You’d be hard pressed to find many people willing to argue that the disparity between the money on offer on the PGA and LPGA Tours is justified on a talent level.
Sure, the men hit it longer, but they’re also bigger, stronger and faster, so you’d expect that. You’d also expect the women to be more accurate as a result, and they are, but when it comes down to approach play, short game and putting, I’d argue that they are on equal footing across the board.
The obscene money on offer on the PGA Tour and on LIV make the week-to-week offerings on the LPGA Tour paltry in comparison, but the major championships put them back on closer footing, but both tours offer season-ending championship prize money that is way out of kilter with the most prestigious tournaments.
On the men’s side, Scottie Scheffler was by far the standout player of the year and even though he didn’t shoot the lowest 72-hole score at the Tour Championship, his starting stroke advantage was enough to see him claim the top prize of $25 million. Who’s to say that had they started on equal footing, Scheffler wouldn’t have shaved a couple of strokes off and taken the gross and net prizes, but we’ll never know.
On the LPGA side, the $4 million first prize at the CME Group Tour Championship was $1.6 million more than what was doled out for the winner of the U.S. Women’s Open, which was the most lucrative prize fund of the season prior, but with no advantage for being the best player of the season to date, Nelly Korda faced the prospect of being overtaken in the money stakes despite winning seven times including a major.
And that’s exactly what happened. Take nothing away from Jeeno Thitikul, who was incredibly impressive and fully deserved her victory at Tiburon, but for her to end the season with almost one-and-a-half times that which Korda – who finished T5 at the Tour Championship – just doesn’t sit right.
In fact, Korda’s seven wins combined brought in a shade under $800,000 less than Thitikul earned last week alone.
I’m sure the players aren’t complaining. After all, who in their right mind would when they are only four good rounds away from a life-changing payday, but in sport, the fruits should adequately match the achievements.
Since the PGA Tour don’t own any of the majors, it’s easy to see why they feel the need to throw ridiculous amounts of money in an effort to put themselves closer to being on par with the majors, but with each passing year, interest in the FedEx playoffs and the Tour Championship in particular seems to wane.
And that’s an odd model for the LPGA Tour to be attempting to follow, especially when they do own the Chevron Championship which is the first major of the women’s season.
I have no issue with Yuka Saso’s U.S. Women’s Open win being worth almost 10 times what Korda’s LPGA Drive On Championship was, but that’s the U.S. Open we’re talking about. It’s the most prestigious title in women’s golf, and even though a 10X value might seem excessive, it puts the championship on a pedestal that accurately reflects its value.
Is the CME Group Tour Championship worthy of its pedestal? I don’t think so.
Surely they’d be better served by spreading the money out, rather than having one tournament that dwarfs all others on the season schedule. You can still have a big money season-ending event, but it makes a mockery of the season-long race when the player who was crowned LPGA player of the year with events to spare – a player who’s had one of the greatest LPGA seasons of all time – is vastly under-rewarded in comparison.
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