If you compare prize money there is no comparison but what about sponsorships and endorsements. I would love to see how much some of the leading Korean women get just for playing in the LPGA. I bet it's big $$$$.

Women’s volleyball seems to get coverage, why is that?
 

:bigbow::bigbow:

Lpga
 

LPGA is based in Ohio and there are no male members. No male can say he is a LPGA certified instructor. Requirements of membership include being a woman at birth.

Woman can join the USGA.

Not true, according to this article.

LPGA Modifies Rules to Include Transgender Competitors | GLAAD.

Paige Spirinac.
 

After all it is just entertainment. I’m thinking Paige Spirinac.

If you want to watch the best golfers in the world.... it’s not going to be on the lpga. If you like watching women play golf....well, sure, you do you, no judgement here.

One sure way to get equal prize money as a women is to just compete against the men and beat them.

I’m sorry but that’s just not true. If you look it up there have been a total of seven woman who have played in a men’s PGA tournament, only one has ever made the cut. Annika Sorenstan, considered the greatest woman golfer of all time, and who I admire greatly, tried once and did not make the cut. After, she said there just to good. The men do hit it further but they play out of much thicker rough and much tougher playing conditions. Don’t get me wrong, the women are great players and I do enjoy watching them but playing under the same conditions and allowing for distance they cannot compete with the PGA pros.

Inappropriate

Equal pay for equal work....but not necessarily equal pay for not equal work.

I don't mean to disparage the LPGA in any way. They are a great tour and a great organization. But they are restricted to female players just as the Champions Tour is restricted to those over the age of 55.

The PGA Tour on the other hand is open to anyone that can play well enough to qualify. The Korn Ferry tour is also open to anyone that can qualify but is made up mostly of people that couldn't qualify for the PGA Tour. It is a sort of minor league.

Any time that a sports league is restricted it is basically in the same category as a minor league.

The reason that the PGA Tour plays for so much more money is that their players are the best of the best. They are not the best men, or best women or best seniors or best juniors. The PGA Tour is open to anyone and everyone who can compete.

Because of this, The PGA Tour generates much more fan interest. More people are interested in watching the best players is the world as opposed to the best female or senior or junior players int he world.

Because there is so much more fan interest advertisers and sponsors are willing to put up a lot more money. When you can say that you have 7 million people watching, you can charge more for advertising than a tour that has 2 million viewers. That is where the purse money comes from. And 35% of PGA Tour fans and viewers are women.

Look at the television ratings and (when there is no pandemic) the crowds at the tournaments.

This has nothing to do with gender bias or any other kind of discrimination. It's simply about money. If you are an advertiser or a sponsor, your goal is to get your message to as many people as possible.

Sorry, but the LPGA Tour, The Champions Tour and all of the other restricted tours are the same as minor league baseball. You're not watching the best players in the world. Far more people are interested in watching the best in the world in any endeavor than the best (place a restriction here) in the world compete.

The LPGA Tour is not in trouble. It has always been basically a minor league tour and always will be. They will never play for the same purses that the PGA Tour plays for. When women can compete on the PGA Tour, they will get the same recognition as men.

Minor leagues in all sports are very successful. But people are not going to pay the same to watch the Pawtucket Red Sox or Providence Bruins as they are willing to pay to watch the Boston teams. Consequently, those players are not going to be paid as much.

I had a friend who was the major tournament agronomist for the USGA. His job was to set up the courses for all of the USGA's major championships. He told me that when setting up women's that he had to slow down and soften up the greens and keep the rough around the greens cut lower because the women could not chip and putt anywhere as well as the men.

What you're saying here is a complete myth. There have been women that have tried to compete on the PGA Tour and they have simply not been good enough in any facet of the game. When Annika Sorenstam and Michele Wie played in men's events, it wasn't their lack of length that was the only factor that kept them from being successful. Much of their lack of success was due to their inability to handle the faster and firmer greens.

The PGA and LPGA have nothing to do with the USGA. Women can join The PGA of America. In fact the last president of the PGA was Suzy Whalley.

I don't know about the LPGA allowing male members. But the more important point is that the PGA of America and the PGA Tour are two loosely affiliated but separate organizations.

The LPGA has a teaching division and and the LPGA Tour. I'm not sure of their relationship.

I believe I referenced distance in my earlier post. I would love to see matches between the women and the men on shorter courses just to compare actual skills vs being able to pound the ball further. It wouldn’t have to be for money, just head to head on course management and skill management. As far as women being slow putters, I think they are comparable to the men who stand over their putts wiggling their feet and their butts like that is going change anything.:icon_wink:

More interest, more prize money!!!

Exactly right.