NAPLES, Fla. – Mollie Marcoux Samaan calls this a period of transformational growth for women’s golf. Prize funds have grown nearly 70 percent since 2021, with a record $118 million on the line in 2024.
Media rights revenue is up 25 percent since 2021, and corporate partnership money is up 33 percent. The LPGA has invested heavily in its team, adding 18 percent more staff over the past year.
In 2024, the LPGA will offer the highest first-place prize in all of women’s sports: $4 million to the winner of the CME Group Tour Championship.
And while the majors and CME have been mostly responsible for the tour’s financial growth in recent years, the 2024 schedule will have 10 regular-season events with a purse of $3 million, up from only one two years ago.
“We’re aspiring to be, I would call it, the most successful mission-driven global sports and entertainment brand in the world,” said Marcoux Samaan in her annual state of the tour press conference, “and we’re excited to be able to do that.”
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Here are five key takeaways from Marcoux Samaan’s time on Thursday with the press: