July 8 (Reuters) - Prize money for the women's British Open will increase 40% to a total purse of $4.5 million, tournament organisers said on Monday.

The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A) said the winner of this year's Aug. 1-4 tournament will pocket $675,000.

The prize pot remains significantly smaller than the $10.75 million on offer at the men's British Open at Royal Portrush this month, with the winner receiving $1.89 million.

"We recognised that more needed to be done to elevate the prize fund for this great championship and are pleased that we have been able to make a significant increase this year as part of The R&A's commitment to women's golf," said Martin Slumbers, chief executive of The R&A.

"This is an important first step and we know it will take time to move closer to achieving parity with the men's game."

Britain's Georgia Hall, who won the tournament last year by two strokes, will defend her title against nine of the past 10 champions at Woburn Golf Club. (Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)