THE AIG Women’s Open golf tournament held at the Royal Porthcawl last weekend attracted more than 47,000 visitors to make it the largest women’s sporting event ever held in Wales.
Broadcast live on Sky Sports, the first two days of the event attracted the event’s highest ever average audience and increased its overall audience share within the UK.
Fans also kept up with the championship digitally on YouTube, which recorded a 144 per cent increase in views, a 133 per cent increase in direct engagements and a 93 per cent increase in the number of hours spent watching the event.
The event went down well on social media too, with the AIG Women’s Open Instagram account achieving its highest-ever day of engagement on Saturday and a 221 per cent increase in views and a 316 per cent increase in followers.
The championship made significant progress in capturing greater TV audience share in the UK with the first two rounds attracting the event’s highest ever average audience for first and second days on Sky Sports.
Despite a wet and windy start on Saturday, the Royal Porthcawl proved to offer a dramatic backdrop to the event with images of waves breaking upon the rugged coastline broadcast all around the world.
It certainly impressed tournament winner Miyu Yamashita, who said: “I knew that there was a lot of nature, a lot of wildlife. To be able to be here, in the nature and in the countryside, was something that I was looking forward to, and something that was great to experience.”
Cllr Neelo Farr, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Planning and Housing, said: “Congratulations to Miyu Yamashita and the other competitors, and thank you for making this such a memorable tournament.
“The 2025 AIG Women’s Open has been another resounding success, and has brought in thousands of visitors to help boost the local economy while showcasing Porthcawl to an international audience.
“Given the family atmosphere, I was delighted to learn that 2,500 children came along and made up around five per cent of the audience, proving that the sport has a bright and healthy future.
“An immense amount of planning goes into the staging of an event like this, and I would like to thank everyone who has helped to make it such a big success, especially all of the volunteers.
“It joins the likes of the Elvis Festival, the Seniors Open and Porthcawl 10K in showing what the town and the wider county borough have to offer, and I hope to see the Royal Porthcawl hosting further prestigious tournaments very soon.”
