Wimbledon shows golf the future
IF NELLY KORDA triumphs at Carnoustie and becomes AIG Women’s Open champion this weekend she will pocket a record £630,000.
That is good money, but it is still less than half what Collin Morikawa took home for winning the men’s equivalent this year. The R&A, under Martin Slumbers, is on the right track – another £730,000 is going into the women’s prize pot next year at Muirfield – but it still has more to do.
A glance across to Wimbledon, where tennis prize money is the same for the men’s and women’s events, offers a signpost towards the future. Where some quibble about Ash Barty and Co playing three-set matches compared to five for the men, there are no such differences in golf, with 72 holes of strokeplay deciding the winner of both.
Equality will be the end game and when it is reached we will all wonder why it was ever any different.