This week the CME Titleholders LPGA golf tournament took place this past week in Naples, Florida. This event signaled the official close of the 2013 season which ended on a very high note.
This has been an important week for the LPGA and women’s golf in general seems to finally be on the rise after years of poor management, reduced tournaments, and lack of interest had threatened to drown the sport to all except the hard core enthusiasts. There are a number of things the LPGA has done to improve its image and make it every bit as fun to watch on a Sunday afternoon as men’s golf.
For the next season LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan has done a fantastic job reaching some very important goals including a greater number of tournaments in the schedule, increased television air time, and greater prize money.
Highlights of the Upcoming Season:
The International Crown – Introduced this past year, the “Crown” will debut in 2014 and is the first global team match-play of its kind. The eight qualifying countries (Australia, Chinese Taipei, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Thailand and the United States) will feature four of its best players will represent each country and compete to be crowned the best golfing nation. Although women’s golf has had the Solheim cup which pits the best Americans against the best Europeans in the world of ladies golf, a similar event has not existed that includes the rest of the world. The men have the President’s cup which has enjoyed much American success since its inception. However, there is no counterpart on the women’s side and this has excluded the likes of Kari Webb, Ai Miyazato, and Inbee Park in team-based professional competition. Now such players have this wonderful opportunity to represent their nations.
Tournament Prize Money – Total prize money for tournaments was just under $50 million in 2013. This increases by $7 million for the 2014 season to reach an all-time high of $56 million. Average prize money for each event has increased to $1.76 million.
Televised Air Time – The number of televised events increases to 32 in total, up from 27 last year, and now all official LPGA events will be aired. The total number of hours of television time has thus increased to 350+.
The U.S. Women’s Open – Will be played at the famous Pinehurst Number 2 in North Carolina just one week after The U.S. Open. This will be the first time the two events have been played on the same course in the same year, and helps the LPGA to “piggy back” off the buzz and excitement generated by the occasion, and hopefully ticket sales and attendance will increase as well.
Number of Official Money Events – When Mike Whan took over as commissioner in 2010 he said that an ideal full LPGA schedule would include 30 – 32 events. Two new events include ‘The Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic’ to be held in the Bay area and ‘The Meijer LPGA Classic’ which will take place in Grand Rapids Michigan. With these two inaugural events, in addition to the return of ‘The Alabama Classic’, and the ‘International Crown’ held this year in Caves Valley near Baltimore, Whan has achieved his goal; the number of official events increased from 28 to 32 in 2014.
The future of Ladies’ Golf has never seemed stronger. With the close of the 2013 season we can honestly hope that the 2014 season, and beyond, will be even better.
Dr. Jackie Berry is Editor in Chief at Golfermoms.com, a resource for women and moms who want to excel at both golf and motherhood. Look for it on the web at www.golfermoms.com or contact "Jack" at editorinchief@golfermoms.com.