LPGA offers record US$131mil in 2025 for 75th anniversary season

MIAMI: LPGA golfers will compete for a record US$131 million in prize money over a 33-event season in 2025, the tour’s 75th anniversary campaign, LPGA officials announced on Wednesday.

On the eve of the season-ending Tour Championship at Naples, Florida, next year’s schedule was unveiled, including two new tournaments and two unofficial events.

Total prize money will have jumped US$62 million in four years, next season’s payout jumping 90% from the pandemic-hit 2021 campaign.

“The 2024 season was another year of historic growth for the LPGA Tour, and with this 2025 schedule we will continue to improve on that growth,” LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said.

The LPGA’s global schedule will begin two weeks later than this year and see competition in the United St ates and 11 other nations.

The season-opening LPGA Tournament of Champions in Orlando on Jan 30-Feb 2 will be followed the next week by the Founders Cup at Bradenton before the tour heads for Asia in February and March for events in Thailand, Singapore and China.

The LPGA Match Play will be contested April 2-6 in Las Vegas ahead of the year’s first women’s major, the Chevron Championship at The Woodlands, Texas.

May will feature two new LPGA events, the Black Desert Championship in Ivins, Utah on May 1-4 and the first LPGA event in Mexico since 2017, the Riviera Maya Open in Cancun on May 22-25.

The second major, the US Women’s Open, will be contested May 29-June 1 at Erin Hills in Wisconsin followed by the Women’s PGA Championship on June 19-22 at PGA Frisco in Frisco, Texas.

The year’s final majors will be the Evian Championship in France on July 10-13 and the Women’s British Open on July 31-August 3 at Royal Porthcawl in Wales.

The LPGA returns to North America until a late-season Asia swing with events in October at Shanghai, South Korea and Malaysia and a November stop in Japan before two final events, the Annika on Nov 13-16 and the 2025 season-ending Tour Championship in Naples on Nov 20-23.

The Korean tournaments will include the biennial International Crown team event.

The FM Championship in Boston on Aug 28-31 will have a US$4.1 million purse, the first event to crack US$4 million in prize money outside of the majors and Tour Championship.

In all, nine tournaments will have elevated purses from 2024.