The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship 2026 will be held at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota. It will be held from the 25th of June to the 28th of June.
The tournament is yet to begin but KPMG has already announced that it will be raising the purse money to $13 million. Last year the purse was at $12 million, while in 2020 it was $5 million.
Tim Walsh, the KPMG U.S. chair and CEO, told Golf Digest, “When this came across my desk with the option of what we wanted this to look like, it was such an easy decision to lean into a record-breaking purse. We’re so supportive of this event.
“We’re so proud of our association with this event and all that comes from it. We’ve been doing the sponsorship for 12 years. When we started, the purse was $2 million, now $13 million. That’s almost a 500 per cent increase in supporting that purse which supports these incredible female athletes. I’m so proud to do that in partnership with the PGA of America and the LPGA Tour.”
The players were notified through a note about the purCommissioner According to commissioner Craig Kessler, after the announcement his phone and those of Walsh and PGA of America CEO Terry Clark were ringing nonstop.
“This is a championship that we believe has consistently improved every year, and that’s in partnership with KPMG and the LPGA Tour,” Clark told Golf Digest. “We’re excited about it because the women’s game is so exciting and there’s so much momentum there and that momentum is partly brought by partnerships in the game that really make a difference. This is one. We talked about the purse; it’s not all about the purse. It’s about a lot of factors that we’ve got to support through KPMG.”
Speaking about the return of investment for KPMG, Walsh said, “The actions we just took answer that question and speak volumes to our commitment,” he said. “Of course, that commitment comes with elevating our brand. The elevation comes through media and broadcast coverage … to have clients at this event, I can’t explain to you this amazing venue we have here and to be able to elevate that brand, side by side, with the clients we serve each and every day. Those are a few of the considerations I put into when deciding to invest in this purse.”
For this year’s women’s PGA, there will be around 100 hours of broadcast coverage on television and digital platforms through NBC, Peacock, and Golf Channel. The event is also considered to be the most tech-forward tournament. AI-powered player reels and analytic data that will be available to each player after their round. While for viewers, there will be an AI-powered live outcome prediction engine that will provide predictive analytics on the broadcast and digital coverage.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda, has won the season’s first two majors in the Chevron Championship and U.S. Women’s Open. The U.S. Women’s Open, which was played earlier this month drew the second-highest ratings for a women’s event in the past decade, with an average of 1.3 million viewers for Sunday’s final round. So a strong interest and good viewership is expected from fans.
The 2024 Women’s PGA was hosted by first-time hosts PGA Frisco— built and owned by the PGA of America. The tournament was criticised by several players including Korda and Charley Hull. They criticized pin placements, course setup and slow play. It was also unreasonably windy and hot during the tournament. Viewership averaged a record-low 428,000 for the final round, with Minjee Lee as the winner. The TV numbers fell down from 867,000 viewers on Sunday in 2024, when Amy Yang won at Sahalee.
Kessler said, “Look, last year was an interesting year. We had more parity on our tour than ever before, and I think the LPGA did everything it could with its partners to make the most of that. This year is a totally different story. We’ve had Nelly who’s unbelievably dominant, and the world is waiting to see whether she’ll … win three consecutive majors. There’s a lot of excitement for that.”
“In terms of viewership, this year we have better coverage and more coverage than ever before, and the word is out. Fans are excited to tune in and see drone coverage, slow-mo cameras, AI-powered insights on the broadcast … and I think the combination of all those things gives me a lot of hope that viewership will be fantastic this year.”
The 2028 Women’s PGA will be held at Congressional Country Club and the Bethpage Black Course. “There’s an organization [the USGA] that gets a lot of credit for taking the women to the best courses and the men to some of the best golf courses on planet Earth,” Kessler said.
“I think the world needs to know that the PGA of America and KPMG have made that commitment. … These are Ryder Cup-caliber golf courses that the women now get to play. I want the PGA and KPMG to get a lot of credit for that.”
