The 50th staging of the AIG Women's Open is getting under way this week at Royal Lytham & St Annes, bringing a landmark moment to one of the biggest events in the women's golf calendar. The championship first took place in 1976, and its growth since then is reflected not just in its history, but in the scale of the prize fund now on offer.
The purse has more than trebled to $10m since 2018, when Georgia Hall won at Royal Lytham & St Annes. That figure makes this a defining week for the championship, which has long been framed as a showcase for the women's game and a marker of progress in equity across the sport.
A demanding links test in Lancashire
Royal Lytham & St Annes is a demanding links venue, and that challenge is part of what gives this event its edge. The course features 166 pot bunkers, a reminder that success here usually requires discipline, patience and careful course management.
The Championship has strong history at the venue. In 2009, Catriona Matthew OBE won at Royal Lytham & St Annes by three strokes over Karrie Webb, adding another notable chapter to the course's place in the tournament's story. Hall's victory in 2018 followed, and now the championship returns to the same ground for its sixth time.
This week's event also arrives 10 days after Ryan Fox claimed the Claret Jug, adding to a busy stretch in the wider golf calendar. For the AIG Women's Open, though, the focus is on the milestone itself: 50 editions, a record purse and another chance for the game's top players to make history at one of England's most familiar major venues.
