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Last week in Saudi Arabia, Albane Valenzuela met with the heads of both the LPGA and LET to talk about her vision for a world tour. There’s not a more global player in golf right now than Valenzuela, who was born in New York and lived in her father’s native Mexico before the family moved to Geneva, Switzerland. A Stanford grad who speaks four languages, Valenzuela became the first Swiss player to represent Europe at the 2024 Solheim Cup. Her father, Alberto, a banker who played No. 1 on UCLA’s golf team in the 80s, met his wife, Diane, a 10-handicap, while playing in an exhibition match at Evian Golf Club in France.
Family discussions often revolve around big ideas for the LPGA’s future.
“In my opinion, there’s too many tours right now happening in women’s golf,” said Valenzuela, “and I think we’re competing against other tours as opposed to working together.”
As Albane met with LPGA interim commissioner Liz Moore and Ladies European Tour CEO Alexandra Armas in Riyadh, Alberto and another LPGA dad, Rick Pano, sent a letter to the Trump Organization with the subject: Transforming LPGA into True Global Golf Tour.
Rick, whose daughter Alexa broke through with her first LPGA title in 2023, said he and Alberto have been talking about a world tour since the middle of last year. Given all the disruption that has plagued men’s golf in recent years, the pair felt the time has come to consolidate women’s professional golf into one unified, global tour. And they’d like to see the Saudis and the Trump Organization help lead the revolution.
“The problem is there has been a lack of courage,” said Alberto of the current landscape.
What’s the plan?
The big idea, as outlined in the letter, is to create a system of tiered events, separated by prize money. Tier A would feature the world’s top players with purses of $10 million and above, including the majors. Tier B would include events across the world featuring purses between $3 million and $5 million; Tier C would have mid-level events of $1 million; and Tier D would be developmental events for those just starting out at around $500,000.
“No longer would players have to choose between different tours; instead, they would be competing in one unified system,” the letter explains, “with global rankings determining eligibility for the biggest events.”
Embracing Saudi investment is crucial to their plan, along with a renegotiated global television rights deal.
“I don’t think any tour in women’s golf can survive conflict like the PGA Tour has,” said Rick Pano, who caddies for Alexa week-to-week on the LPGA.
The idea of a world tour is nothing new, of course, though the landscape never has looked quite like it does in 2025. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump met with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan to ask for his involvement in negotiations with the Saudi backers of LIV Golf. In a statement, Monahan said. “We asked the President to get involved for the good of the game, the good of the country and for all the countries involved.”
Following the WTA’s lead
As the men’s game looks to reunite, Valenzuela and Pano would like to see the women’s game consolidate, similar to women’s tennis. There are currently 12 official women’s tours counted in golf’s Rolex Rankings.
The WTA’s official calendar includes four tiers of events: Grand Slams, WTA1000, WTA500 and WTA250. The 2025 schedule features more than 50 tournaments across 26 countries and regions. Founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King, the tour has grown to more than 1,600 athletes competing for $212 million in prize money, with the distinct advantage of sharing the stage with the men at Grand Slam events.
The WTA’s stated goal is to offer equal prize money across the board by 2033. This already exists in the four Grand Slam events.
In women’s golf, there’s long been a feeling that there’s substantial added value that has yet to be unlocked. Yet, it’s difficult for the women’s game to gain long-term stability with contracts that are mostly short-term and a constant turnover of venues and sponsors. While the LPGA’s prize money growth has been substantial in recent years, it’s still light years away from the men.
For reference, 137 players earned over $1 million on the PGA Tour in 2024, with a tour average of $2,109,985. The LPGA, by contrast, had a record 34 players cross the $1 million mark in season earnings.
The Trump letter comes during a time when the LPGA is at the beginning stages of a commissioner search, and Valenzuela is hardly the only player who wants to see meaningful change.
“I think the letter sparks an interesting conversation about where we are going as a tour,” said Leona Maguire via text from Thailand. “While it’s important to honor the legacy of the 13 founders, 75 years on, it’s our responsibility to continue to innovate, evolve and grow the LPGA, which will require creativity and strong vision. The new commissioner will have to embrace this legacy while also having the conviction to make difficult but hopefully rewarding decisions that bring us into the future.”
Is it finally time?
For years now, there’s been an effort to merge the LPGA and LET tours. The vote to merge was pushed back over and over as the two sides continued to work on terms. The last attempt to vote in late 2023 was called off after Golf Saudi submitted a last-minute request for further information on the proposed operating model of the tour following any potential transaction.
Getting other tours to come on board would prove perhaps even more challenging, however, as successful tours like the Japan LPGA would have to give up playing opportunities for Japanese players to welcome those from the around the world. That’s a tough sell for a tour so closed that it requires its members to speak Japanese or travel with an interpreter.
“I don’t think there’s a perfect strategy,” said Albane, “but I think it’s worth exploring. Once you start bouncing ideas around, I think that helps begin a conversation and maybe a lot of these things are not feasible, but if you don’t have a vision, a goal, a dream, what are you working towards, right?”
Maguire praised Moore for leading the tour in these early months with a steady hand, calling her transparency refreshing. Moore told Golfweek earlier this month that she had no interest in seeking the job of commissioner on a permanent basis.
But that doesn’t mean she’s not moving things forward.
Moore told Golfweek in a statement that while she didn’t have anything specific to report from her recent trip to Saudi Arabia, the tour is “committed to maintaining open lines of communication with those who can help enhance opportunities for our players and support the game’s long-term growth.”
Two-time Solheim Cup captain Stacy Lewis, who is on the search committee for the new commissioner, believes the right conversations are taking place, though she doesn’t yet have an answer to how the Saudis – who currently sponsor five events on the LET schedule – fit into the equation on a broader scale.
“There are a lot of different possibilities,” said Lewis, “a lot of different ways we could work together.”
The Panos have been practicing out of Trump facilities for 14 years and believe the tour could greatly benefit from the organization’s involvement. President Trump, of course, has many friends in the women’s game and for years hosted the LPGA’s season-ending event at Trump International in West Palm Beach, Florida. The Rolex LPGA Awards ceremony was also held at the Mar-a-Lago Club, where several top players stayed.
“Beyond just creating a better product, this would be a legacy-defining move,” the letter declares, “one that cements The Trump Organization as the driving force behind the transformation of women’s professional golf. It would showcase your commitment not only to the sport, but also to championing women’s athletics on a global scale.
“The time for change is now.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: LPGA dads enlist Trump’s help to build women’s world golf tour
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