LPGA Tour hopes to ride on growth in women's sport

Record Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) viewership driven by Caitlin Clark, attendance highs in English football's Women's Super League and the WTA's tennis events boasting a global audience of 1.1 billion.

- Kimberly Kwek

Women's sport has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years and shows no signs of slowing down as interest increases.

Professional services firm Deloitte predicted global revenues of US$1.28 billion (S$1.73 billion) for women's elite sport in 2024, the first time the figure surpassed US$1 billion.

In golf, the LPGA Tour, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2025, aims to capitalize on the popularity of women's sport, having made progress over the years.

Players that The Sunday Times spoke with at the HSBC Women's World Championship this week believe that the organization is riding on the trend, citing improvements such as larger prize purses and initiatives that benefit players.

New Zealand's Olympic champion Lydia Ko, 27, said: "It's a very exciting time for women's sport, and hopefully we can capitalize on that kind of momentum and I do feel like we are moving in that direction.

"We have a great leadership team that is going to carry us that way and I hope that's going to be the case for not only while I'm playing but the generations that are coming ahead."