LPGA announces new event at TPC Boston featuring historic $3.5 million purse

On Friday, the LPGA Tour announced a new event for its 2024 season at TPC Boston.

The FM Global Championship will be held Aug. 29 to Sept. 1, featuring a 144-player field competing for $3.5 million.

This new event will feature one of the largest purses on the LPGA Tour and will be the highest non-major or the Tour Championship.

Even more intriguing is that the purse will increase by $300k annually starting in 2025, per Sports Business Journal reporter Josh Carpenter.

Next year will kick off a five-year partnership with FM Global, a commercial insurance firm. It’s just one of the many things the LPGA has done to continue growing the game.

The PGA Tour and LPGA will pair up for the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational this December. 16 male and female pairings come together and compete in Naples, Fla.

This new tournament appears to be a perfect fit for helping grow the women’s game as well.

“Boston is quickly becoming a dynamic home for women’s sports,” LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said in a press release. “We are thrilled to join this incredible movement as the famed TPC Boston prepares to host the 2024 FM Global Championship, marking a historic return of the LPGA Tour to New England.”

Samaan understands what kind of foothold Boston has for women’s sports and knew women’s golf needed to be there.

“With this event, the new National Women’s Soccer League team, and the new Professional Women’s Hockey League team, the momentum for women’s sports in the Boston area is undeniable,” Samaan said. “We can’t wait to team up with our newest partner, FM Global, to bring the world’s best female golfers to one of America’s great sports regions.”

This tournament came about through the LPGA’s commercial alliance with Fenway Sports. It’s also FM Global’s first major sports sponsorship. FM Global will also support programs to enable women and the next generation of students eyeing STEM careers. (science, technology, engineering and mathematics)

The LPGA returns to New England for the first time since the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open at Orchards Golf Club in South Hadley, Mass. However, it was even longer since the Tour competed in the Boston area — 1997, when Liselotte Neumann won the Welch’s Championship at Blue Hill Country Club in Canton.

“We’re proud and excited to welcome the LPGA Tour back to Massachusetts,” said Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey. “Sports play an important role in shaping the lives of women, advancing equity and strengthening our communities. The opportunity to see women perform at the highest levels of the game will bring tremendous excitement and enthusiasm.”

TPC Boston is a historic course featured 17 times on the PGA Tour, including the Deutsche Bank Championship, the Dell Technologies Championship and the Northern Trust.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.