While Nelly Korda & Co Fight Pay Inequality, European Tour Pros Face a Fate Much Worse
Nelly Korda dominated headlines in 2024. So did Scottie Scheffler. For the same reason, a stellar season full of victories. Her earnings? $4.2 million on the course. His? $62.2 million inclusive of all the bonuses. This screams the pay disparity that exists in golf. In an exclusive interview with Essentially Sports’s Andrew Whitelaw, LPGA Tour pro Lauren Coughlin also shed light on the glaring pay gap between the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour.
“How much money did Scheffler make last year and how much money did Nelly make last year on course? And they had very comparable years, I would say, in terms of how many they won and the dominance that they had. It’s unfortunate, and I think, you know, we’re moving in the right direction, I just wish it would be a little bit faster,” Coughlin pointed out. Even the LPGA’s total prize fund of $131 million for 2025—which stars like Korda fight to improve—stands at barely one-fifth of the PGA Tour’s $600+ million purse.
As the fight against golf’s gender pay gap elevates, a more severe financial crisis quietly unfolds in European women’s golf. The disparity isn’t just about gender anymore—it’s about geography and survival.
What was the total prize fund for the LPGA Tour in 2025?
$40.2 million
$131 million
$62.2 million
$600 million
A candid social media exchange recently exposed an even starker reality. It began with Meghan MacLaren asking if people would be interested in seeing her documenting life on LET. It sparked her interest since Michael S Kim’s posts get a lot of attention. Intrigued by this, a fan asked, “Can women make a decent living on @LETgolf or do they need to go to the LPGA? Is the money equal?” Answering this, MacLaren pulled no punches.
“The money isn’t equal—think the minimum purse on LPGA is around $2 million, on LET it’s just over $300,000 lol,” she shared, her “lol” masking a serious issue facing European players. The numbers tell a similar sobering story. While LPGA Tour events have purses of $2 million and beyond, their European counterparts struggle to offer even a sixth of that amount, with standard LET events like the Joburg Ladies Open offering just $309,000.
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For perspective, some smaller LET events, like the Rose Ladies Open, offered an even more modest $87,600 in 2024. MacLaren noted a silver lining: “But you can still make a good living on LET if you’re in the top 5/10% I’d say.” The top players like Stephanie Kyriacou can earn upwards of $825,000 annually, and those ranked outside the top 100 typically earn less than $15,500 per year—an amount that barely could cover annual travel expenses.
