[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!

[retiredguy123]

I think it is mostly about money. Asians play better because they are more motivated to win the money and upgrade their lifestyle. American women, who have access to golf, are already from a financially secure family. Asians are also more disciplined than Americans in general.

Regarding the purses, the men's tour raises a lot more money and can offer higher winnings. I'm surprised that there isn't a greater difference.

Just my opinion.

[jebartle]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I think it is mostly about money. Asians play better because they are more motivated to win the money and upgrade their lifestyle. American women, who have access to golf, are already from a financially secure family. Asians are also more disciplined than Americans in general.

Regarding the purses, the men's tour raises a lot more money and can offer higher winnings. I'm surprised that there isn't a greater difference.

Just my opinion.

So true.

I see that top 3 right now are American, go USA.!

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

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!

The purses are based on income. The interest in women's golf is a fraction of the PGA tour. And it's not just women's golf. The European tour, Asian tour, South African tour, The Champions tour, and Korn Ferry all have much smaller purses than the PGA tour. Other than the Open Championship, other national championships have smaller purses than the US Open.

Golf is a business. Purses are paid for by ticket sales and television advertising. Advertisers are not willing to put up as much money for some events as they do for others. It's all based on how many people watch the events.

As far as Asian dominance, for a while, the LPGA tour was dominated by Swedes. It was found that Sweden had a great national golf program for women funded in part by the government. I wouldn't be surprised to find that some Asian countries, especially Korea have similar programs. Widespread golf in Asia is fairly new. It wasn't until people like Jack Nicklaus began designing and building courses over there in the eighties that many Asians knew anything about golf.

We see a lot more diversity on the PGA Tour as well. Up until the nineties the tour was pretty much a US Tour. Now it has gone international. I think that with the money these players make, even before they ever tee it up, and the convenience of air travel with private jets and ownership shares in jets more and more international players are able to come here and play. Another thing to look at is how many of these international players have attended college in the US. Many of them have lived here for four or five years before they began to play on the tours.

Back in the 60s and 70s, Gary Player was considered an anomaly. Today players that travel like he did are commonplace.

We are living in a worldwide community these days. Considering that there are a lot more Asians it's not surprising that we're seeing more of them excel in sports.

[ctmurray]

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!

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.

[jebartle]

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr

The purses are based on income. The interest in women's golf is a fraction of the PGA tour. And it's not just women's golf. The European tour, Asian tour, South African tour, The Champions tour, and Korn Ferry all have much smaller purses than the PGA tour. Other than the Open Championship, other national championships have smaller purses than the US Open.

Golf is a business. Purses are paid for by ticket sales and television advertising. Advertisers are not willing to put up as much money for some events as they do for others. It's all based on how many people watch the events.

As far as Asian dominance, for a while, the LPGA tour was dominated by Swedes. It was found that Sweden had a great national golf program for women funded in part by the government. I wouldn't be surprised to find that some Asian countries, especially Korea have similar programs. Widespread golf in Asia is fairly new. It wasn't until people like Jack Nicklaus began designing and building courses over there in the eighties that many Asians knew anything about golf.

We see a lot more diversity on the PGA Tour as well. Up until the nineties the tour was pretty much a US Tour. Now it has gone international. I think that with the money these players make, even before they ever tee it up, and the convenience of air travel with private jets and ownership shares in jets more and more international players are able to come here and play. Another thing to look at is how many of these international players have attended college in the US. Many of them have lived here for four or five years before they began to play on the tours.

Back in the 60s and 70s, Gary Player was considered an anomaly. Today players that travel like he did are commonplace.

We are living in a worldwide community these days. Considering that there are a lot more Asians it's not surprising that we're seeing more of them excel in sports.

Good post Boogie but wondering why our American players are less, do we have a lot of "fat cats" (especially on pga) because of prizes that retirement is the next option, and for the lpga, raising a family.

