Professional golf for women is gaining popularity.
In January, the East Coast Women’s Professional Golf Tour will make its debut as a new mini-tour for potential LPGA players. The circuit arose from Mark Berman’s purchase of the National Women’s Golf Association tour, which he also launched the PXG Women’s Match Play Championship.
The new tour’s goal is to provide a more financially feasible and regionally oriented pathway for women’s players in the country’s eastern third.
“Rather of competing, our purpose is to complement the other tours,” Berman added. “We’ll keep an eye on the schedules so that players don’t have to choose between the two.” Simultaneously, a large number of players are looking for competitions. We’re putting on events in places where gamers are currently underserved, allowing them to save money on the front end. We are dedicated to providing a tournament experience that emphasizes the importance of these players as women and athletes while also preparing them for the Symetra Tour and LPGA Q-School.”
The ECWPGT’s Winter Series will go off on January 17 at Black Bear Golf Course in Orlando, Florida, and will run for seven more events throughout the state. Each tournament will have a purse of $25,000, with $10,000 going to the winner, as well as $425 entry fees. The summer schedule will begin in late April with events that coincide with state open tournaments in New England, the Mid-Atlantic, the Carolinas, and Georgia, and will conclude with the PXG Women’s Match Play at World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Florida, at the end of the season.
The tournaments are accessible to developmental-tour players who are not in the top 14 on the Symetra Tour money list, as well as amateurs aged 16 and up on a waitlist basis.
The tour is also launching the Access Golf Fund, which will allow the public to give to the competitors to assist them pay for entry fees and travel. The tour intends to use sponsorship money to fund running costs and purses.
Berman was inspired to aid the women’s developmental game by his daughter Hannah’s professional experience after graduating from Jacksonville University last year. (To read more about Berman’s story in Golfweek, click here.)
“When we started planning her professional schedule, we discovered that the closest events were 12 hours away,” Berman explained. “It didn’t happen quickly, but her story inspired us to purchase this trip, not because of her, but because of her.” I’m definitely looking forward to this new phase in my career and contributing to the development of the women’s professional game.”
