Taylor Swift and her Eras Tour has taken over the world.
She left fairly an influence on the male-dominated sport of soccer. The query is how a lot affect might she have on a feminine sport like girls’s golf?
She would not essentially play, however Swift persistently makes use of a neon golf membership when she sings the tune “Clean Area” at her exhibits.
Her boyfriend, Kansas Metropolis Chiefs tight finish Travis Kelce, could be very acquainted with enjoying although. He paired with teammate Patrick Mahomes in final yr’s Capital One’s The Match, and performs within the annual American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
Understanding what her relationship with Kelce achieved for the NFL, her affect may very well be an unimaginable instrument for ladies’s golf to make use of.
LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan is conscious of this.
LPGA considering exterior the field
The LPGA’s Singapore occasion ended Sunday, which matched up completely with Swift’s schedule. Marcoux Samaan shot her shot and prolonged an invite to Swift, per the Washington Publish.
“There may be nothing mistaken with a great Taylor Swift impact,” the commissioner mentioned. “Taylor, come be part of us. Our doorways are huge open for you.”
Swift might not be an enormous golfer, but when she have been to attend an LPGA occasion, it might solely imply good issues for the sport.
All of us witnessed as she helped make historical past in NFL viewership.
Tremendous Bowl LVIII was the most-watched TV occasion of all time. It averaged 120 million viewers on CBS alone and 123.4 million, together with the opposite platforms that aired it, per the LA Instances.
Final yr’s common was 115.1 million viewers on Fox.
Which may not sound like an enormous bounce. However traditionally talking, when the identical workforce seems seemingly yearly, there’s a team-fatigue seen in rankings. The Chiefs have been within the Tremendous Bowl for the fourth time in 5 years, but their remaining look broke all information.
Anybody with a pulse is conscious that’s due to the Swift-effect.
Photograph by Ezra Shaw/Getty Pictures
Her relationship with Kelce didn’t simply enhance Tremendous Bowl rankings, it was felt all season.
She altered the NFL’s viewership by supporting her boyfriend. From the time she started going to the video games in Week 3, females flocked to the display. Viewership elevated amongst 18-34 yr olds by 9%. It additionally elevated by 6% amongst males, per Entrance Workplace Sports activities.
Moreover, as of Jan. 22, she additionally helped make the Chiefs $331.5 million in further income.
Marcoux Samaan acknowledged her influence, which appears to be why she prolonged that invite to the pop star and her boyfriend. Whereas Swift didn’t present up in Singapore, there isn’t any telling what might occur if the LPGA stays persistent.
The LPGA and girls’s sports activities usually are on the rise. The tour’s income has elevated by greater than 65% prior to now 4 years.
They’ve elevated purses together with the biggest ever U.S. Ladies’s Open purse this yr, added greater sponsors and seen extra folks watching the most effective girls on the planet tee it up.
Ford Motor Firm lately partnered with the ladies to sponsor the Ford Championship on the finish of March. The following 9 LPGA occasions will see purses $2 million or larger.
Is that this the golf photograph of the yr up to now?
America’s Andrea Lee celebrates Australia’s Hannah Inexperienced’s 72nd-hole birdie to win in Singapore.
There’s loads occurring within the sport proper now however one picture appears to sums up the expertise, magic and sportsmanship of the sport all of us love. pic.twitter.com/8NJbJTU2hj
— Jamie Kennedy (@jamierkennedy) March 3, 2024
LPGA That includes Stars
Marcoux Samaan additionally is aware of it is time to elevate the celebs from the LPGA to assist develop the sport. Like skilled tennis, she desires to make extra women family names.
“It is actually vital in any sport, however extra so in particular person sports activities, that our athletes are family names,” Marcoux Samaan mentioned. “We consider that is our time.”
Rose Zhang, who burst onto the skilled scene in 2023, has drawn eyes as she recorded a historic beginner profession that Tiger Woods could not even accomplish. Then she received her LPGA debut after taking residence back-to-back NCAA particular person championships.
Lexi Thompson’s look on the PGA Tour elevated viewership to the autumn occasion. She and Zhang performed with Max Homa and Rory McIlroy within the ninth version of The Match. The world witnessed their personalities on full show.
That’s an enormous step in the precise path for ladies’s golf.
These aren’t the one women which can be thought of “massive names” both. Nelly Korda and Brooke Henderson have been the 2 feminine golfers on the 2023 Forbes record of the world’s highest-paid feminine athletes.
Marcoux Samaan has applied the steps to get extra names on there, however would not or not it’s wild to see what a Taylor Swift-supported LPGA might do? Hopefully it occurs as a result of girls’s golf deserves the eye.