When Hannah Green won the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine National, the purse was $3.85 million.

Seven years later, Hazeltine is hosting the championship again, but several things have changed, especially the purse.

"When the KPMG Women’s PGA was held at Hazeltine National Golf Club in 2019, the purse was $3.85 million. The total amount of broadcast hours, including studio coverage, was 30. For this year's event, June 25-28 at Hazeltine, KPMG raised the purse to an historic $13 million, the largest purse in women’s golf history," Beth Ann Nichols of Golfweek posted on X.

When KPMG first took over the event, the purse was $2.25 million. Since then, they have sought to elevate the event in partnership with the PGA of America and the LPGA Tour.

By 2019, the prize had climbed to $3.85 million. In 2020, it rose again to $4.3 million, and last year it was $12 million.

And it wasn’t just about the purse. In 2019, there were about 30 hours of broadcast coverage. This year, it became nearly 100 hours of live streaming and TV coverage across NBC, Golf Channel, and Peacock.

That is more than three times the access fans had just seven years ago.

Additionally, players will get AI-powered reels at the end of their rounds at this year's event. It gives them instant data on their shots. Broadcasts are also using smart predictive analytics to help fans better understand the game.

“Progress isn’t a milestone for us," Tim Walsh, the KPMG U.S. Chair and CEO, said.

"It’s a commitment to raising the bar and our investments follow suit.”

The KPMG effect reaches far beyond one event

KPMG’s push has helped lift the whole women’s game.

PGA of America CEO Terry Clark told Golf Digest, "This is a championship that we believe has consistently improved every year, and that's in partnership with KPMG and the LPGA Tour."

And it's beyond the purses.

KPMG took over as the title sponsor of the former LPGA Championship in 2015.

According to the LPGA, official prize money has more than doubled since 2016. And the prize money for the five majors has more than tripled.

Ten years ago, the total prize money for the whole season was $63 million. Today? It has climbed to over $134 million.

The U.S. Women’s Open raised its purse to $12 million. The AIG Women’s Open climbed to $9.75 million. The Amundi Evian Championship hit $9.1 million, and the Chevron Championship reached $9 million.  

A decade ago, all five women’s majors together offered $16.85 million. Now that number is $52.6 million.

"This is one. We talked about the purse; it's not all about the purse. It's about a lot of factors that we've got to support through KPMG,” Clark added while praising KPMG's assistance.

Read more at Club Golf!

Written by

Md Saife Fida

Edited by

Koushik Biswas