FIRST MINISTER Nicola Sturgeon has called for a sustained drive towards prize-money parity at the country’s two Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Opens, the ladies version of which gets underway at Dundonald on Friday.

When American Rickie Fowler was presented with the Scottish Open trophy by the First Minister on Gullane’s 18th green a week past Sunday, it came with a cheque worth £530,000, with the total prize fund at £3.25m.

But, when whoever is crowned champion following the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open this Sunday, she will receive a cheque for £52,000 – less than 10 per cent of Fowler’s – with the total £350,000 prize money on offer at Dundonald just 66 per cent of the American’s first prize, up from £205,000 last year.

Earlier this week, another American, Zach Johnson, won the 144th Open Championship at St. Andrews, earning a £1.15m share of the £6.3m prize fund; the winner of the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Turnberry next week will earn £253,000 from a purse of £1.9m.

Speaking exclusively to The Herald on the 18th green at Gullane, the First Minister said, “July is a wonderful month of golf here in Scotland – five fantastic tournaments, each in a distinctive location, showcasing Scotland to the world and cementing the country’s place in the world as the authentic home of golf.

“I’m certainly not as hands-on in golf as my predecessor, although my grandfather gave me some golf clubs and was, I suspect, disappointed that I did not take the game up,” continued Ms Sturgeon, adding, “but I very much get the importance of golf to the economic, sporting and social fabric of Scotland, one of our key tourism assets.”

Asked about the imbalance between men’s and women’s prize money, the First Minister said: “I’m aware of the disparity, and I am a long-standing and well-documented champion of equal opportunities, so this is something we will address ahead of next year’s events.”

Martin Gilbert, CEO of title sponsors Aberdeen Asset Management says, “It’s fair to say we still have a long way to go with the women’s open, but we’ll take it a step at a time in closing the gap, long-term like everything we do, and the First Minister’s equality agenda is loud and clear,” says Gilbert, adding, “There remains a great deal of work to be done on this front.”

Two-time Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open champion and 2009 Women’s British Open winner Catriona Matthew said, “It would be fantastic if we were able to improve prize money in women’s golf, especially as we have such a vibrant, entertaining and sponsor/media-friendly product to offer.”

Wimbledon-style equality in prize money for golf may be a pipe dream and a long way off, but, with taxpayers money being pumped into men’s and women’s professional golf to the tune of £1.75m in cash plus £750,000 in other ways, with only around 20 per cent of it going to the women’s game, the drive towards equality seems set to be increasingly to the fore.