Quote:
Originally Posted by jebartle
Observation: 47 Asians, 41 Americans, hmmmmm! What has happened to our U.S. players.
Another observation, Men's purse 12.5 million, winner 2.25 million, women's purse 5.5 million, winner 1 million, hmmmm!
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In my experience raising two daughters, in the US women are introduced to sport via soccer. And soccer does not cost much to play, at least initially and is a very social sport, you come with a parent or two, you are playing with neighbors or school friends. Basketball is similar. Golf is not as social and costs quite a bit. So many of the best female athletes are exposed to other sports first.
The same maybe said of Korea and Japan, I don't know. But I do know that Korea had Se-Ri Pak win the US open and start a craze of female athletes wanting to play golf. And Japan had Ai Miyazato play over here. I don't know, but suspect the governments help fund the cost of play and instruction for their best female golfers. You also have US colleges recruiting world wide, so there are many international players on those teams.
I attended LPGA events and when either of them came through there was a crowd of photographers swarming around them, following them from hole to hole, every round. And this media was all from Asia, so flown over just to cover them. The only other time I saw such media presence was when Tiger came through when I attended a US Open. Then the LPGA started having an Asia swing, playing locally to build up interests. As a result, some of the major sponsors of the LPGA and their players are based in Asia. Even US born players of asian descent are sponsored by asian companies. So, now, female golf is supported and popular in Asia and some of their best athletes want to play golf.
During the broadcast they mentioned that only 8% of TV sport broadcast time is focused on female sport events. So to your question about the purses, the TV revenue is much less.