of the inside the ropes experience with our junior golf and our member and amateur championships. I have learned each and every area of the business over my 9 years, which helped reach this position here, overseeing a major championship. 

What do you feel is the most important responsibility, or biggest part of the Championship Director job?
My main goal and job is to really manage all the different key stakeholders in this championship. The PGA of America is one of those stakeholders, as well as KPMG, our title partner, the LPGA, and then you have Hazeltine. It’s a lot of communicating across those different channels and making sure we’re all rowing in the same direction and working collectively and collaboratively to bring this championship to life.

From the PGA of America’s standpoint, there’s subcategories as well. You have an operations team leading everything inside and outside the ropes from a build perspective. You have corporate hospitality team, managing our community partnerships in our on-site hospitality venues. You have a volunteer operations team, overseeing the 1,450 volunteers on property. And then you have the ticketing and the marketing side spreading the message of the championship. So, I think my day-to-day is heavily involved in just keeping all those ships afloat and making sure that we’re all working on that same common goal, which is to deliver an incredible major championship. 

How do you balance the Championship Director responsibilities in relation to your everyday life?

My family and friends are incredibly supportive of me. They’re all making their way from different states, traveling across the country to come support me during the championship. I would say the one thing I try to do while I’m on site during these really crazy weeks is I try to give myself 20 to 30 minutes to have a quiet walk at the end of the evening. I walk around the golf course, look at how the build is coming and take that moment to appreciate the amount of work that goes into bringing these events to life. It’s really easy to sit at the desk all day and keep answering email after email or phone call after phone call, but taking a few minutes, putting my AirPods in, maybe calling a friend or family member and taking a walk around the golf course is something that I do to remind myself how incredible this opportunity is. 

What are a couple of challenges that you have had to overcome during the planning and execution of preparing for the Championship?

A lot of the challenges are the things that are out of our control, things like navigating weather during this crucial time where you’re in a condensed timeline. We’re incredibly fortunate to have a talented PGA team as well as tremendous support from the Club to keep us moving in the right direction. Additionally, we’ve been intentional with our local engagement and integrating this Championship into the Twin Cities community. There is so much happening here and we’ve worked hard to be visible and remind everyone that the premier major in women’s golf is taking place right here.

Hazeltine National has hosted so many different USGA, PGA and LPGA Championships, what do you think the differences will be hosting this year’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship?

This will be our 5th PGA of America Spectator Championship at Hazeltine, which, as you can imagine over the many years that we’ve been hosting championships here, we always learn a little bit more about the site each year. Hazeltine has made some significant upgrades to the property since our last championship. They have their on-site villas as well as a golf performance center. One of the unique things we’ve been able to do is create a hospitality experience out of that golf performance center, which really gives an intimate access to see all the players practice. You can watch all the players crush drives on the driving range. You can see them at the short game area. So that’s a new way we’ve been utilizing the property and some of the upgraded amenities that they have. This is also 60 years of celebrating women’s golf at the club. Not only have we held championships here, but they’ve been supporting women’s golf for 60 years. We’re very proud to play a role in that. We’re continuing to work together on learning year in and year out and we’ll be ready for what’s next, which is the 2029 Ryder Cup.

What will be the biggest difference spectators will experience at the 2026 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship compared to the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship?

Overall, the look and feel of the championship is going to be significantly bigger and better. This is by far a larger buildout than we had in 2019 in terms of what you’ll see out on the golf course, both from a hospitality standpoint and from a general public amenity standpoint, such as markets and pouring bars and water stations and things like that. We introduced a new general public ticket option, which is our Club PGA venue. This is a venue on the 17th hole with views of the par 3, as well as a large beer garden built out in the back. Guests have the opportunity to purchase upgraded food and beverage through local Twin Cities vendors, including local beer, wine, spirits, walleye fingers, and wild rice patties. We’re very excited to be able to offer kind of an elevated experience to those looking for it from a general public standpoint. If guests have an any day flex ticket and decide they wanted to experience Club PGA, they can upgrade in real time.

We’ve also greatly expanded the use of technology, both in KPMG’s world and what they provide to our players, but also for the spectator experience. We have video boards across the entire property, including a giant video board on 18. Guests can experience an elevated use of technology, which we did not have in 2019 as well. We have a great app with information like player locators, and schedule of events information. There’ll be some fun kind of pop-ups with things to do in our fan zone.

What would you like the spectators to know as they are deciding whether or not to attend the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship?

Hazeltine is built for major championships. From the moment you arrive to the moment you depart, the spectator experiences really second to none and it starts with on-site parking, it’s very rare for a major championship that you’re able to have full on-site parking. Once you get here, we have our fan zone where you can visit the PGA shops, you can take photos with the Ryder Cup trophy. And then I think it’s the family component, for just over a $100, you can bring a family of four out here and enjoy the day because of our junior policy where kids 15 and under get in for free. The access to players is significant, and when you are that close and intimate with 156 of the best female golfers in the world, you really realize just how talented they are, it’s a very unique experience.

What are you most excited to see when the players arrive at Hazeltine National, and the Championship begins?

I’ve been thinking about that day for 18 months. The energy of a major championship and especially what’s going on right now in the women’s game with Nelly Korda. She is truly chasing history in multiple ways, including automatic Hall of Fame status with the LPGA Tour if she were to win here.

I think we are very fortunate to have a lot of momentum coming into this year’s championship. Alongside just an incredibly supportive community when it comes to sports and golf and Hazeltine. When those gates open and that first tee shot is hit on Thursday, it will be a moment of true pride for our entire team and we’ll appreciate the history that we’re all chasing together.

Thank you Laura, we will be at Hazeltine National for Championship week along with our readers.