Why the AIG Women’s Open’s Record $10 Million Purse Increase Matters

At it's inception back in 1976, the AIG Women's Open has a prize fund of £500 or about $675 U.S. dollars.

Now, 50 years into it's tenure, that number looks a whole lot bigger...and I mean a whole lot bigger. This week, the R&A announced that this year's championship with see a significant boost in many ways, one of which is through a generous little boost in the purse to get it to $10 million.

"This is the sixth consecutive year that the AIG Women’s Open prize fund has been increased," said Mark Darbon, Chief Executive of The R&A. "These consistent and sustainable investments in the prize fund clearly demonstrate The R&A and AIG’s commitment to elevating the Championship on the global stage."

This will be the 50th anniversary of the AIG Women's Open, contest at Royal Lytham & St Annes this summer July 29 through August 2.

Last year's prize fund totaled, $9.75 million in total payout to players. That extra $250,000 goes a long way making this the third LPGA major to hit the $10 million mark.

In 2008 when the championship was last held at Sunningdale (which was also announced today as the 2028 AIG venue), the purse was just at $2.1 million. Catriona Mathew won the following year at Royal Lytham & St Annes taking about $330,000 of the $2.2 million purse.

For the next eight years the purse stayed steady with a few incremental increases around the $2.5-$3 million mark, including the last time the championship was contested at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2018 where the overall purse was at $3.25 million. Georgia Hall took the win home with a $490,000 check in her pocket.

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AIG's partnership began the following year in 2019 and was kicked off by a purse increase to $4.5 million for its first two years before a continued increase in subsequent years.

This steady, up-ticking trend is becoming increasingly popular amongst the majors. Just last week at the Chevron Championship, the purse had been pushed to $9 million, with Nelly Korda taking home $1,350,000.

The week before at the JM Eagle LA Championship, sponsor Walter Wang said live on air that he was throwing another million into their jackpot, making that event's purse the largest outside of the majors and the CME Group Tour Championship.

The U.S. Women’s Open still leads the way with a $12 million purse, but the AIG Women’s Open reaching $10 million feels significant because of how it got there—not overnight, but with steady investment over time.

Women’s golf doesn’t need one giant headline in a vacuum. It needs consistent, annual investment that keeps moving the sport forward.

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