The Reasons for the Lack of Media Support/Attention for Women Golfers Compared To Men Golfers

As an international recruit student-athlete freshman for golf in University of Maryland (UMD), any player in the UMD Women's golf team would have been surprised if they were told, "I didn't know there was a golf team," or "I didn't even know there was a golf women's team here in Maryland!" This was hugely disappointing for the players because UMD has started to recruit three new freshmen internationally from 2012-2013 school year, two girls and a boy in the team. Despite of what is happening in Maryland for women's golf, there might be other possible reasons why there is a decline in women's golf in general.

An interview with Quesuan Wigfall, Assistant Director AEP in the Academic Support & Career Development Unit (ASCDU) of Maryland Athletics Department. He shares his thoughts by answering, "What did you think about the University of Maryland Media Department not promoting Womens' Golf than other sports?"

One reason is the lack of publicity in women’s golf in general, shortage of coverage of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) on TV than the Men’s Professional Golf (PGA). Most of it was because of the financial crisis on the LPGA tour. Michael Whan, a recent commissioner of the LPGA in January of 2010, mentioned that four of the twenty-three events in total of 2010 didn’t have title sponsors. With that, in 2008, total prize money was $60 million, that dropped in 2010 and $40 million in 2011. Whan quotes “We were in crisis management.” In comparison, the PGA Tour had signed the 15-year deal with the Golf Channel, which began in 2007. 

Which led to the PGA missing out on the potential economic decline by a margin. The tour still managed to sign new title sponsors of tournaments, and renewed contracts with title sponsors of 12 other events in the year of financial crisis.

Another reason is the popularity of the players on the tour. Since Tiger Woods made his debut, television contracts have massively increased from about $80 million in Woods’ first season in 1997 to nearly $280 million in the year of 2011.

Throughout the years, the TV ratings went high when he played and even more so when he won.

For the ladies, Michelle Wie, a child phenomenon in golf, turned pro in 2005 when she was just 16 years old. She played in couple of PGA tour events herself as an amateur, and at a very young age, just missing the cut by a shot at the Sony Open in Hawaii. She drew many attentions then and even now. Though she has only won two LPGA events in her career after all the success that she had at a very young age. Now, she is only 23 years old, a LPGA member with a Stanford undergrad degree. Since the downfall of her career, with not fulfilling the promise that she once had, given the Nike endorsements, the ads, etc. fans have decreased watching many of the LPGA coverage on TV. It has been said by Mike Whan, that she is not the fault of the LPGA fall or rise. According to Golf Stinks, golf itself is very slow. and the difference between the men and the women is that fans want to see good athletes compete for their athletic ability, not just for their looks. 

Some think that LPGA is promoting the looks on camera mostly.

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