By Fred Altvater
At the end of November, the LPGA and the Ladies European Tour (LET) announced a joint venture to strengthen women’s professional golf around the world. This single announcement will have lasting effects and will provide an impetus to grow women’s professional golf around the world.
LET Board Chairman, Marta Figueras-Dotti said,
“At its foundation, this joint venture is about creating opportunities for our members to pursue their passion, and their careers as professional athletes. In just the 60 days since we began working on this joint venture, we have already seen a dramatic impact on our LET Tour schedule – an impact that will be a positive result for virtually all of our LET Members.”
The LET has been struggling over the past several years to obtain sponsorship and television time. Purses are substantially lower in Europe for women’s golf and make it more difficult for young women to get their professional careers started.
This joint venture between the LPGA and the LET, should push women’s professional golf to new heights in Europe, as well as, around the world. Their shared vision for future growth of women’s professional golf, provides the core ingredients to ignite an upsurge in attention to women’s golf.
In the 2019 the LET saw several sponsors pull their support and eight tournaments were dropped from the schedule. Also, in last year’s Solheim Cup every player on the European Team was a member of the LPGA.
Women’s professional golf in Europe needs a strong schedule of tournaments and sponsorship to provide an avenue for more women to succeed in professional golf. The LPGA and the Solheim Cup need capable European women to assemble a strong team to assure the Solheim Cup will remain a viable competition for years to come.
Since Michael Whan became commissioner of the LPGA ten years ago, it has grown exponentially. From a low of 23 events in 2009 to 33 next year, plus purse sizes have grown, as well.
In 2020, the ladies of the LPGA will compete for a combined prize fund of $75.1 million, which includes the fourth playing of the UL International Crown. In addition, LPGA events will enjoy over 500 hours of valuable television time.
In partnering with the LPGA, the LET will get Whan’s expertise in growing a professional golf tour, plus his relationships with major sponsors to help strengthen the women’s European golf tour.
Whan said of the venture,
“Over the past 10 years, the LPGA has had tremendous success partnering with other golf stakeholders, including the USGA, PGA Tour, European Tour, R&A and PGA of America, to enhance opportunities for women worldwide. We are thrilled to deepen our relationship with the Ladies European Tour in an effort to create the strongest possible women’s tour in Europe. This is an extraordinary opportunity to accelerate and expand the game in Europe as well. I’m excited that this is something we will build together, with the LET.”
This historic union between these two great women’s golf partners should promote the overall health and growth of women’s golf around the world. It will allow millions of young women to see and experience the highest level of competition, to inspire the next generation of European women golfers.
