The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Women’s Open prize money nearly doubles to $10 million
Long considered the biggest event in women’s golf, the U.S. Women’s Open now has prize money and future sites to match.
The U.S. Golf Association announced Friday the purse will nearly double this year to $10 million, by far the richest in women’s golf and challenging top prizes in women’s sports.
The purse was $5.5 million when Yuka Saso won at Olympic Club last year.
Helping to make it possible was the USGA bringing on a presenting sponsor — Ohio-based Premedica, a not-for-profit integrated health organization serving 28 states.
The U.S. Women’s Open purse is planned to increase to $11 million and eventually $12 million over the next five years.
Along with a massive jump in money, the USGA is sending the women to some of the classic U.S. Open designs that for decades have hosted the men. That includes a return to Oakmont and Pinehurst No. 2, Riviera, Oakland Hills, Merion, Inverness and Interlachen.
The USGA said Pinehurst would host the men’s and women’s Open in successive weeks in 2029, just as it did in a highly successful debut in 2014. Martin Kaymer won the U.S. Open, and Michelle Wie captured her first major at the U.S. Women’s Open the following week.
It’s the first major initiative by the USGA since Mike Whan, the former LPGA Tour commissioner, took over as CEO last summer.
“The USGA prides itself on conducting championships that not only provide an incredible stage for the athletes, but also give younger players something to dream about,” Whan said. “For more than 75 years, the U.S. Women’s Open has been the one that every little girl, in every country around the world, has dreamed of winning.”
The Women’s Open is June 2-5 at Pine Needles Lodge in North Carolina, and then it moves to Pebble Beach for the first time the following year. Pebble Beach was already on the schedule.
Pine Needles has a short but strong history of the Women’s Open, with a list of champions that include Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb and Cristie Kerr.
Only once had it gone to Pinehurst — the back-to-back weeks in 2014 — and Pine Needles was among the venues that could be labeled as the courses where the women played the Open.
The future lineup is filled with historic courses, such as Riviera and Merion, which have hosted U.S. Open over the years.
Most telling was Oakland Hills on the list. The Detroit-area course recently went through a major renovation under Gil Hanse, whose architecture firm was chosen to design the Olympic Golf Course in Rio for the 2016 Olympics.
It has been trying to land a U.S. Open for the seventh time. It hasn’t held the men’s Open since 1996.
It was not immediately clear how much the winner would receive at the U.S. Women’s Open. Saso earned slightly more than the typical 18% of the purse, with the USGA wanting to provide the biggest payoff at $1 million.