Unprofitable Women's Open announces record $10m prize fund

Unprofitable Women's Open announces record $10m prize fundImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Scotland's Catriona Matthew and England's Georgia Hall won the AIG Women's Open on its past two visits to Royal Lytham & St AnnesByPeter ScrivenerBBC Sport senior journalist at Royal Lytham & St AnnesPublished10 minutes agoThe AIG Women's Open has increased its prize fund for a sixth successive year despite not being a profitable tournament to stage.This year's championship, which is being held from 30 July - 2 August at Royal Lytham & St Annes on the Lancashire coast, will have a record purse of $10m (£7.4m).It is not the only one of the five annual women's majors taking advantage of sponsorship deals to offer increasing prize money. The US Women's Open - which last year had the largest prize fund in the women's game at $12m - has the backing of Ally Financial."At the moment it's not profitable," said R&A chief executive Mark Darbon."We treat it as an investment into the game, but an absolutely critical investment."Our focus actually is around audience growth. We think if we're going to be true to that notion of inspiring millions of people around the world, we need to grow the audience for this championship and the women's game more broadly."Around 50,000 spectators are expected to attend across the week of what will be the 50th Women's Open, while Darbon pointed to increased television coverage as a way of boosting the game's profile.The $10m prize fund lags behind the $17m shared out between the players at last year's Open Championship and while Darbon would like to see that levelled in the future, he said the R&A had to "think sustainably"."There is a commercial reality. We're investing collectively, AIG and the R&A, significant sums into the championship, and we want to do that in a responsible way. "So we're no...