"It pissed me off" - Black Desert Championship host reflects on the 'player experience' disparity in PGA Tour and LPGA

Black Desert Championship host Patrick Manning opened up about the disparity in men's and women's golf events. This week, Black Desert Resort is hosting the inaugural edition of the PGA Tour event, and they are also slated to host an LPGA Tour event the following year.

The 2024 Black Desert Championship has already started with its first round on Thursday, October 10, and will conclude with the final round on Sunday, October 13, in Utah. Manning discussed the tournament and the difference in player experiences between the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour in a recent interview with Golf Week.

However, he assured that they aim to "elevate the women's experience" when hosting a tournament for them. Speaking about the disparity, Manning said:

"When I learned how much the difference is between the player experience for the men and the player experience for the women, I don’t know how else to put it other than it pissed me off. I just said we are not gonna do that. We are going to elevate the women’s experience, not just to an elevated level, but we’re going to do things that have never been done before for the women."

"And we’re doing that. It’s not to get attention, it’s to show them the love that they deserve — they’ve earned it. They’re working their tails off and they deserve to get the same quality of food, the same quality of accommodations," he added.

Notably, the Black Desert Championship is a regular PGA Tour event. It is part of the Tour's fall season events. Featuring a stellar field including the likes of Adam Svensson, Harris English, Ben Kohles, and Sam Ryder, the tournament is taking place at a golf course designed by renowned architect Tom Weiskopf.

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"I wanted to give them an experience they don’t have anywhere"- Black Desert Championship host on his priority for the PGA Tour event

In the same interview with Golf Week, Patrick Manning also shared his priorities for this week's PGA Tour event. The Managing Partner of the Black Desert Resort stated that he was looking forward to providing the best experience for the players. He said:

"I wanted to give them an experience they don’t have anywhere else in the world and partially what that is when they’re outside the ropes, they can go to their accommodations. So they can get from their condo to the elevator, down to the locker rooms, and then into player-only dining, which is a 14,000-square-foot restaurant, they can get from there to fitness and all of that without any public interface."

The PGA Tour players are having a good time playing at the Black Desert Championship. The second round was held on Friday, October 11, but it was suspended due to darkness.

Meanwhile, Stephen Jaeger took the lead after completing his second round. He shot rounds of 65 and 63 to jump five spots on the leaderboard. Meanwhile, opening-round leader Adam Svensson slipped to second place, tied with Ben Kohles. The tournament has a cutline after 36 holes, and only players finishing above the cutline will compete over the weekend for the concluding two rounds.