Women Golf second fiddle to men — still
Women second fiddle to men — still
By Neville Idour
The final women’s major championship of 2025 concluded a year which showcased the excellence and burgeoning depth of the women’s game. No one dominated but many shared the spoils.
The Open Championship in Wales was a triumph for Miyu Yamashita who showed impressive temperament in holding off the popular final round charge from Charley Hull in particular.
The attendance of in excess of 47,000 over five days at Royal Porthcawl made the 2025 Women’s Open Championship the largest women’s sporting event ever held in Wales. Families and children were there in force, television viewership mirrored that popularity as the event drew its highest ever tlevision audience for the first two rounds on Sky Sports. Plus there was a massive 144 per cent increase on YouTube and a 93 per cent increase in hours watched.
AIG Women's Open 2025 - Final Round
BRIDGEND, WALES - AUGUST 03: Miyu Yamashita of Japan poses for a photo with the trophy following the final round of the AIG Women's Open 2025 at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club on August 03, 2025 in Bridgend, Wales. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
When the women’s game gets the attention it deserves, but doesn’t always get, it shines in ways the men’s game doesn’t. The problem is the women’s majors consistently play second fiddle to the men’s. The women’s seem to be set up for a second fiddle to the men’s full blown string section.
The men grab the big buildup for weeks ahead and the headlines throughout, during and after the event. You just have to look at the schedule to see the challenge the women have to grab similar attention.
This year the Women’s PGA Championship in the United States clashed with the men’s Travelers Championship signature event and the US Women’s Open went head to head with the men’s signature Memorial Tournament. Bonkers scheduling. The women can’t achieve the level of interest they deserve.
Okay, it’s a given that the men will draw a larger audience so broadcasters will favour them. But surely they could give more consideration to the LPGA schedule, especially as the LPGA Tour, unlike the PGA Tour, does its best to avoid clashes with men’s big events.
Back in 2014 the United States Golf Association held the men’s and women’s US Opens in consecutive weeks at Pinehurst No 2 in North Carolina in a move to raise the profile of the women’s game, and it did just that.
Despite the success, that scheduling will not be repeated until 2029 at Pinehurst. Following that there will be a much longer wait until 2036 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. Shame some of us won’t be alive to see them.
US hall of famer Julie Inkester summed up the widely held frustration succinctly, right on the nose saying: “I don’t think the PGA Tour care less where they add stuff, they don’t look at our schedule. They don’t call the LPGA Tour and say, hey, we’re gonna schedule this, is it okay?.”
This exposes the selfish decision making that leaves the women’s majors in the shadows despite their growth in interest. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan take note of this.
The sponsors also deserve better when you consider their input into the women’s game. After all they don’t grow on trees in the women’s game. It takes much hard work to encourage sponsor participation.
KPMG has invested huge capital into women’s golf. The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship offered a US$12 million prize purse which equals the US Open as the largest in the women’s game. You have to wonder how they and other women’s sponsors feel about their investments when they look at the respective tour schedules and see the imbalance.
The LPGA Tour has no option other than pulling out all the stops, as well as avoiding head on clashes. They could begin by taking a lead from LIV Golf. Bring on some colour, some music where appropriate and fan inclusive concerts to end each day. Wind up the fanfare. These women are exciting to watch, period. Who knows what might be achieved? As former US President John F Kennedy once said “Don’t say why, say why not.”