Georgia Hall's Saudi Ladies International win highlights golf's huge gender pay gap

It has taken until mid-March for a British golfer to post a victory on one of the main professional tours and Georgia Hall's success in the Middle East was a fine triumph that bodes well for her 2022 season.

And in these times of hyper prize money inflation, it was also a win to highlight a continuing gender discrepancy that blights professional golf.

The 25-year-old from Bournemouth dominated the Saudi Ladies International in Jeddah from start to finish, preserving a five-stroke advantage on the final day to win in convincing fashion on Sunday.

Hall eclipsed Solheim Cup team-mates Emily Kristine Pedersen and Carlotta Ciganda to claim a winner's cheque of $135,548 (£103,000) from a $1m prize pot.

It seems a decent return for a week's work, until you consider the figures banded around last week for the launch of the men's LIV Golf International Series, fronted by former world number one Greg Norman.

Currently there are scores of leading male professionals, most of them already multi-millionaires, weighing up invitations to take part in Norman's eight-tournament series worth $25.5m per event.

The women's tournament won by Hall was presented by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), the same source of revenue that backs the LIV Golf Series.

And to be fair, this was the first of six $1m Aramco Series competitions that significantly bolster an otherwise relatively impoverished Ladies European Tour schedule.

So it is little wonder that Norman used this investment in the female game as a prime argument against claims of Saudi Arabian "sports washing" of the country's record on human rights.

As he launched his so-called Saudi Super League last week, Norman faced repeated questions regarding the recent mass execution of 81 men as well as women's rights in the Kingdom.

The 67-year-old Australian insisted that his project was nothing to do with politics but also stated: "Saudi Arabia has invested a lot of money into women's golf.

"They're the largest investor in women's golf today. So when you look at all the facts sitting out there, yes, our investor is Saudi money.

"I'm proud of that because, like I said, golf is good for the world and we're just going to grow the game of golf on a worldwide basis."

But the fact is that Saudi Arabia's investment in the female game is a mere $6m prize money, spread over half a dozen tournaments. The overall seed investment for Norman's men's series is $400m.

That's a gender pay gap in anyone's money.

And, while singling out the Saudi project, it is only fair to say this applies across the board in professional golf as well as much of the international sporting world.

Yes, the R&A and United States Golf Association have sought to narrow the discrepancy - the prize fund for this year's AIG Women's Open at Muirfield rises to $6.8m and the prize fund for the Women's US Open rises to $12m over the next four years.

But both events still lag behind their male equivalents. They remain some way short of the examples of the four tennis Grand Slams - Wimbledon, the Australian, French and US Opens - which all pay equal prize money.

The female footballers of the United States won a court case last month entitling them to the same pay as their male counterparts in a deal that nets them $24m plus bonuses.

This is a growing direction of travel and despite efforts by some of the governing bodies, golf remains among the back markers.

Norman constantly talks about his desire to "grow the game of golf" as do so many other stakeholders running the sport.

So, how about genuinely turning attention to a still largely neglected 50% of the world's population? How about making it a much more attractive proposition to them?

Those running golf in all its guises talk about modernising, making sure the sport is relevant to modern life and still thriving 50 years from now. There is broad agreement that ridding the game of its sexist, elitist reputation is a key priority.

Yet at a time when more and more cash is being thrown at professionals, it continues to land in grotesquely disproportionate piles and ending up in already bulging male-sized back pockets.

This week, the 64-man field at the WGC Matchplay in Austin, Texas will split $12m. When former Olympic champion Inbee Park defends the JTBC Classic in California, on the LPGA Tour, the purse is $1.5m.

Next week's Chevron Championship, the first major of the year, is worth $5m.

For the coming seven weeks the world's best female players compete for purses totalling less than was on offer for the men in one week on the PGA Tour at this month's $20m Players Championship.

Over the next fortnight in South Africa on the Ladies European Tour purses total $550,000. Most competitors will show up for successive events knowing they will make a substantial loss.

'It's market forces,' goes the argument. Well if you want to "grow the game" perhaps you need to be radical and shift the market in the way the now booming tennis Grand Slams did earlier this century?

Maybe golf could be more widely seen as the enlightening force it perhaps has the potential to be?

Possibly that would attract more sponsors and media rights, from companies run by executives who regard it just that their daughters have the same earning potential as their sons?

'The women aren't as good as the men,' is another excuse that gets thrown in. Well, in Saudi Arabia last Sunday American Kelly Whaley rolled in a record eight consecutive birdies in a closing 63.

That is golf of the highest quality. Ask the best male player in your club to have a go (he can use the red tees) at trying to match that achievement.

Good luck with that.

And the 24-year-old Whaley still trailed the winner Hall by eight shots. As I say, it was an excellent victory for the Briton.

She is no doubt grateful for her win, the Saudi investment - such as it is - and the cheque she is banking.

But look at the bigger picture in golf right now. Hall, and the other elite female pros deserve way more for such triumphs.