Seven years into AIG’s sponsorship, the numbers keep climbing. The purse at Royal Lytham & St Annes has reached $10 million, up $250,000 from last year, with the champion pocketing $1.5 million, the largest winner’s cheque in the tournament’s 50-year history. Only two majors pay more: the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at $13 million and the U.S. Women’s Open at $12.5 million. For the 144 players in the field this week, that keeps the AIG Women’s Open comfortably in third, and turns Sunday’s round into the richest payday most of them will ever play for.

The growth isn’t isolated to Lytham. Every LPGA major has seen its purse swell since AIG took over the title sponsorship in 2019, part of a wider scramble among sponsors to attach their name to women’s golf’s biggest weeks. The money has changed who shows up: fields are deeper, and a major title now pays enough to build a career around rather than just decorate one.

The tournament was last played at this venue in 2018, when Georgia Hall’s winning purse was $3.25 million, a fraction of today’s $10 million.

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Go back further, to the inaugural 1976 event, and the total prize fund was just £500. The purse didn’t cross $1 million until 1998, so most of this growth has come in the last decade.

Despite the record purse, one top contender has other priorities. World No. 1 Nelly Korda says she’d like to see someone else lift the trophy.

Nelly Korda wants Charley Hull to win

Korda used her pre-tournament press conference to back Charley Hull, who is still hunting her first major title after five runner-up finishes. Korda pointed to Hull’s habit of contending at majors without closing one out, and compared her to PGA Tour player Sam Burns.

“It’s kind of like Sam Burns. He’s been in the hunt a lot during major championships, hasn’t got it done. Eventually he will. You can’t get discouraged; it has to be encouraging. It’s about putting yourself in that position. You can’t control what others are doing, but she’s doing something right to always be there and be relevant, to be in the hunt. I think it would be great for her to do it on home soil, too. She’s an amazing player. She’s such a great personality.”

Hull heads into the final round tied for eighth at 2-under, well within range of the lead, and a win would make her the highest-earning first-time major winner in the tournament’s history.

Korda, by contrast, is tied for 16th at 1-over and eight shots off leader Yealimi Noh, after a rollercoaster third-round 73 that mixed an eagle and five birdies with two double bogeys, a triple bogey and two more dropped shots. With Korda unlikely to factor on the leaderboard herself, it’s Hull who carries the better shot at making her prediction, and the record purse, pay off.