Major champion urges tour events to ‘step up’ prize money

The majors have all come to the prize money party, says Ashleigh Buhai, but it’s time for regular tour events to start ‘stepping up’.

Ahead of the AIG Women’s Open last week, the South African told bunkered.co.uk that players are striving towards increased purses.

While that has been the case at golf’s marquee tournaments, it’s the weeks in between that are lacking.

“Sure, there is a big difference,” Buhai said, comparing the prize money on offer at The Open and AIG Women’s Open.

“But if you look at it compared to where we were and how it’s increased over the years, all the majors are stepping up to the plate and trying to elevate everything.

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“I think, ultimately, all the majors have come to the party, but we need the every other week tournaments to start stepping up and that’s more what we are striving towards.

“I think we are always going to have a big gap, but if we can have anyone take home over one million dollars for a win, then that’s what we want.”

Buhai, 35, was the first seven-figure cheque winner in the history of the AIG Women’s Open, when lifting the title at Muirfield in 2022.

It was part of a $7.3 million total fund, which has since increased to $9.5 million as of this year.

Lydia Ko won the top prize of $1.425 million for her triumph at the Old Course.

The prize fund for the championship has tripled since before the R&A’s partnership with AIG began in 2019.

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Meanwhile, 2024 marked the first year that all five major championships in the women’s professional game paid over $1 million to the winner.

Japan’s Yuka Saso banked the biggest sum for winning the US Women’s Open in June: a cool $2.4 million.

But the concern, at least for Buhai, lies with regular tour events, which boasted a total purse of $78.5 million for the 2024 season – almost 25% less than the Tour Championship fund this week.

Excluding the CME Group Tour Championship, the highest LPGA purse this season was $3.8 million at the FM Championship, while the highest winner’s share was $562,500 at the JM Eagle LA Championship.

John Turnbull A graduate of the University of Stirling, John joined the bunkered team in 2023 as a Content Producer, with a responsibility for covering all breaking news, tour news, grassroots content and much more besides. A keen golfer, he plays the majority of his golf at Falkirk Golf Club. Top of his 'bucket list' is a round of Pebble Beach... ideally in the company of Gareth Bale.