Shadow Creek in Las Vegas became the first North American venue to host a co-sanctioned LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour event, and Golf Saudi confirmed the model will expand. The Aramco Team Series event offered $1 million in prize money and dual ranking points, a template the parties plan to replicate at undisclosed U.S. venues in 2026 and beyond. Golf Saudi, the promotional arm of Saudi Arabia's national golf federation, underwrote the Shadow Creek pilot and remains the key financial actor behind the LET's recent schedule additions.
The co-sanctioning structure solves two problems. For the LPGA, it adds international legitimacy to mid-tier domestic stops without cannibalizing its major championship weeks. For the LET, it delivers access to North American sponsors and broadcasters who historically ignored European women's golf. Golf Saudi has spent roughly $30 million annually on LET title sponsorships and event guarantees since 2020, per sources familiar with the tour's finances. That money now follows LET players to Las Vegas, and likely to Arizona or Florida next.
The Aramco Team Series format—four-player teams, one amateur per side, 72 holes of stroke play—was designed for Middle Eastern exhibition play but travels cleanly. Corporate hospitality converts into pro-am slots, and the team element gives title sponsors twice the logo exposure per telecast minute. Lauren Coughlin won the individual competition at Shadow Creek, her third LPGA victory in 14 months. She collected LET ranking points despite never playing a European event, a quirk that highlights the administrative simplicity of the partnership.
Sponsor interest hinges on whether LET co-sanctioning can pull incremental dollars or merely redistributes existing LPGA budgets. Early signals suggest the former. Two U.S.-based financial services firms inquired about title sponsorship of a hypothetical 2026 co-sanctioned event in the Southwest, according to an LPGA commercial executive who requested anonymity. Neither firm currently sponsors women's golf. The ask was north of $3 million for a three-year commitment, a premium to standard LPGA domestic events but below major championship rates.
Golf Saudi's continued underwriting remains the structural dependency. The kingdom's Public Investment Fund allocated $200 million to golf development through 2030, split between LIV Golf, the LET partnership, and domestic facility construction. That budget survived PIF's broader pullback in European soccer and entertainment investments, suggesting golf retains strategic priority. If PIF funding contracts, the LET loses its ability to guarantee appearance fees for top-10 players, and the co-sanctioning model reverts to lower-tier stops with thinner fields.
The LPGA has 34 official events in 2025, the LET has 29. Overlap previously occurred only at majors and select international stops. Expanding co-sanctioning to four or five North American events by 2027 would give European players a clearer pathway to LPGA Tour cards without relocating full-time. It would also force the LPGA to reconcile conflicting sponsor exclusivity clauses, particularly in the financial services and luxury automotive categories where both tours carry legacy deals.
LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan and LET CEO Alexandra Armas will present the expansion framework to board members in March, ahead of the HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore. Venue selection for the next two North American co-sanctioned events is expected by May. Golf Saudi will host a sponsor summit in Riyadh in April, with at least 12 U.S.-based brands invited. The agenda includes a private presentation on North American co-sanctioning economics, led by Majed Al Sorour, CEO of Golf Saudi and deputy chairman of the Asian Tour.
Shadow Creek charged $500 per round for public play before MGM Resorts agreed to close the course for tournament week. That closure cost MGM roughly $400,000 in foregone revenue, absorbed by the event's local organizing committee. Future co-sanctioned stops will need similar venue concessions or purpose-built infrastructure, limiting the pool of feasible hosts to resort courses with ownership willing to trade short-term revenue for long-term marquee status.
The takeaway
Golf Saudi's cash moves LET co-sanctioning into North America, testing whether dual ranking points pull new sponsors or just shuffle LPGA budgets.
lpgaladies european tourgolf sauditournament co-sanctioningwomen's golfpif
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