Laura Davies hits out at prize money on offer at Ladies European Tour events ahead of lucrative Aramco Team Series
| Date | 10 July 2021 |
| Published date | 10 July 2021 |
Last weekend saw Stephanie Kyriacou win €30,000 for clinching top spot at the Big Green Egg Open in the Netherlands.
Wales’ Lydia Hall, Scotland’s Carly Booth and England’s Eleanor Givens were among four golfers who finished tied ninth and earned €4,500. Solheim Cup prospect Alice Hewson from Hertfordshire finished tied-38th and picked up just € 1,320.00.
Those numbers are light years behind the PGA Tour and the LPGA Tour – but Davies has no issues with that.
But what the English star would like to see is Ladies European Tour prize funds move in the direction of the $1million Aramco Team Series, which takes place at the Centurion Club near Watford, where she is just one of a series of big names appearing.
In 2021 Aramco is staging a total of four $1m events – this week’s in Hertfordshire, plus further ones in Spain, USA and Saudi Arabia
Davies, 57, said: “The more forward-thinking sponsors we get like them, the better. They are doing an absolutely cracking job for us.
“And what they’ll hopefully do is make all the other sponsors move the bar up and realise that 108 pros cannot exist on a 200,000 euro tournament. I know times are hard and everything, but there’s not much to go round in that kind of prize fund.
“We are not talking huge amounts. If a 200,000 tournament becomes a 400,000 tournament, then that’s fantastic. We are not asking every sponsor obviously to put a million euro in – or million dollars as it is this time – but it is just encouraging other sponsors who are doing such a great job.
“Everything has to be viable for other sponsors – they have to have a tournament that works for them as well as the players. But, at the moment, I’m afraid 200,000 is just not enough and maybe they’ll want to get a bit closer to the Aramcos of this world, the British Open and the Scottish Open and things like that.”
Next week will see the Open Championship take place at Royal St George’s in Kent. The champion golfer of the year will take home over $2million. A month later, the AIG Women’s British Open will be held at Carnoustie and the winner will collect $675,000.
Davies added “You’ve just got to be realistic. The Open, it’s an absolute juggernaut and the AIG is a women’s sport juggernaut. But to say we should...
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