Length of contract: 10 years | Annualised value: US$1.6 million | Overall value: US$16m

Women's golf has received a major boost after the LPGA Tour agreed a deal with the Golf Channel worth more than US$15 million over ten years.

The deal, which will run from 2010 until 2020, gives the Comcast-owned channel exclusive US rights to all LPGA Tour events.

Before that, the channel will carry coverage of 14 LPGA events this year.

More than 640,000 people watched the final round of the the McDonald's LPGA Championship on the Golf Channel in 2008. Nearly two million watched the final round of the US Women's Open on NBC.

The deal makes the LPGA the only professional women's sport to have such an agreement with a cable company.

"Our long-term goal has been to establish a consistent platform for LPGA viewership, improve the production quality of our telecasts and enhance the season-long promotional of our players and events," said the LPGA's Carolyn Bivens.

"We were able to achieve this through our partnership with Golf Channel."

The 2009 LPGA Tour begins this weekend.