The LPGA Tour has begun a multi-year rise and continues to make positive strides – especially in the financial plan.
The latest good news? This week’s tournament, the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro, is now the richest purse on the program outside of majors and the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, thanks to a $1 million infusion that was announced by JM Eagle Chairman and CEO Walter Wang live on Golf Channel during Saturday’s third round.
Wang joined Golf Channel’s Grant Boone in the booth to share the news.
“I would like to make an announcement,” Wang said on air. “Our purse, you said earlier, this year is $3.75 million. So I would like to increase the purse by a million dollars. So this tournament, the purse will be $4.75 million.”
In the four-year history of the JM Eagle LA Championship, the purse has grown significantly. In the tour’s debut on the LPGA schedule in 2023, JM Eagle and Plastpro doubled the tournament purse from $1.5 million to $3 million, then increased it again to $3.75 million in 2024. Now, another million has been added to reach $4.75 million.
The winner of this week’s JM Eagle LA Championship will take home a $712,500 winner’s check — a $150,000 increase from the previous winner’s cut of $562,500.
Most non-major, regular-season LPGA tournaments have purses ranging from $2 million to $4 million. The richest prize in women’s golf is the $4 million winner’s check from the $11 million CME Group Tour Championship purse, while five major championships offer purses ranging from $8 million to $12 million.
You can watch Golf Channel’s coverage of the final round of the JM Eagle LA Championship beginning at 6:00 PM ET.
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As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural women’s varsity player class, Jessica can blow away anyone in the masthead. She can also drive them to the office, where she is primarily responsible for producing print and online features, as well as overseeing large special projects such as GOLF.com.
