It\u2019s only the second year that the FM Championship has come to the TPC Boston golf club in Norton, but Megan Khang is already seeing the impact.<\/p>\n
Khang, who was born in Brockton and raised in Rockland and joined the LPGA Tour in 2016, said that FM, an insurance company based out of Rhode Island, reached out to her when they were working on putting the event together to get a sense of what players are looking for.<\/p>\n
She gave them a few ideas, like help with accommodation and flights.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey went above and beyond. Like, they took everything I gave them and said, \u2018Done, we\u2019ll do it all,\u2019\u201d Khang said. \u201cAnd, you know, I was pretty thrown off by that. Because they want this tournament to be a fixture in this schedule where the girls don\u2019t want to miss it. And I think they\u2019re doing a fantastic job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, with the tournament set to start in full Thursday, players like Khang are reaping the benefits of that investment.<\/p>\n
Patrick Healy, the tournament director of the FM Championship, said that when organizers were setting the foundation for the competition, the goal was to make it into one of the LPGA\u2019s premier events. And he believes it\u2019s becoming that.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur title partner, FM, has put a lot of time, effort and resource into making this an incredible player resource for our athletes,\u201d he said. \u201c[There is a] $4.1 million purse, which is the largest non-major, non-tour championship purse on Tour, that\u2019s grown by $300,000 year over year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Healy said that all of the LPGA athletes receive free accommodation. Other perks include flight vouchers, laundry credits and dinners that help to make players\u2019 lives a whole lot easier.<\/p>\n
And crucially, FM is making sure that all the pro field is guaranteed at least some money.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn most weeks, roughly half the field gets cut on Friday and doesn\u2019t get paid for that week,\u201d Healy said. \u201cWe have a $1000 per player missed cut stipend. So, we\u2019re guaranteeing money into players pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n
That kind of commitment has quickly made this a destination for some of golf\u2019s top talent. This year\u2019s field includes Jeeno Thitikul and Nelly Korda, the current<\/a> top two players on the Rolex Women\u2019s World Golf Rankings.<\/p>\n One of the players in Norton who is almost certain to be a household name soon is Megha Ganne. The Stanford seniorwon<\/a> this year\u2019s U.S. Women\u2019s Amateur Golf Championship and will represent<\/a> the United States at the World Amateur Team Championships in October.<\/p>\n She\u2019s one of two amateurs competing in this year\u2019s event. She said what the FM Championship is doing to take care of its pro players is important.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that makes events like this and FM as a sponsor really admirable,\u201d Ganna said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m sure it\u2019s probably one that pros have more circled on their calendar than others for that reason. They\u2019re the best players in the world and they deserve purses and sponsors that reflect that.\u201d<\/p>\n Megan Khang, who is sponsored by FM, believes that as the LPGA Tour grows, the resources for players are growing with it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s such a great investment where tournaments are gonna want to do that, because again you want it to be such a prestigious event,\u201d Khang said. \u201cYou want to have players who want to come, who don\u2019t want to miss it. And I think it\u2019s incredible that tournaments and sponsors are taking notice of that. And everyone else is going above and beyond as well to try to keep up to make sure they are a prestigious event as well.\u201d<\/p>\n