About Tournament
| BACKGROUND OF WOMEN'S GOLF IN INDIA |
| The Phenomenal Rise of Women's Professional Golf in India |
| The Hero Women's Indian Open, now in its fifth year, is the ultimate proof of the success of women's Professional golf in India. From a sport that had just one full-time professional – Simi Mehra, who played in the world-class Ladies PGA Tour in the United States – it has grown into a full-fledged circuit boasting of nine events and is still growing. The Hero Women's Indian Open has grown in stature as one of the premier events on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour (LAGT). With the co-sanctioning of the event with the prestigious Ladies European Tour (LET), it adds further glitter to the event. In terms of money, the tournament which began with a prize purse of US $ 100,000 in 2007, has now become worth US $ 300,000 in only its third year. To put the purse in perspective, the men's Indian Open did not exceed a purse of US $ 120,000 for almost two decades. It reached US $ 300,000 after more than three and a half decades. Only after Hero took it over did it move from US $ 300,000 to 400,000 to half a million and a Million and more in last five years. The success of the men's circuit in Indian professional golf may have acted as the catalyst in the growth of professional women's golf in India, but there is no denying that its growth has been phenomenal in the last few years it has been around. From, scratch, the Women's Golf Association of India has grown to nine events with a minimum purse of Rs. two lakhs for each of them. Hero also sponsors the Women's Professional Tour in India with 15 events. The Indian women's golf calendar in 2011-12 has a domestic Tour of 15 events besides an international event and some others. In the years to come, this is only bound to grow as youngsters who have taken to the game recently become better and better to take on their more experienced rivals in the other parts of the world. |
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