It’s fair to assume if you’re one of the top 100 in the world at your profession, you might not be scrambling to pay the bills. But even for successful women golfers, the expense of traveling the world to play the LPGA Tour is met with only a fraction of the tournament purses and sponsorship opportunities PGA Tour start enjoy. As Keely Levins reports, however, harsh financial reality comes with a surprising upside: the best women players are arguably more driven to win than their male counterparts.
When reports surfaced of a top LPGA player needing to pay for her own clubs while in contention at the season’s second major championship, it spoke to the harsh financial realities faced by many women golfers. With fewer sponsorship opportunities and smaller purses but often just as high expenses as their PGA Tour counterparts, many LPGA players have been forced to be creative to make ends meet, especially during a pandemic. As Keely Levins reports, whether it’s driving to tournaments or using a pushcart instead of a caddie, the bootstrapping existence of most LPGA players at least produces a product in which players are more driven to win than ever.