Making The Cut's Not Enough - LET Pro Details How Finishing Outside Of The Top-25 Can Actually See Players LOSE Money
Hannah Gregg has described how even making the cut can see her lose money for a tournament week due to the worrying lack of prize funds on the LET
Making it in professional golf is often seen as the dream, but for many players it's a struggle just to break even - as Ladies European Tour pro Hannah Gregg has revealed.
The 29-year-old American has been extremely informative in revealing the costs most golf fans don't even know exist as she tries to make it on the LET.
The Arizona-based player previously detailed the cost of getting to and through Q-School on the LET in a video on her social media platforms, explaining that even the winner of the whole event may not have broken even.
And on her first week on the LET of 2024 Gregg has again illustrated the varied and costly expenses involved in chasing the dream of being a pro golfer.
While the men's pro golf world is busy arguing about their future while pocketing millions and millions of increased prize money, at the other end of the spectrum some female golfers have real problems to deal with.
Gregg even managed to cut costs on things like accommodation and car rental from a trip to Australia, where she played in the Women's NSW Open and the Australian Women's Classic on the LET.
After making the cut at the Women's NSW Open and finishing 54th, Gregg was still short of breaking even for the tournament - which would have required her to finish 24th, while only finishing 21st of higher would actually make her money.
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Expenses of my first week on Ladies European Tour:Flights: $2600Work Visa: $350Food: $377Caddie: $0 because I have an amazing Fiancé Hotel: $0 because @GregChalmersPGA sorted me host housing for the week! 🙌Rental Car: +0 because the Tour Tee guys GAVE me their car 😭🫶…April 26, 2024
Reading the details of Gregg's finances while competing on the LET show what real pressure is when playing golf - as she's fighting to finish high enough up the leaderboard just to at least cover her expenses.
With a lot of the LET events carrying a total prize fund of just €300,000, it shows that for many golfers it's just not viable financially playing on the tour, unless you're in and around the leading finishers.
Gregg revealed she spent $3672 getting to the tournament in Australia, where she won $1244 for finishing 54th in the field.
Since we didn’t finish 36 holes this week, we couldn’t get world ranking points or official money. The Tour decided to pay out 1/2 the purse, and @GolfNSW stepped up and paid every single player in the field $500 just for showing up. Something they definitely weren’t obligated to…April 8, 2024
That includes entry fees for the event and a work visa - costs you wouldn't usually think of outside of food, accommodation and travel.
It's an eye-opening insight into the state of women's golf on the LET, which still looks to be struggling despite all the massive amount of money that's washing around the sport in other areas.
A second tournament Gregg took part in Down Under could not be completed due to weather, which was another blow to her finances.
Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website. Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush.
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