LPGA versus the PGA TOUR Players – My Take

I take a look at the differences between LPGA and PGA TOUR players –

LPGA Tour players genuinely love their fans.  We as golf fans love to watch the top PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour players on TV – they make the impossible seem possible. We get to watch superstars like Tiger Woods, Michelle Wie, Stacy Lewis, and Rory McIlory. But which experience is better live?

I recently attended The LPGA Shop Rite Classic Tournament and got to experience it in person. This is my answer to the question.

There are many differences between the LPGA and  PGA Tours. The most obvious from the fan point-of-view is that top LPGA players are way more accessible than any PGA TOUR player.  If your child is a fan of golf, I’d recommend going to an LPGA Tour event. It will be a lot easier to interact with the players than those of the PGA and your child will have a better chance of getting their favorite player’s autograph or picture.

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After a round the ladies of the LPGA love to interact with their fans. It doesn’t matter if Brittany Lang, Stacy Lewis, Anna Nordqvist, or Karrie Webb had a bad round. They still will come, talk and sign autographs with their fans, no questions asked.

Most PGA TOUR professionals don’t like to comment or even get near their fans after a bad day. I stood there and watched Gerina Piller after her final round at the Shop Rite Classic sign autographs and take pictures with fans for almost an hour. The fans were four to five deep waiting for her. Now, would you see Tiger Woods or Adam Scott do this? Piller wasn’t even in the hunt for the win at this tournament. That’s class!

Another thing that you don’t see the top LPGA tour players do is throwing their clubs, bending their clubs, yelling at camera crews, or cussing at their caddies. You have to keep in mind these ladies are playing for maybe a third of what the men get, for doing the same thing. William McGirt for winning the Memorial earned $1.5 million; Anna Nordqvist earned $225, 000 for winning the Shop Rite Classic.

I believe there needs to be a tournament for the top five LPGA players against the top five PGA TOUR players. That would be interesting. I bet there would be tremendous turn-out. The reason the LPGA doesn’t earn as much as much as the PGA can’t be because of attendance, because the ShopRite LPGA Classic was packed every day. The sponsors for both tours are really similar to each other, and TV coverage has really picked up for the LPGA in recent years.

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I’m just convinced that if you want to go to a quality golf tournament, the LPGA is a way to go. The LPGA tour continues to grow year by year with more money, more tournaments, bigger purses, a lot better play from top to bottom. I hope that these ladies soon get the earnings that they also deserve.