The JM Eagle LA Championship becoming the LPGA’s “richest purse on the schedule outside of the major championships and season-ending CME Group Tour Championship” marks the “latest good news” for the tour amid a “years-long upswing,” according to Jessica Marksbury of GOLF. The LPGA continues to make positive strides -- especially on the financial front -- the latest of which was a $1M infusion announced by JM Eagle Chair & CEO Walter Wang live on Golf Channel during Saturday’s third round. The JM Eagle LA Championship’s purse has “increased significantly” over its four-year history. In the tournament’s 2023 debut, JM Eagle and Plastpro doubled the tournament purse from $1.5 to $3M, then increased it again to $3.75M in 2024. Now, another million has been added to reach $4.75M. Marksbury noted most non-major, regular-season LPGA tournaments have purses ranging from $2M to $4M. The richest prize in women’s golf is the $4M winner’s check awarded from the $11M CME Group Tour Championship purse (GOLF, 4/19).
ACTIONS SPEAKING LOUDER: GOLF DIGEST’s Tod Leonard wrote Wang is an “ardent supporter of the women’s game and continues to take action to back his words.” Since he began sponsoring the L.A. event four years ago, he has “put up the players in hotels each competition week to help them save costs.” Leonard: “Safe to say the LPGA would love more backers like him” (GOLF DIGEST, 4/18). GOLFWEEK’s Beth Nichols on X wrote, “Over the course of its 75 years, the LPGA has had a handful of business titans champion the organization in extraordinary ways. Walter Wang and his wife Shirley are still early into their relationship with the LPGA, but their impact has already been remarkable” (X, 4/18).
