Prize fund for AIG Women’s Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes revealed at whopping £7.4m

Prize money for this year’s AIG Women’s Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes stands at a whopping £7.4m.

The prize fund, which stood at £7.2m for last year’s edition at Royal Porthcawl, has been increased and has officially passed the 10m US dollar mark, with the total prize money on offer having more than trebled since 2018.

“This is the sixth consecutive year that the AIG Women’s Open prize fund has been increased,” R&A chief executive Mark Darbon said. “These consistent and sustainable investments in the prize fund clearly demonstrate the R&A and AIG’s commitment to elevating the championship on the global stage.”

The championship will also benefit from increased television coverage this year, with up to 34 hours across four days meaning more linear broadcast hours in the UK and United States than any other women’s golf championship.

The 50th staging of the competition comes to the Fylde coast for the sixth time, with the world’s top players in action from July 30-August 2.

“We’re really proud of the growth that we’ve seen in terms of both live attendance and the broadcast and digital audience over recent years, and we look at both of those things as being critical to the proposition,” continued Mr Darbon. “We’re expecting this summer to have comfortably more than 50,000 people here. That will create again sustained growth for this proposition.

“We’ve got a great catchment area close to the venue here, but we know that we put on a global audience more broadly, people travel to this event from all across the UK and beyond. To bring that to life, alongside our investment in the player experience, we continue to prioritise the spectator experience that we deliver on site.

“We want people to come here, see the world’s best golfers perform, but also wrap that experience to create a memorable day more broadly.