Column: Boost in Women’s Open purse, are men’s majors next?

HONOLULU (AP) — The U.S. Girls’s Open is almost doubling its prize cash to $10 million, an announcement that was celebrated throughout golf and genders.

The LPGA Tour this week begins its 73rd season of operating a league all by itself, and nobody begrudges the gamers lastly getting paid huge cash for its largest main, or the plan for them to play at storied programs.

“My first thought was, ‘Good for them.’ It’s nice to see the ladies’s recreation getting the eye it deserves,” mentioned Webb Simpson, who received the U.S. Open in 2012 when the purse for the boys was $8 million. “I feel they’re in an amazing spot.

Even so, it wasn’t lengthy earlier than Simpson and different males raised a query that has been brewing for a number of years and gained renewed traction with the Girls’s Open deal.

What does this imply for them?

The 12 months after Simpson received his U.S. Open, the USGA signed a 12-year tv contract with Fox Sports activities value simply over $1 billion. The deal started in 2015, and the prize cash for the U.S. Open that 12 months was $10 million, solely $2 million greater than when Simpson received.

“My subsequent thought was in the event that they’re doing that, nice,” Simpson mentioned. “However I feel the gamers have a common understanding of how a lot cash they make at every U.S. Open. I would really like it go method up. I’d prefer to see ours double. We’re seeing The Gamers Championship at $20 million this 12 months. I feel the tour has put a wholesome stress on the majors to extend as effectively.

“Right here’s the deal,” he mentioned. “Everyone knows they've it, or the flexibility to do it with out compromising their enterprise mannequin. As a participant, it makes us completely happy not a lot that it’s more cash, however I really feel like they’re exhibiting us respect.”

It’s not simply the USGA, which is getting consideration due to what it introduced for the ladies.

The U.S. Open purse final 12 months was $12.5 million, the most important amongst majors. The Masters and British Open provided $11.5 million, whereas the PGA Championship purse was $12 million. The PGA Tour this 12 months has seven occasions value $12 million or extra.

The announcement is a not-so-subtle method for the tour — particularly with The Gamers going to $20 million — to inspire the majors to boost their stakes.

“They need to do this as a result of it’s our flagship occasion, however I feel what I’ve heard from the tour is it additionally ought to proceed to push the majors to match us due to the caliber of match they need to be,” Jordan Spieth mentioned. “The purse ought to characterize that.”

On the coronary heart of the dialog is how a lot cash the majors are making from PGA Tour gamers at their championships.

Earnings from the U.S. Open helps pay for the opposite 15 occasions the USGA runs this 12 months, all of which lose cash. It’s no completely different with the PGA of America or The R&A and even Augusta Nationwide, which runs three newbie occasions and the Drive, Chip and Putt for teenagers.

Brandt Snedeker first began beating the prize cash drum in a gamers assembly at Torrey Pines after the USGA’s tv take care of Fox. He believes if PGA Tour gamers are accountable for almost all of the USGA earnings, they need to know the place it goes.

He isn’t anticipating a giant improve this 12 months from any of the majors, irrespective of how excessive the prize cash on the PGA Tour climbs.

“That’s been the tour coverage for therefore lengthy,“ Snedeker mentioned. “As an alternative of addressing the elephant within the room — 4 tournaments we now have no management over — maintain punching up The Gamers to push them to maintain up with us. They’ve all the time been lagging behind The Gamers. I don’t know at what level they've to start out catching up.”

The USGA annual assembly is Feb. 19, which is identical week the PGA Tour is taking part in for a $12 million purse on the Genesis Invitational. CEO Mike Whan would relatively wait till after that to debate what the USGA has in thoughts for the U.S. Open at The Nation Membership in Brookline, Massachusetts, this 12 months.

The majors are about status. That’s the place legacies are created. A inexperienced jacket is extra significant than dollars. And gamers aren’t going to boycott a significant if the cash isn’t what they assume it must be.

“It’s not the cash problem I’m upset about. It’s an honor to be on the Masters,” Simpson mentioned. “However as the sport has developed, and their revenues have developed, I feel the purse ought to evolve, too.”

Billy Horschel, who describes himself as a giant fan of the LPGA, believes each main purse must be at $20 million. One participant prompt the majors go even greater as a result of they’re the largest occasions, every with a TV contract and the largest galleries, promoting probably the most merchandise.

And that’s the place the dialog begins. Greater than a response to the ladies are questions on how a lot the majors make and the way a lot they cross alongside to gamers who drive income.

“I don’t assume the boys are going to be upset if we don’t get a large increase,” Spieth mentioned. “It’s nice for the sport what’s occurring with the U.S. Girls’s Open. I feel it'll draw extra eyeballs due to that. It’s extra having a look by all the opposite main championships and saying, ‘What is sensible?’”

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