This year's prize money for the women's golf tour
This year's prize money for the women's golf tour
Blog Article
This year's prize money for the world's top three women's golf tours can be summed up as the status quo in Korea and regression in Japan due to the rapid growth of the U.S. Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).
The LPGA Tour played 33 championships worth 123.45 million U.S. dollars. With the return of the Blue Bay LPGA from China in the Asian Tour, the number of championships increased by one and the prize money increased by 20.4 million dollars (28.5 billion won). The LPGA has raised prize money in 17 competitions from the previous year, including a 4 million dollar increase (total prize money of 11 million dollars) for the CME Group Tour Championship.
Accordingly, Gino Thitikul (Thailand), who won the prize money award by winning the final match, far surpassed the previous LPGA season's prize money record of 6,059,309 U.S. dollars, and was 187,666 dollars higher than Ahn Byeong-hoon (8.2 billion won) who was ranked 15th in the prize money list of the PGA Tour. Previously, the top female prize money winner was out of the top 30 in the U.S. men's competition.
The U.S. increased by one competition and Korea and Japan decreased by one.
Major changes in the LPGA Tour's schedule this year include three Asian Swings in spring and four Asian Swings in autumn. The FM Championship with a total prize money of $3 million and the Ford Championship with a total prize money of $2.25 million were newly established, strengthening the finances. The D.O. Implant LA Open was changed to Pak Se-ri LA Open, which was significant in that it was the first competition to have the name of a Korean player engraved on it.
The prize money of the top five majors is steadily rising every year, including the first major, the Chevron Championship, which increased by $2.8 million to $7.9 million, and the prize money of the U.S. Women's Open, which increased by $1 million to $12 million. In particular, it is positive that the number of sponsors will expand due to the performance of U.S. players including Nelly Koda.
The 안전놀이터 Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) hosted 31 tournaments worth 32 billion won (31 million U.S. dollars). The number of tournaments decreased by one year from last year, but the prize money increased by 300 million won (31 million dollars). The amount of prize money increased slightly in six tournaments, and 20 tournaments worth more than 1 billion won (1 million dollars) per tournament. It is also encouraging that the Korean LPGA has opened an era of 1 billion won (1 million dollars) on average per tournament.
Yoon Na-na, who returned to the tour, won one win, winning three gold medals including the prize money king, and Madasom, Bae So-hyun, Park Hyun-kyung and Lee Ye-won won three games each in the season. Six players, including Kim Jae-hee, Yoo Hyun-jo and Kim Min-byeol, also won their first wins in their lives. Although it is a domestic tour with various players, it was regrettable that they were passive about advancing to overseas tours.
Difficulties in domestic and international economic conditions are also affecting the housing of golf tours. The Lotte Rent-A-Car Women's Open, which was held on Jeju Island as a season opener, has been suspended. It is regrettable that the Hanwha Classic, a major tournament that had the maximum prize money of 1.7 billion won in total prize money, will not be held from next year. Corporate support is also important in that it is linked to not only hosting the competition but also fostering players.
The Japan Ladies Professional Association (JLPGA) tour was more gloomy than Korea's. 37 competitions were held this year with 4.33 billion yen (40.4 billion won). With the suspension of the Rakuten Super Ladies, which had been held until last year, 100 million yen (930 million won) in total prize money was lost. It is surprising that none of the 37 competitions have increased prize money, and even more surprising that they remain silent even when the economy is struggling.
The number of JLPGA competitions is the largest among the world's female tours, but the amount of money that has not increased has not increased and the fact that the JLPGA has stagnated has aroused the enthusiasm of the players. The JLPGA has been knocking on the door of the LPGA tour for several years, and the JLPGA Association is also encouraging its overseas participation. This is why the performance of overseas competitions is higher than that of domestic competitions.
Next week, the final round of the LPGA qualifying series will be held in Mobile, Alabama, the U.S. starting next week. In Korea, Yoon Na-na will participate, and more than six to seven Japanese players have applied, which is ranked the highest in the world. After going through five rounds, the top 25 players will be given the right to participate in next year's LPGA tour. Asian players who are challenging for the American dream are expected to stage fierce competition.