Ever since the entire PGA Tour-LIV Golf debacle, the LPGA has danced very delicately around Saudi money. They have never fully rejected it, but they have never let it in either. But that changed recently when the Tour announced the 2026 Aramco Team Series’ American stop. Earlier, an event on the LET, this time it will take place in Shadow Creek, co-sanctioned by the LPGA. It is going to be a big move, and Craig Kessler needs to be cautious, avoiding Jay Monahan‘s steps. And he seemed to have learn from it.

Unlike Monahan’s 2023 merger attempt, which kept the players blindsided, Kessler, as per Meg Adkins from The Mixed Bag, has adopted a better approach. He has been transparent, deliberate, and strategic in his approach with the Saudi investment.

“I kind of like it,” she said on the new episode. “We’ve been in this like a long-term dating relationship, and it’s like, OK, now we’re tying the knot. Like it’s becoming more official now. It’s been a long game on the women’s side of things, you know, very slow, very strategic, kind of getting more involved year over year. And this is the next step.”

On the women’s circuit, the LET has had PIF-backed Aramco Series since 2020. In contrast to the PGA Tour/DP World Tour, whose schedules often clashed with the LIV events, the calendar on the women’s side has been more open. Moreover, neither the LPGA nor the LET has ever stopped its players from participating in the PIF-backed event, unlike the men’s circuit, which went on to ban and impose hefty fines.

And now with the LPGA’s official arrangement with the PIF series, the deal is out in the open. The real success of Kessler does not lie in the deal itself, but in how he’s handled it. When Jay Monahan announced the PGA Tour’s “framework agreement” with PIF in 2023, no one had any idea. Players found out about the deal through X.

“I love finding out morning news on Twitter,” Collin Morikawa tweeted sarcastically. Then there were others like Wesley Bryan, who called Monahan a “hypocrite.” Monahan had spent years condemning LIV Golf, and now suddenly he appeared to have reversed his course. It was a full-blown PR disaster, which paved the way for his ultimate ouster.

As Kevin Kisner later put it, “The No. 1 mistake on the PGA Tour is communication. They always, always, always mess up the communication.”

But on the women’s side, Kessler was cautious. Before finalizing the Aramco deal, he spoke to dozens of LPGA players. According to reports, the sentiment was mostly “What took so long?” He later told the Associated Press that he was “blown away by the support from the LPGA and LET boards.” By the time the announcement came through, the Tour’s biggest names already were aware.

Even Adkins echoed the same sentiment: “I’m sure you’ve looked at what happened with Jay Monahan – good decisions, bad decisions,” she remarks. “And you’re picking up that phone call and you’re having this conversation because this has been so far down the path with LET and the series for many, many years…I’m kind of surprised it took this long, actually.”

The difference also lies in the actual needs of these women players.

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Is a deal with Saudi Arabia’s PIF a necessity for the women’s circuit?

The answer to that question is a straightforward yes. It’s not a hidden fact that the LPGA and LET have prize pools that are far less than what the men’s side gets. For instance, the LPGA’s total prize money for its entire 2025 season is around $131 million, which averages about $4 million per event.

By contrast, many PGA Tour events routinely offer a purse of $7 million to $12 million, with some marquee tournaments exceeding $15 million. Even the DP World Tour, which is smaller than the PGA Tour, offers prize funds in the $2.5 – $5 million range for many events. Inevitably, the male players keep sitting on higher purses, whereas even the notable LPGA players sometimes struggle to “eke out a living.”

“You can look to the Nelly Kordas, Jeeno Thitikul, who have raked in millions and millions over the past few years,” Adkins confesses. “But the majority of female professional golfers, even the ones you see on, in LPGA events week in and week out, it is not glamorous. They’re trying to make a living…I don’t think Craig Kessler would be doing his best for the players if he didn’t take this opportunity right.”

In that regard, the Aramco Championship matches the average of the LPGA immediately, and it’s a single event. Moreover, it is backed by guaranteed Saudi funding. So, while the PGA Tour can afford to compete with LIV and PIF, the LPGA simply cannot. They cannot afford a so-called moral high ground.

“It’s good for LPGA and Craig to kind of say, ‘Let’s just have a seat at the table. Maybe create some coexisting framework to give opportunities for these athletes to make some money,'” Adkins concluded.