[Chi-Town]

Look at how few Americans are in the top tier of men's tennis. At one time Swedes were dominant. Before that the Australians. Just like golf there are cycles

[Two Bills]

When the ladies tour produces more income, their prize money will increase.
Just look at the crowds for mens tour to see the reason.
Never understood why women tennis players got equal prize money at Wimbledon either.
They only play three sets, as apposed to the mens five.
Mind you five sets of the screaming they produce when hitting the ball would be worse than what has to be endured over three sets!
Beam me up Scotty!

[John_W]

Originally Posted by jebartle

So true.

I see that top 3 right now are American, go USA.!

When you say 'Go USA' I believe you're disrespecting golfers like Daniel Kang and Michelle Wie among others who were born and raised in the USA, aren't they Americans?

BTW, $1 million for the women's purse is really Good. The average tour event men's payout is $1.2 million and women's is $300K.

[jebartle]

Originally Posted by John_W

When you say 'Go USA' I believe you're disrespecting golfers like Daniel Kang and Michelle Wie among others who were born and raised in the USA, aren't they Americans?

BTW, $1 million for the women's purse is really Good. The average tour event men's payout is $1.2 million and women's is $300K.

No disrespect, they are both born and breed in USA, I'll always be a fan of US sports.

[Hape2Bhr]

[QUOTE=John_W;1872110]When you say 'Go USA' I believe you're disrespecting golfers like Daniel Kang and Michelle Wie among others who were born and raised in the USA, aren't they Americans?

At the time of his post (3:08pm), Megan Khang was leading the tournament. She was born in Brockton, MA. She, and her dad Lee, are members of the club I belong to in MA.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Originally Posted by jebartle

Good post Boogie but wondering why our American players are less, do we have a lot of "fat cats" (especially on pga) because of prizes that retirement is the next option, and for the lpga, raising a family.

I don't know that retiring to raise a family is an American thing. Annika Sorenstam retired at the peak of her career to raise a family. Many of the women on the tour today have had children and still play. Stacey Lewis recently took time off to have a baby as did Gerina Piller and both are back playing the tour. Julie Inkster and Angela Stanford and many others have kids.

I think that they amount of money they make and ease of transportation allows them to do that. It's more of a choice now than it was in the past.

I don't know about "fat cats". I suppose what you mean by that is that they make a lot of money so they don't have the incentive to work hard. IMHO, the large amounts of money for most players creates just the opposite mindset. Most of the better players have so much money that it's not a motivating factor. These are very competitive type A personalities and what they want is to compete, win and be the best in the world. The money is not an issue. Once they don't have to worry about money, they can focus on being the best in the world.

If money and retirement was such a huge factor a lot of them would make play until they have a net worth of $10 million or so (and with endorsements, appearance money and winning, that's not that far fetched for a good player) and then retire. You don't see many doing that.

I think that American women are just as competitive. What has happened is that golf was once primarily played in the US and UK with a bit in Europe. Now it's become a much more international game with players from all over the world.

There are a lot more international players on the PGA tour as well. It used to be unusual to see a European or Asian on the PGA tour but now there are a lot of them. Again ease of travel is a contributing factor as is the amount of money to be made. Until recently, Asian players played on the Asian tour. Now it's much easier to come here and play for a lot more money than they would in their home countries.. In addition, the PGA tour is making more international stops along with the World Golf Championships.

Golf has simply become a much more international game so we're seeing more international players on all of our tours.

[PennBF]

I believe one of the reason's is the lack of opportunities vs Men's golf. As an example. 25 years ago my wife passed away and she was devoted to the game of golf and loved it but there were few opportunities for women for significant women's only tournaments. There were many for the men including the Men's County Amateur which was very popular. I was able to get some women to help and I founded the Ladies County Amateur and have sponsored and supported it for the last 25 years. It provides women a platform for good players and regular players to compete on a more broad basis. Over the last 25 years it has also raised thousand's of dollars for Cancer research and gave some women the chance for College Scholarships which helped to continue to build the expansion of women's golf. My only point is the women have not had the same growth opportunities as the men.