DORSET star Georgia Hall insisted there was “room for big improvement” in women’s golf.

The 2017 Ladies European Tour Order of Merit winner stressed the female game needed “bigger audiences” to attract more prize money in the future.

Hall’s thoughts were echoed by nine-time major winner and World Golf Hall of Famer Gary Player.

The pair were speaking at a press conference during the Black Knight’s annual invitational at Wentworth on Monday.

Wimborne-based Hall is tomorrow set to tee it up in the Ladies Scottish Open at Gullane in East Lothian.

The world number 39 will then head to Royal Lytham & St Annes to compete in the Women's British Open, starting on Thursday, August 2.

The combined prize money for both events totals just more than £3.6million.

The men’s Scottish Open and Open Championship, both of which were held this month, had a collective purse of around £13.3million.

Hall said: “I think women’s golf is getting slightly better but there is room for big improvement.

“We need bigger audiences. The prize money is not great, especially on the European Tour where we are lacking a lot of tournaments.

“That makes it harder for us women to compete on a daily basis. Luckily I am on the LPGA Tour so it’s not as big a problem for me at the moment.

“I think we work just as hard as the men do. We don’t hit it as far and we are not as strong but I think we present ourselves in a good way on the golf course, as well as on the TV and in the media.

“All we can do is keep playing well and hope it changes.”

Hall played alongside former Open champion Tom Lehman during Player’s invitational event.

She featured in the same group as three-time Open winner Player during last year’s tournament.

The Johannesburg-born 82-year-old added: “When I played with Georgia last year, she played so beautifully.

“I have been watching her and she has been playing extremely well. There are many ladies who can turn out to be champions.

“The men get this enormous prize money to play for and golf has never been so healthy amongst those professionals.

“We need more money to be put into women’s golf. I think the difference is really not very fair.

“Women’s golf is not as healthy as it should be and amateur golf is not as healthy as it should be. We have to get our leaders to come up with a conclusion.

“You have so many young women watching – but are they going to watch men play golf at a young age? I don’t think so.

“We need to get them more involved in the game of golf.”

An overall score of one-under-par earned Hall a tie for ninth at last year’s Ladies Scottish Open.

She is set to begin her first round alongside world number three Ariya Jutanugarn and Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist (11.40am).

South Korea’s Mi Hyang Lee is poised to defend her crown having sealed a one-shot victory in 2017.