It’s 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.
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.
She gave them a few ideas, like help with accommodation and flights.
“They went above and beyond. Like, they took everything I gave them and said, ‘Done, we’ll do it all,’” Khang said. “And, 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’t want to miss it. And I think they’re doing a fantastic job.”
Now, with the tournament set to start in full Thursday, players like Khang are reaping the benefits of that investment.
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’s premier events. And he believes it’s becoming that.
“Our title partner, FM, has put a lot of time, effort and resource into making this an incredible player resource for our athletes,” he said. “[There is a] $4.1 million purse, which is the largest non-major, non-tour championship purse on Tour, that’s grown by $300,000 year over year.”
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’ lives a whole lot easier.
And crucially, FM is making sure that all the pro field is guaranteed at least some money.
“In most weeks, roughly half the field gets cut on Friday and doesn’t get paid for that week,” Healy said. “We have a $1000 per player missed cut stipend. So, we’re guaranteeing money into players pockets.”
That kind of commitment has quickly made this a destination for some of golf’s top talent. This year’s field includes Jeeno Thitikul and Nelly Korda, the current top two players on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.
One of the players in Norton who is almost certain to be a household name soon is Megha Ganne. The Stanford seniorwon this year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur Golf Championship and will represent the United States at the World Amateur Team Championships in October.
She’s one of two amateurs competing in this year’s event. She said what the FM Championship is doing to take care of its pro players is important.
“And that makes events like this and FM as a sponsor really admirable,” Ganna said. “And I’m sure it’s probably one that pros have more circled on their calendar than others for that reason. They’re the best players in the world and they deserve purses and sponsors that reflect that.”
Megan Khang, who is sponsored by FM, believes that as the LPGA Tour grows, the resources for players are growing with it.
“It’s such a great investment where tournaments are gonna want to do that, because again you want it to be such a prestigious event,” Khang said. “You want to have players who want to come, who don’t want to miss it. And I think it’s 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.”
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
