The LPGA Tour's season finale already offered the biggest first-place prize in women's golf. Now, the CME Group Tour Championship is raising the bar yet again.
On Wednesday, CME Group and the LPGA Tour announced that the prize fund for the 2022 CME Group Tour Championship will increase to $7 million, up from $5 million the last several years.
The winner will win the Race to the CME Globe and receive a $2 million prize, an increas of $500,000 from the current prize and the largest single prize in the history of women’s golf. All players who compete in the championship, reserved for the top 60 in the season-long Race to the CME Globe points list, will receive at least $40,000.
“We could not be more grateful to CME Group, under the bold and visionary leadership of Group Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy, for helping provide the best female golfers in the world with the opportunity to live their dreams,” said LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan. “The Race to the CME Globe and the CME Group Tour Championship have transformed the LPGA since their inception in 2014. Today’s announcement is another example of CME’s continued pioneering support of the LPGA and their commitment to leveling the playing field for female golfers, and female athletes in general, from around the globe."
Jin Young Ko and Sei Young Kim are recent winners of the event, earning the season-long prize at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla.
“CME Group is proud to support women in business and women in sports,” said CME Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Terry Duffy. “We are extremely pleased to announce significant enhancements to the CME Group Tour Championship that will further reward these world-class golfers while also creating more equity within the sport. We are impressed with the leadership Commissioner Marcoux Samaan has demonstrated and are thrilled to help elevate women’s golf.”
While the CME Group Tour Championship had represented the largest single first-place prize in women's golf, the tournament's purse has since been surpassed by the US Women's Open and AIG Women's Open, with the latter previously announcing a 2022 purse of $6.8 million. Now, at $7 million, the event will again own both the largest purse and largest first-place check in the game's history.
