Has the influx of money endangered the spirit of the game of golf? The fans were indeed not happy when both sides of men’s golf, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, poured in millions of dollars at every other event. The Greg Noman-led circuit has been offering $25 million for each event of its season. Matching them, the PGA Tour increased its prize purses at all the signature events to $20 million and the FedExCup playoffs now offer around $100 million. And now the LPGA Tour has also joined the race.

In a groundbreaking deal, the LPGA Tour signed a five-year-long deal with the property insurer FM Globe, recently rebranded to just FM, to start the new FM Championship on the women’s circuit. At first, the inaugural event starting on August 29th at TPC Boston was supposed to have a prize purse of $3.5 million, and yet that was the biggest nonmajor purse of the LPGA Tour.

However, FM recently announced that it has increased the purse by $300,000 and now golfers will battle for $3.8 million. Additionally, despite missing the cut, the golfers will get $1,000 when the tournament concludes. And it seems it will not stop here. The LPGA Tour reported that by 2028, the FM Championship’s prize purse would reach anywhere near $5 million.

Unlike Martin Slumber, who was cautious about increasing the prize purses in the golf world, the operations officer for the LPGA Tour, Ricky Lasky, saw it from a different perspective. He was rather thankful, as he said, “We are incredibly appreciative of our partners at FM for their immediate and generous support of our athletes.” This comes after Slumber’s plea earlier this month, which seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

What were Slumber’s concerns that the LPGA Tour has disregarded?

All four men’s majors also elevated the purses by quite a margin, except the R&A’s Open Championship. The oldest major of the game had the lowest prize purse of all majors at $17 million. It was all because the outgoing R&A CEO, Martin Slumber, was concerned about the ongoing and hastened increase in the purse of the men’s game and pleaded that it was not overall sustainable for golf’s future.

The Guardian quoted Slumber, saying, “We remain concerned about the impact substantial increases in men’s professional prize money are having on the perception of the sport and its long-term financial sustainability.” Furthermore, the CEO sharply noted, “These are very encouraging figures, but we have to maintain this momentum.”

Although historically, the LPGA Tour has always had lower prize pools than the PGA Tour or now the LIV Golf, the women’s circuit has aimed to elevate the women’s golf events, and to do that, they have also entered the race to increase prize money for the players. Although the LPGA Tour has not yet seen an increment as large as the PGA Tour or LIV Golf, the latest growth for the FM Championship can be seen as the first step in that direction.