Exclusive: Ladies European Tour to offer record £18m prize money and four new events for 2020 season

The Ladies European Tour will offer record prize money of £15.2 million for the 2020 season, an increase of almost £4 million on last year. The cash injection comes thanks in part to having three new events all offering prize money breaking $1 million (£761,692) including the inaugural Saudi Ladies Championship to be held in March.

There will be 24 events on the LET this year, an increase of four from last year. Telegraph Sport understands that in addition to the tournament to be held in Saudi Arabia and the Scandinavian Mixed, the third event to have a pot of over $1 million will be a new event to be held in the UK in August, ahead of the Ladies Scottish Open and the Women’s British Open.

The LET has been beset with problems in recent years including a reduced schedule and the loss of sponsors. As a result, the majority of top European female golfers - including the English trio of word no. 26 Charley Hull, world no. 32 Bronte Law and the 2018 Women’s British Open winner Georgia Hall - focus their attention on LPGA events in the United States. The LPGA has a prize pot in 2020 of $75.1 million (£57.2 million).

It is, however, due to collaboration with the LPGA that the LET has been able to expand in 2020. A new joint venture between the LET and LPGA has allowed for this boost both in terms of scheduling and prize money. Last week Alexandra Armas was confirmed as the permanent chief executive of the LET, reporting directly to the LPGA-LET Joint Venture Board of Directors, chaired by LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan.

It is understood Spaniard Armas, who played for four years on the LET, will be mentored by Whan. Whan has been credited with helping to significantly grow the LPGA in the past decade. While the LET is still actively seeking sponsors, last August Whan revealed to the Sunday Telegraph that the LPGA had received a significant surge in sponsorship in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

“The LET and the LPGA only began working together in September 2019, but we’ve been blown away with the results in the first 90 days and the positive response from across the golf industry,” said Whan. “With overall purse increases and seven new events, our athletes will have more opportunities for success. It’s exciting to think what we can accomplish after a full year of working with our new Board. We have a long way to go, but I’m so happy to say that this is the best position that European women’s professional golf has ever been in.”

For the first time ever there will be the Race to the Costa del Sol as the LET season climax, an event that mirrors the European Tour’s Race to Dubai.

Players have welcomed the new-look LET. Victorious 2019 Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew said: “I committed myself to playing on the LET in Europe last year and I couldn’t be more excited about what’s been achieved over the last 90 days to improve the schedule. This is a tour that existing players and those joining for the first time should be proud to be part of.”