From left: Yealimi Noh, Lauren Coughlin and Nelly Korda.
MICHAEL SCHWARTZ
Women’s sports have never been more popular. Flip on the tube at night and you’re sure to be greeted with epic performances from some of the top female athletes in the world. Caitlin Clark. Coco Gauff. Simone Biles. Mikaela Shiffrin. Each has become a household name — not just in women’s sports, but sports in general — and when they’re competing it’s must-see TV.
In the world of golf, the LPGA has visions of following suit. Not that it hasn’t been SportsCenter-worthy for decades. Nancy Lopez, Lorena Ochoa, Annika Sörenstam, Se Ri Pak — each of these extraordinary athletes (and so many more) has etched her name in the game’s history and provided searing on-course moments and memories. In her 47-year career, Texas legend Kathy Whitworth secured more wins (88) than professional golfers of any gender — Jack and Tiger included. So the tour is on more than solid ground. But, riding the wave of the recent women’s sports boom, the time has come for the LPGA to raise its profile again. And it is.
What was once a domestic tour with (mostly) homegrown heroes has transformed into a dynamic international league that now attracts athletes from all corners of the globe, providing a stage — and much bigger payouts — for the world’s greatest women golfers to strut their talent.
“The tour has become a completely different place from what it was in 2016, when I was a rookie,” says Gaby Lopez, a 10th-year pro from Mexico. “I’ve seen so much inclusiveness with players from different countries and cultures playing now.”
In 2025 — the LPGA’s 75th season — the schedule features tournaments in 14 U.S. states and 12 countries, including two Asian swings and one in Europe. That commitment to continent-spanning competition has been felt in the demographic makeup of the tour, as players from more than 40 different countries count themselves as members.
“I think that [diversity] is what makes us so marketable,” says 26-year-old Californian Andrea Lee.
Its international appeal has, without a doubt, helped the LPGA garner expanded investment from those cutting the checks: partners and sponsors. The $131 million in prize money up for grabs this season represents the largest total purse in the tour’s history.
That economic boom comes at a great time, with the tour counting some of the game’s brightest young stars as members. Yealimi Noh and Alexa Pano have each won in the past calendar year — and each has yet to celebrate her 24th birthday. At just 22, Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul has already won 17 times as a pro (including four LPGA wins), Rookie of the Year honors on two separate tours, a scoring title and finished atop the LPGA money list. Rose Zhang, the standout Stanford student and 2020 U.S. Amateur winner, won in her very first LPGA outing: the 2023 Mizuho Americas Open. The Rolex World Golf Ranking’s Top 10 includes veterans like Lydia Ko, Lilia Vu and Charley Hull but is also a testament to the youth movement, with five-time LPGA winner Ruoning Yin, 22, and last year’s Evian champion Ayaka Furue, 24.
“When I was a rookie, I knew I needed to step up my game to be competitive out here,” says 28-year-old Hannah Green, the fifth-ranked player in the world. “But recently there’s been so many first-time winners it seems like there’s a potential for anyone to win.”
Well, most of the time. Nelly Korda has had the golf world questioning that narrative. No player in the game has more star power than the two-time major winner, and in 2024 she showed us why. In that breakout campaign, the 26-year-old won an astonishing seven times en route to Player of the Year honors and her current spot atop the Rolex rankings. Korda’s heater wasn’t just on the golf course. Outside the ropes, she walked the red carpet at the Met Gala and posed for SI’s latest swimsuit issue.
That’s pretty heady stuff. As are the venues. The women now play courses that had previously only hosted the men. In recent years, the LPGA has made stops at some of the game’s greatest cathedrals, including Pebble Beach, Congressional, Baltusrol, Carnoustie and St. Andrews.
“The most fun I’ve had on the golf course was at St. Andrews,” says three-time winner Jennifer Kupcho. “Just getting to go to the great places we’ve been to and the golf courses we’ve gotten to play for the majors has been really exciting. It’s been nice to be a part of the history of those places.”
Ireland’s Leona Maguire agrees: “In terms of venues, I hope we keep elevating the tour. It may not be possible to get to the same level as the men’s tour, but bridging that gap would be great.”
Events like the Grant Thornton Invitational are doing their part. Established in 2023, the now-annual tournament pairs one LPGA pro with a male teammate from the PGA Tour. It has not only helped showcase some of the biggest stars in the women’s game, it’s introduced them to a new group of fans.
“In terms of popularity and the number of people interested,” says 30-year-old Sarah Schmelzel, “I think women’s golf is at an all-time high. But there’s a ton of room to grow and continue to get better.”
If the tour wants to capitalize on that potential, it still has challenges to navigate. Mollie Marcoux Samaan, its recently departed commissioner, left the organization after a polarizing tenure. While she did succeed in elevating purses, pulling in new sponsors and deepening the tournament schedule, she also, in the eyes of the public and the playing membership, fell short as an effective communicator.
“It hasn’t been great in a hot second,” admits ninth-year pro Angel Yin. “But I think our players really voiced that and the board took action.”
Marcoux Samaan’s successor has yet to be named, but that hasn’t stopped the members from dreaming big about what its next commissioner might achieve.
Yealimi Noh looks around and sees opportunities: “I was watching Full Swing, or even the TGL stuff. Why aren’t women a part of that?”
Aussie Gabriela Ruffels, now competing in her second season on the LPGA Tour, imagines the sport having the same broad and balanced appeal of the pro tennis circuit.
“In the sense that it’s equal between the men and the women,” she says, “I think that’s such a cool spectacle for the fans. It’s a such a great time to be a women’s professional golfer, and women’s golf is just going up. Maybe somewhere down the line it can rival tennis.”
For whoever does take the reins, the tour’s upside is seemingly limitless. Established tournaments are in place. Sponsorship dollars are flowing. The superstars exist. Talk about a good time to tune in.
Zephyr Melton is the associate game-improvement editor for GOLF.com and GOLF Magazine, crafting instruction content for digital and print verticals alongside the Top 100 Teachers in America. Prior to joining the team at GOLF, he studied at the University of Texas at Austin, followed by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, Green Bay Packers and PGA Tour. He can be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com.
