Imagine that you are a young female golfer on the LPGA Tour. You’re flying across the Atlantic and the Pacific, week in and week out, playing in tournaments and earning money. In no time, your pocket will be bulging with cash. A dream life, right? Well, yes, to a certain extent, if you’re a prodigy who can rake in four to five titles each season. NO, in all caps, if you are an average golfer or just going through a slump in your career.

While the LPGA Tour has increased its purse size by a hefty amount and keeps doing so, there is a mile-long gap to be covered before it can catch the PGA Tour. As of now, for the female golfers who grind inside the greens, it’s the grey reality of financial precariousness that stares through the verdurous greens. Believe it or not, that’s the fact if you have a bad season, as the South Korean pro, Jenny Shin, revealed.

Jenny Shin admits that you can play golf and still lose money

Jenny Shin was doing a Q&A with her fans on her Instagram. One of them asked if the LPGA Tour compensates the players for the travel expenses. While those who make the cut earn some financial security, what about the ones who fail to make the cut? It’s a “huge loss,” as the 31-year-old states in unambiguous terms.

To put this into perspective, this year, the LPGA Tour hosted events in 12 countries across three continents, including the Majors and the Solheim Cup. In the last leg of the Tour, Asian Swing alone stopped in four countries: Malaysia, Japan, China, and South Korea, before moving to Florida for The ANNIKA Driven and the CME Group Tour Championship.

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All four Asian events had a cut, except for the Toto Japan Classic. For the golfers who failed to make the cut, the accommodation, caddie charge, and travel expenses overshoot the amount they earn. In fact, if someone has played in 18 events in a calendar year and made the cut only in 8 of them, they are burning their pockets to pay for their total expenses. The one-time LPGA Tour winner says in her Instagram story, “If a player misses the cut more than half of the season, they are losing money.”

Moreover, an average LPGA Tour player earns way less than her male counterpart. The 100th player on the PGA Tour money list has $1.7 million, while the same spot on the LPGA Tour money list comes in at $189,000. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

The LPGA Tour still has a long way to go

The LPGA Tour this year had 33 official events with a purse size of $101.4 million. The highest-paying official event was the CME Group Tour Championship, with $2 million in prize money for the winners. The total purse size was $7 million.The LPGA Tour also announced that, starting next year, the purse size will increase. But, to get down to the brass tacks, it’s the winner’s payout that’s increasing disproportionately to the other golfers’ payout.

While the CME Offers a $7M Relief, LPGA’s Disparity With PGA Tour and LIV Golf Still Reiterates a Massive Scare

Also, if we choose to look beyond the rose-tinted glass, the amount is still not a patch of what the PGA Tour offers. The male’s circuit had a total purse size of US $460 million in 2023. Viktor Hovland hauled in $18 million by earning bragging rights at the season-ending Tour Championship. While the wide gap was acknowledged behind closed doors, Jenny Shin’s comments once again brought the naked reality to the forefront.

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