Pro-Am prize money increased to combat gender pay gap

The Pro-Am series, which is sanctioned by Sunshine and European Tour, will feature both men and women, but Standard Bank’s Head of Wealth and Investment Sanah Gumede says together with Dimension Data the main focus is addressing gender pay parity.

"We started the Pro-Am series a couple of years ago. We are focusing on giving female golfers, professional golfers in South Africa access to more playtime. If they have more games, then of course they can get paid and actually hone their skills that can help them advance further. 

We are striving towards that (equal pay). If you talk to some of the professional golfers, the purse money is significantly higher than it was last year. There's still more work to be done to actually make it more equal, but it's been a material difference that we've managed to raise for the ladies", Gumede told SABC Sport. 

The event will include 156 professional men, 156 amateur men, 40 professional ladies, and 40 amateur ladies. Tandi McCallum, a professional golfer from South Africa, is the defending champion. She won R66 000 in last year's event and praised the bank for making an effort to change by increasing the prize purse to R250 000, especially in these difficult economic times.

"Standard Bank has most certainly raised the bar on so many levels to highlight the gender parity that has been exposed in women's professional golf and women's sport across the board. 

Since their launch of the Standard Bank (Pro-Am) series which happened just coming out of Covid in a very tough time economically. They came out guns blazing hosting a lot of pro-ams for the local South Africans to play, which not only gives hope to be able to compete on home soil, but we play for really good money. So they've set quite a high bar within the corporate market for backing women's golf”, she emphasised. 

One of the most significant challenges in the country's gender parity efforts is the corporate sector's reluctance to support more women's events due to the lower numbers they attract when compared to men, whether through media coverage or broadcasting numbers.

The Pro-Am series is making and effort to break free from this preconceived notion.

Furthermore, according to Gumede, their involvement in the sport extends beyond professional golf. They are also collaborating with the Women's Professional Golfers Association of South Africa to bring the sport to previously disadvantaged areas.