The AIG Women’s Open has increased its prize fund for a sixth successive year despite not being a profitable tournament to stage.
This year’s championship, which is being held from 30 July – 2 August at Royal Lytham & St Annes on the Lancashire coast, will have a record purse of $10m (£7.4m).
It is not the only one of the five annual women’s majors taking advantage of sponsorship deals to offer increasing prize money. The US Women’s Open – which last year had the largest prize fund in the women’s game at $12m – has the backing of Ally Financial.
“At the moment it’s not profitable,” said R&A chief executive Mark Darbon.
“We treat it as an investment into the game, but an absolutely critical investment.
“Our focus actually is around audience growth. We think if we’re going to be true to that notion of inspiring millions of people around the world, we need to grow the audience for this championship and the women’s game more broadly.”
Around 50,000 spectators are expected to attend across the week of what will be the 50th Women’s Open, while Darbon pointed to increased television coverage as a way of boosting the game’s profile.
The $10m prize fund lags behind the $17m shared out between the players at last year’s Open Championship and while Darbon would like to see that levelled in the future, he said the R&A had to “think sustainably”.
“There is a commercial reality. We’re investing collectively, AIG and the R&A, significant sums into the championship, and we want to do that in a responsible way.
“So we’re not in a position to have equal prize funds at the moment, but we will look to continue to elevate our prize fund over time.
“We want to reward the stars of our sport. We have to do that in a sustainable fashion.”
Darbon said it would be possible to make the championship profitable by cutting back on the spend but that was not on his agenda.
“If profitability was our number one ambition for this event, there are a number of things we could do to put us on a path to achieving that result.
“At the moment, profitability is not a principal target for us. We want to deliver brilliant venues and a wonderful experience for the players.
“We want to have a meaningful and growing prize pot, and we want to deliver a spectator experience both live and through broadcast and digital channels that inspires and excites people.”
Darbon also announced that the 2028 Women’s Open would be held at Sunningdale’s Old Course in Surrey.
Unlike the men’s Open Championship, the women’s visits inland courses as well as links courses on the coast.
“The Open and Women’s Open have their own discrete identities,” he said.
“We don’t treat them as one, and therefore we don’t treat the venue selection process as one either.
“We are very focused on taking this event to what we regard as some of the world’s very best courses.”