Nelly Korda won five in a row last year. Only two other players had ever done that, Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez. She ended up with seven wins for the season. Didn’t matter much on TV though. LPGA ratings are nowhere close to the PGA Tour or the WNBA, and if you show up to a regular tour event that isn’t a major, the crowds are thin. Sometimes it’s just players, caddies, and a handful of people watching. Now tennis star Aryna Sabalenka is wading into the conversation about why that gap exists, and how to close it.
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Speaking about the space, she said, “I think there’s a big room for investment. Golf has a really bright future, and I think this is the right time to invest in it.”
When further asked who she’d want to pair with for that investment, she said, “Ilona Maher for sure. She’s fun, she’s cool, and if we speak about it on social media in a fun way, I think it would be super cool.”
Her comments and wish certainly have precedent. Sabalenka is already an investor in WTGL, the new women’s team golf league launching this fall in partnership with the LPGA. She joined the Trybe Ventures’ backing group alongside Hilary Knight, Diana Taurasi, and WNBA stars Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier, and Nneka Ogwumike, all under Alex Morgan’s investment umbrella. Maher would bring something specific to the table: a rugby star with a massive online following, joining a list of crossover athletes who are already putting money into women’s golf.
If Sabalenka does invest, the timing could work out for the LPGA. Korda’s 2024 season is still the thing people point to. Five wins in a row, tying Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam. Seven titles by the end of the year. Nobody’s done that since Yani Tseng in 2011. It was a monster year, no question. But ratings are a different story, and this isn’t new. Lydia Ko won her 17th career LPGA title back in 2022, and the broadcast only pulled 236,000 viewers. Tennis or the WNBA wouldn’t even blink at a number that small.
Mollie Marcoux Samaan ran the tour back then, and she said it plainly: exposure and investment were still missing. Korda felt the same. Purses had more than doubled since 2011, which she called crazy, but the TV deal still wasn’t there. Other leagues had found a way to put their players on screen. The LPGA hadn’t. Korda’s the best player in the sport right now, and even she’ll tell you the problem was never talent. It’s money and airtime.
Notably, this is a pattern other women’s sports have already worked on. Women’s tennis saw a rise, with Sabalenka’s presence alongside Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek turning the sport into a cultural moment. The WNBA also exploded on the back of Caitlin Clark and a wave of stars becoming social media sensations. The LPGA similarly could take advantage of the world’s biggest tennis and rugby stars turning to social media and bringing a much-needed eyeballs to the sport.
Furthermore, the playbook has worked for other women’s leagues recently. Crossover investment groups, athlete-to-athlete promotion, and content built around personality rather than competition have driven attention to leagues that once struggled for visibility. WTGL, with its indoor format and roster of stars like Charley Hull, Lydia Ko, and Jeeno Thitikul, is betting on the exact formula.
That being said, golf’s own pros are working to expand the game’s reach as well. Michelle Wie West, a co-owner of TGL Los Angeles Golf Club, said she was “passionate about growing the game” when she signed on both as an investor and a player in WTGL, pointing to how the tech-driven format could bring golf to a broader audience.
Alexis Ohanian, the Reddit co-founder who paid $20 million for WTGL’s Los Angeles franchise, alongside his wife Serena Williams, put it even more bluntly: “When can I get a women’s team?”
Whether Sabalenka’s investment interest turns into anything concrete remains to be seen. But her willingness gives the sport the attention it deserves.