The Ladies European Tour released its 2020 schedule on Friday, a significant upgrade over the last few seasons.
Notably, the good news comes just two months after the LPGA and LET announced they were partnering in a joint business venture.
The new schedule features 24 events with $19.8 million in total prize money. That’s up nearly $5 million over total purses played for last year.
“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,” LPGA commissioner Mike Whan said. “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.”
The new schedule features seven new events, with the new Scandinavian Mixed hosted by Henrik & Annika featuring a $1.65 million purse and the new Saudi Ladies Championship featuring a $1 million purse.
The LET schedule had withered to just 15 events in 2018.
The tour’s Race to Costa Del Sol bonus pool will offer nearly $276,000 in total to the top three finishers in the official ranking.
Earlier this week, Alexandra Armas was named the LET’s new CEO, a position she was holding on an interim basis.
Whan is the chairman of the new Joint Venture Board, which also includes R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers and European Tour CEO Keith Pelley. The board also features six directors from the LET (Marta Figueras-Dotti, Eleanor Givens, Catriona Matthew, Liz Young, Justin Abbott and Alastair Ruxton), with three directors joining Whan from the LPGA (Liz Moore, Kathy Milthorpe and Mike Nichols).