I’m writing this from my hotel room in Lytham & St Annes, looking forward to tomorrow's start of the AIG Women’s Open. It’s the Major they all want to win, and fingers crossed we see another British winner follow in Georgia Hall’s footsteps here from 2018. After watching what looked like thin crowds at Dundonald during the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open on TV last week, I’m expecting a much bigger turn-out on the Lancashire links over the coming days.
While dedicated fans will travel from afar, perhaps many combining a summer holiday along the coast with watching the world’s best women in action, the turnout will still be a fraction of what we saw just down the road at Birkdale for the men’s Open a few weeks back.
I’ve talked about this before: so many women play regularly and love watching men’s golf, yet professional women’s golf still lacks that same pull. It’s disappointing, but sometimes understandable. If you turn on the TV and see a flat tournament with very little atmosphere, it’s not going to convince you to go out and buy tickets for next year.
I spoke to former tour player turned broadcaster Mel Reid about this exact issue, and she certainly didn’t hold back. In this article, Mel opened up about the harsh commercial realities of the women's game. She’s even taken up an open-door invitation to put new growth strategies directly on the desk of LPGA Commissioner Craig Kessler.
"I've chatted to him and basically said, 'You need to get more people through the gate. I don't know how you're going to do that. I've said for years that people should just go for free for a bit, just to get people watching women's golf. I also think we could do a better job of getting local communities involved, maybe getting local radio stations out on the range. We have to do something different because, in women's sport, we have to be louder to get noticed. The talent is definitely there, but where are the eyes?"
During our conversation, Mel was largely referring to the Chevron Championship, the opening women’s Major of the year in Houston, Texas. She believes venue choice is another major factor hurting attendance, pointing out how tough it is to draw sports fans to an LPGA event in a sprawling metropolitan area where there is so much competing entertainment.
There’s clearly work to be done across the tours to get 'bums on seats', but thankfully, the choice of venue won’t be an issue this week. Lancashire is proper golf country, and this stretch of the Fylde coast is not only steeped in Open history, but exceptionally easy for fans to access. With excellent transport links and a golf-mad local community, everything is in place for a brilliant atmosphere when play gets underway tomorrow. So, if you can't make it in person this week, make sure to get Royal St George’s in your diary for 2027!
Alison Root
Women's Editor Golf Monthly
