Japan’s U-Next streaming service has consolidated its portfolio of golfing rights through the capture of women’s golf’s elite LPGA Tour.
The agreement, which begins with the 2026 campaign, will see U-Next exclusively broadcast all international LPGA events, in a rights deal that also covers all five women’s golf majors: The Chevron Championship, the Women’s PGA Championship, the US Women’s Championship, the Evian Championship, and the Women’s Open.
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In 2025, the LPGA Tour featured Japanese stars such as Miyu Yamashita (also current LPGA rookie of the year), Mao Saigo, Rio Takeda, and Akie Iwai, all of whom were ranked within the top 10 for the tour’s player of the year leaderboard.
Indeed, outside of the US and South Korea, no country was better represented in the 2025 LPGA Tour than Japan in terms of competitors, six of whom gained wins on the tour during the season.
Speaking on the partnership, LPGA commissioner Craig Kessler said: “This partnership will enable us to bring the play of Japanese players active on the LPGA Tour and top players from around the world to even more Japanese fans and create a deeper connection with them.
“We look forward to collaborating with U-NEXT to further accelerate the development of women's professional golf in Japan and around the world.”
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By GlobalDataKessler also called the deal the ‘largest international streaming partnership in LPGA history.”
In securing this deal, U-Next will now serve as the exclusive Japanese home of elite golf, both male and female, from 2026 and beyond, as it already boasts deals spanning the men’s golf majors, meaning all nine elite golf events will be exclusive to the service.
This will obviously be supported by coverage of the LPGA Tour, and U-Next has also struck deals with the men’s PGA Tour, Europe’s DP World Tour and Ladies European Tour, and the domestic Ladies PGA Tour of Japan.
Outside of traditional golf, U-Next also holds the rights to the tech-infused Uss golf series TGL, which was co-founded by golf icons Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods.
In order to host its burgeoning suite of golf rights, U-Next has launched a new paid subscription bundle, World Golf Pack, set at 2,600 yen per month ($16.70), which includes video-on-demand access to archive tournaments and exclusive access to major tour events.
Tenshin Tsutsumi, the president and chief executive of U-Next, said: “In recent years, the world of women's golf has seen a surge in talented and popular players from Japan taking to the world stage. We will do our utmost to share the stories of Japanese athletes taking on the world stage, as well as the appeal of the LPGA Tour, the world's highest level of women's golf.
With this partnership, almost all of the world's major golf tours and tournaments will be available to watch on U-NEXT. We hope to use this as a starting point to contribute to the further development of golf.
