The 2026 Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes will offer the biggest prize fund in the event’s history and more live television hours than any other women’s golf major.
The AIG Women’s Open will carry a $10 million prize fund when it returns to Royal Lytham & St Annes this summer, with the winner set to take home $1.5 million — the highest in the Championship’s 50-year history.
The R&A and AIG confirmed the figures ahead of the milestone event, which runs from 29 July to 2 August. It is the sixth consecutive year the prize fund has increased, having more than trebled since the partnership between the two organisations began in 2019.
To put the growth in context: when Jenny Lee Smith won the inaugural Championship in 1976, the total prize fund was £500.
More live coverage than any women’s major
Television coverage expands significantly in 2026. For the first time, an early broadcast window will run from 9am to 1pm BST on Thursday and Friday, covering morning marquee groups and adding three hours of live coverage per day. Full main coverage follows from 1pm to 7pm both days, with seven hours of live play on Saturday and Sunday.
In total, the Championship will deliver 34 hours of linear television coverage — more than any other women’s golf major in the UK and US, a 20% increase on 2025.
In the UK, the event is live on Sky Sports and R&A TV. US viewers can watch on Golf Channel, USA Network and NBC. International coverage includes JTBC in South Korea, JGN and U-Next in Japan, and VGolf across Scandinavia.
The Championship has been confirmed at Royal St George’s in 2027 and Sunningdale in 2028 — the latter last hosting the event in 2008, when Jiyai Shin won from a $2.1 million purse.
Tickets are available at aigwomensopen.com. Children under 16 attend free with a paying adult; youth tickets (16–24) are half price.
