The winner of the AIG Women's Open on Sunday will make history by being the first woman to win a major title at Muirfield, which until less than six years ago prohibited women from becoming members.

Also, cashing a sizable check will be that player.

The purse for this week's Women's Open in Gullane, Scotland, has grown to $7.3 million, up 26% from the $5.8 million total from last year, the R&A announced Wednesday. The entire prize pool had increased by 125% from 2018, the year before the R&A took over this competition, rising from just $3.25 million.

R&A CEO Martin Slumbers states, "Progress in prize funds needs to be commercially sustainable." "While many of our fans now support the AIG Women's Open, we need to find new fans to ensure the sport is commercially successful. The R&A's dedication to women's golf is displayed this week, but it extends much more profoundly. It permeates all we do.

Only the KPMG Women's PGA ($1.35 million), U.S. Women's Open ($1.8 million), and CME Group Tour Championship ($2 million) have higher winner's checks than this year's $1.095 million total. Sixteen positions will be paid out in excess of $100,000, with second place receiving $720,028, third $521,498, fourth $402,734, fifth $323,565, and so forth.

Peter Zaffino, chairman and CEO of AIG, said, "We became the title sponsor of the AIG Women's Open in 2019 because of our commitment to assist women in business, golf, and society at large." "We were aware that this sponsorship would be a journey when we started it. The difficulties that would arise, like the epidemic over the world, were beyond our comprehension. We are happy that the AIG Women's Open has been held continuously for the past three years. There were no spectators in 2020. We made a partial comeback in 2021. And it appears that we are once again experiencing a typical championship week in 2022.

scores from the AIG Women's Open's entire field

Additionally, thanks to the R&A's incredible support over the past four years, we have used our platforms to acknowledge, promote, and celebrate the accomplishments of the top female athletes participating in this competition. Since 2019, we have quadrupled the prize money for the AIG Women's Open, and today's announcement of a further increase in prize money marks another step forward in our endeavor.