LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan Photo: Michael Reaves, Getty Images
Growing up in Ithaca, New York, Mollie Marcoux Samaan loved her sports. Soccer, ice hockey and golf were three of her favorites, and she played them all with skill and abandon. She was a good enough golfer to have competed in a number of state tournaments as a youngster, sometimes against future LPGA standout Dottie Pepper. “But when I was 15 or 16 years old, I started focusing more on soccer and ice hockey because I knew I would always come back to golf,” she said.
That continued to be the case after Samaan enrolled at Princeton University, where she earned varsity letters in those two sports – and was named All-Ivy in hockey for four straight years. In her final year, the university bestowed upon Samaan the C. Otto von Kienbusch Award, for being the top female athlete in Princeton’s senior class.
Though golf had become less of a priority by that time, Samaan managed to maintain a connection to the game through college. She occasionally played on a club team...