The KPMG PGA Women’s Championship is doubling its purse size to $9 million, another boost for the women’s game, which brings in prize money for five big companies, almost triple what it was ten years ago.
The purse for the LPGA Tour’s second-oldest major tournament is now 300% higher than it was in 2014, a year before KPMG and PGA of America teamed up with the LPGA Tour to raise prize money and highlight legendary courses.
The PGA Women’s Championship kicks off Thursday at the Congressional Country Club, which has hosted the US Open three times. The winner will receive $1.35 million.
The USGA has signed an Introducing Sponsor (ProMedica) for the Women’s US Open, nearly doubling the prize money from what was already the largest of the LPGA’s major tournaments. Minji Lee won $1.8 million from a $10 million purse earlier this month at Pine Needles.
The Amundia Evian Championship in France has already announced a $2 million increase to $6.8 million, while the AIG Women’s British Open is seeing solid growth with a new title sponsor and is now reaching $6.8 million. The Chevron Championship had a $5 million purse, nearly $2 million more than the previous year.
Thus, the prize fund of the five major tournaments reaches 37.3 million dollars. In 2012, the total prize pool for the same five tournaments was $13.75 million.
All but the US Women’s Open have corporate sponsors as part of the title.
“We are accelerating the advancement, development and empowerment of women both on and off the golf course,” said Paul Knopp, Chairman and CEO of KPMG USA. “The significantly increased wallet size—along with the best courses in major markets, network TV, and the enhanced data and analytics capabilities delivered through KPMG Performance Insights—are real examples of our commitment to bringing world-class athletes to the LPGA Tour.”
KPMG Performance Insights was launched last year to provide women with a wealth of statistics to help them improve their games.
LPGA Tour Commissioner Molly Marku Samaan broke the news to her players via email on Tuesday morning, and it drew a lot of attention.
“You heard some kind of murmur going through the club building. “Hey, did you see that letter, 9 million?” And everyone is very, very excited,” said Mariah Stackhouse. “It’s amazing to be a KPMG Ambassador to see us join this drive to increase and elevate the level of women’s golf and it’s been done with this championship in terms of competition since KPMG took over. So seeing the purse grow really reinforces this as…one of the main, if not the main thing, in women’s golf.”
Since KPMG became a sponsor, the women’s PGA has visited Hazeltine and Olympia Fields, Aronimink and Sahalee, all of the men’s courses. Nelly Korda is the reigning champion who won last year at the Atlanta Athletic Club and took first place for the first time.
The field features 99 of the top 100 players on the LPGA Tour money list.
“This is a very important day for the LPGA, women’s golf and women’s sports,” Samaan told Mark. “And we look forward to working with KPMG and PGA of America to continue using our platform to empower young women and inspire positive change in the world.”
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