Image credit: LPGA

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) has confirmed that its 2026 season will feature a record prize purse of just over US$128.5 million, marking the highest payout in the organisation’s history.

According to the tour, 14 of the 31 tournaments scheduled for next year have increased their prize money. The LPGA also revealed that, beginning in 2026, every round of every event will be broadcast live for the first time, representing a major step forward in its media strategy.

With enhanced broadcast visibility, the LPGA aims to expand its viewer base, strengthen its commercial appeal and ultimately generate additional financial momentum that can be reinvested into the tour.
“We’re all competing in the attention economy—not just against other sports,” said LPGA commissioner Craig Kessler. “Anything that can draw a fan’s focus is competition, so it’s our responsibility to be distinctive, compelling and consistently present in the minds of our supporters.”

The 2026 schedule will also debut a new tournament, the Aramco Championship, created through a collaboration between the LPGA, the Ladies European Tour (LET) and Golf Saudi. The event will carry a US$4 million purse.

Kessler, who took over leadership of the LPGA earlier this year, hinted that the partnership with Golf Saudi could lead to additional joint events. He further suggested that the tour is open to the possibility of staging a major championship in Asia in the future, considering the strong performances delivered by Asian players in recent seasons.

While the LPGA continues to explore expansion opportunities, Kessler underlined the importance of nurturing existing partnerships. His ambition is for the organisation to be regarded as “one of the most valued partners in global sport”.

Achieving that status will require alignment with players, he noted. Kessler revealed that he recently urged players to be more visible and proactive in engaging with broadcast content, adding that the LPGA plans to allocate a substantial portion of its resources to supporting its most marketable, cooperative and influential players.

He pointed to the attention generated by the recent pro-am at The Annika—which featured basketball sensation Caitlin Clark and Kai Trump, granddaughter of US President Donald Trump—as an example of the broader storytelling opportunities the tour must seize.

“Our responsibility is to curate a diverse set of compelling narratives so fans stay engaged week after week,” he said. “If the tour depends on a single personality or celebrity to carry its momentum, then we’ve misunderstood our mission. What last week demonstrated is that the LPGA has an abundance of magic—we just need to bring it forward.”

With women’s sports experiencing strong global growth, Kessler believes the LPGA is positioning itself for a breakthrough similar to what the WNBA and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) have achieved in recent years.

“We’re still, in investment terms, a growth stock—maybe even an undervalued one,” he said. “If I were a potential partner looking at the LPGA, now would be the moment to get involved. We haven’t had our defining surge yet, and when it comes, we’ll still keep pushing because this organisation is built on constant improvement. The target will always keep moving.”

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