‘I Wasn't Making Any Money' - LPGA Winner Opens Up On Realities Of Financial Strain Involved In Women's Pro Golf

Bailey Tardy has just walked away from the Blue Bay LPGA tournament in China with her first winner's trophy and check on the top tour in women's pro golf.

Her four-shot victory at Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Club earned the 27-year-old $330,000 - a figure which is likely to support the American in her career for at least another season or two.

On a different planet from some of the numbers being thrown around near the summit of the men's game, players like Tardy are regularly battling to secure their futures.

Not because they don't possess the talent - far from it - but because prize money is far lower and missed cuts weigh even heavier on the shoulders of those further down the pecking order.

It was a huge relief to Tardy on Sunday, then, when the University of Georgia graduate closed out victory over Sarah Schmelzel and co. One, because it proved to Tardy that she could compete among the best. And two, it greatly eased the financial strain on her in the short to medium term.

Discussing the subject in her post-tournament press conference, Tardy mentioned some of the doubts she experienced - particularly last season - when she was missing cuts more regularly than she had budgeted for.

Tardy said: "Yeah, I mean, last year is a great example. I missed a bunch of cuts early in the season. It's expensive being out here. I wasn't making any money. I'm 27, so it's kind of like either you make it or you go get a job.

"And so there is just so many nights where you think -- especially when things are going bad, it's like you can't take a week off because that's an opportunity to make money, but then you need to work on your game.

"So it's a very fine line of whether or not you stay on the road and you push through or take a week off and try to fix things. I struggled with that a lot last year.

"So, yeah, it's a life that's not for everybody. You have to really love being out here and love golf, and that's what I do."

Tardy is not the only female player to have spoken about this subject in recent months. Former Epson Tour and Symetra Tour member Hannah Gregg is attempting to reach Tardy's level and is well on her way to doing so after securing a handful of 2024 starts on the Ladies European Tour through Q-School.

But in an exclusive interview with Golf Monthly, Gregg explained just how mentally tough it can be for women who are looking to progress up through the feeder tours in order to fulfil their dream of playing at the top level.

She said: "It doesn't matter if you're a great player or not, the emotional toll of thinking about how much every single tournament is costing you - especially if you don't have funding or you're working in a pro shop or something and kind of scraping together that money. It really does wear on everyone the same.

"I see there's always three or four players every year that just fall out of love with it, and that could be because they just don't like it anymore, but it's pretty rare that you see someone with unlimited funding fall out of love with it and just get overwhelmed by the stress."