The AIG Women’s Open trophy with the Carnoustie hotel in the background  – Photo R&A/R&A via Getty Images

18 August 2021, Carnoustie, Scotland: The AIG Women’s Open has set a new benchmark for prize money in women’s golf with the announcement that the prize fund for this year’s championship will increase by $1.3 million to $5.8 million with the winner earning $870,000.

The total purse now surpasses the previous highest of US$5.5 million offered by the US Women’s Open.

With the support of title sponsor AIG, the largest prize fund in women’s major championship golf will increase by a further $1 million to no less than $6.8 million in 2022. This will more than double the prize fund from 2018 before AIG’s partnership with The R&A commenced.

The AIG Women’s Open takes place from 19-22 August at Carnoustie and will be played in 2022 at Muirfield, another of Scotland’s world-renowned links courses.

Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A, said, “We are absolutely committed to elevating the AIG Women’s Open and enhancing its status as one of golf’s premier championships. With our partners at AIG, we are taking action to make change happen and sending out a strong signal that more needs to be done by everyone involved to grow women’s golf.

“It needs greater investment and support from golf bodies, sponsors, the media and fans to help us grow the game’s commercial success and generate the income and revenues necessary to make prize fund growth viable and sustainable.

“We have set a new benchmark for prize money in women’s major championship golf this week and, thanks to AIG, will build on it still further next year. We hope this will inspire other events to follow our lead and help us to take a collective leap forward for the women’s game.”

Peter Zaffino, President and Chief Executive Officer of AIG, said, “AIG is proud to be the title sponsor of the AIG Women’s Open, which is one of the most prestigious and celebrated golf championships in the world. We are committed to serving as allies to women in golf, in business and in the communities where we live and work. Striving for pay equity and highlighting the achievements of successful women are critical components to this commitment and part of AIG’s core values.

In 2019, in AIG’s first year as title sponsor of the championship the prize fund was increased by $1.25 million to $4.5 million, an increase of almost 40% on the previous year.

The prize fund breakdown for the 2021 AIG Women’s Open is set out below:

Place USD Place USD
1 870,000 39 31,597
2 572,750 40 30,339
3 414,828 41 29,082
4 320,356 42 27,824
5 257,382 43 26,560
6 210,146 44 25,302
7 175,507 45 24,357
8 153,467 46 23,412
9 137,721 47 22,467
10 125,124 48 21,522
11 115,674 49 20,577
12 107,802 50 19,632
13 100,874 51 19,006
14 94,578 52 18,374
15 88,909 53 17,742
16 83,871 54 17,116
17 79,465 55 16,484
18 75,685 56 15,852
19 72,537 57 15,226
20 70,015 58 14,594
21 67,500 59 13,968
22 64,978 60 13,336
23 62,462 61 13,023
24 59,940 62 12,704
25 57,737 63 12,391
26 55,534 64 12,078
27 53,325 65 11,759
28 51,122 66 11,446
29 48,920 67 11,133
30 47,030 68 10,814
31 45,140 69 10,501
32 43,250 70 10,189
33 41,360 71 7,604
34 39,470 72 7,428
35 37,899 73 7,252
36 36,322 74 7,076
37 34,751 75 6,900
38 33,174 76 6,725