LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan and Chevron CEO Mike Wirth have announced The Chevron Championship will benefit from a 50% increase in its prize purse from 2024 - awarding the winner $1.2 million, the first time its victor has ever earned a seven-figure check.
The 2023 tournament - won by Lilia Vu - featured total prize money of $5.2 million whereas this year's event has a total pot of $7.9 million. When Chevron first came on board in 2021, the opening women's Major of the year offered up $3.1 million overall.
And for those who don't make the cut at this year's Chevron, the financial consolation will be $10,000 - up from $5,000 in 2023. The news arrived at the same time as Wirth confirmed Chevron would be continuing its title partnership with the LPGA Tour through 2029.
On the purse increase and Chevron's extension announcement, Wirth said: "It's just a real privilege for us to announce the increases in prize money and support for the Tour and the increase in the amount of time that our current contract will run. We're thrilled with everything about this event.
"Mollie and I just spent all morning meeting with a whole host of people from the sports world, the golf world and the business world, talking about what more can be done to help grow the LPGA and capitalize on this great moment when people are so focused on women's sports. So it's a real privilege to be here today."
LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan and Chevron CEO Mike Wirth announce the purse for this year's event will increase from $5.2 to $7.9 million. The winner will take home $1.2 mil and Chevron is extending their sponsorship to 2029. pic.twitter.com/bIwJSWJ94TApril 16, 2024
Including the Chevron Championship's latest bump, LPGA Tour purses for the 2024 campaign now total $123.25 million which, according to the tour, is a rise of 78.6% since 2019.
This week's Major now stands as the fourth biggest prize purse of the five after overtaking the Amundi Evian Championship's 2023 offering. The France-based tournament has not yet declared its 2024 payout, but last year it was $6.5 million.
The AIG Women's Open pushed its purse up by 23% to set up a $9 million pot in 2023, while the KPMG Women's PGA Championship offered $10 million as Ruoning Yin triumphed last June.
The only Major to have confirmed its 2024 prize purse before this week was the US Women's Open - which has the highest payout in all of women's golf at $12 million - up from $11 million in 2023.
Focusing on the Chevron Championship, LPGA Tour commissioner Marcoux Samaan believes recent changes to prize money will help increase the profile of women's golf further.
She said: "By getting a purse to 7.9, to having a long-term commitment with a partner that sees it's about building something that matters over a long period of time. And it takes time to change things. It takes time to move mindset. It takes time to bring fans into a community.
"So being able to extend this partnership and their commitment to us over that period is amazing. Then, obviously, again, digging in, asking the questions, what do the players need? And they need to be able to get to that first tee ready to reach peak performance, and not having to worry about their hotels and the flights and about the car rentals and all the things that cost so much money.
"That reduces a little bit of pressure and gets them to perform at their highest level, so literally everything Chevron's doing, they just ask the question, how do we elevate this? And then I think you're going to see this week that it's going to be that much more elevated.
"Every year it's going to get better, and with a long-term agreement like this we can know we're going to be here and we can build on that and create something like you've never seen before."
Total Prize Purses In Women's Majors
- US Women's Open - $12 million (2024)
- KPMG Women's PGA Championship - $10 million (2023)
- AIG Women's Open - $9 million (2023)
- Chevron Championship - $7.9 million (2024)
- Amundi Evian Championship - $6.5 million (2023)
