KPMG Women’s PGA becomes the latest major offering a record-breaking prize money payout

The reward for competing at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship just got, well, more rewarding. In the midst of Thursday’s first round at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J., tournament officials announced the prize money payout for this year’s championship was rising to $10 million, $1 million more than from 2022 and the sixth straight year that the purse had gotten a bump. The winner on Sunday will earn a payday of $1.5 million

In those six years, the overall increase has been 185 percent from the $3.5 million purse awarded in 2017.

"I think in really studying the history and looking at this event, in 2015 when we partnered with KPMG and the PGA of America sort of everything changed around this championship and I think it became, like Paul said, he kind of described it perfectly, a catalyst for change on the LPGA," LPGA Tour Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said Tuesday. "If you look at all the things that they do to elevate this tournament, it's what we're trying to do. The investment that they make in the women golfers, in the LPGA, has really taken the LPGA to new heights that we never really imagined."

The bump marks back-to-back events with a $10 million purse, as the U.S. Women's Open, starting July 6, has the same purse. The KPMG Women's PGA Championship raise is the second major to increase its purse in 2023. With the Chevron Championship's move to Carlton Woods, Texas, its purse went up from $5 million to $5.1 million.

Rising major purses is a notable trend on the LPGA. In 2022, every major grew its purse by at least $1.5 million for a total increase of $14.4 million. The continued increases in purses have led the LPGA to another record year, with the current season at $101.35 million, the first time in tour history the total has exceeded $100 million.