What's behind golf's gender pay gap?
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 18 June 2024
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As prize money gaps between men and women begin to close in many sports, in golf, the pay disparity is still very large.
Nelly Korda, winner of five consecutive tournaments, earned less than Scottie Scheffler, who won four. And although current and former players like Korda and Mel Reid have made strides in the game, there's a significant difference in the prize money they receive.
A lot of the disparity has been linked to the level of investment in the game. The men’s game has seen major cash injections, such as the $2 billion from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund into LIV Golf. Sam Fenwick explores what could boost investment in the women’s game and asks current player Mel Reid and former player, Nancy Lopez, how the game can attract more funding and TV time.
(Picture: A montage of Nelly Korda and Scottie Scheffler, swinging their golf clubs, against a background of a green. Credit: PA/USA Today Sports/BBC)
Presented and produced by Sam Fenwick
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:06.0 | Today, you're going to hear from one of the greatest golfers to have ever played the professional game. |
| 0:12.0 | There you are, Nancy. |
| 0:13.5 | Hi, how are you? |
| 0:14.8 | How is sunny New Jersey today? |
| 0:16.6 | It is sunny now. It was raining earlier. |
| 0:19.1 | What's it like playing in the rain? |
| 0:20.9 | It's not fun, but you know what? |
| 0:22.3 | When I played on tour, I always tried to go out there with the best attitude better than everybody else's. |
| 0:29.0 | Nancy Lopez is a trailblazer. |
| 0:31.8 | She won 48 LPGA tour events, including three of golf's major championships. |
| 0:38.4 | She was named golfer of the decade by Golf Magazine for the years 1978 to 87, |
| 0:44.8 | and has been inducted into the PGA Hall of Fame. |
| 0:49.3 | But her biggest achievement can't be measured in birdies and bogeys. |
| 0:56.1 | Yeah, I think what they've done is massive. |
| 0:58.9 | I grew up watching Nancy, Julie Insta, Laura Davies. |
| 1:02.3 | You know, they really did kind of move the needle. |
| 1:06.6 | Nancy's achievements inspired a new generation of female golfers and played a pivotal role in the growth and development of the women's game. |
| 1:15.6 | You know, women's golf at one time was not popular. |
| 1:19.7 | Doors were shut in our face many times when I was younger. |
| 1:22.7 | You know, we've just kind of been fighting our way through time |
| 1:25.3 | and playing golf and giving women opportunity. |
... |
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