The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is one of the longest-running women’s sports associations in the world. Slow play has been a persistent issue in golf tours as some players take too much time to play a single shot. Many players like Tom Kim have been criticized for the same, but LPGA is set to take measures regarding the issue.
LPGA will implement a new Pace of Play Policy, starting from March 27, 2025. This policy will introduce stricter penalties for players who exceed the allotted time to play a shot. According to the new policy, a player will be imposed fines if they are 1-5 seconds over the time. A one-stroke penalty will be assessed for being 6-15 over, and a two-stroke penalty will be made if they acted within the limit by 16 seconds or more.
Prominent players like Lilia Vu and Nelly Korda reacted to LPGA’s decision. In a recent interview with Asap Sports, Vu said, “I know that it’s definitely been cracked down a little bit more. I don’t think about it a lot because I think I don’t consider myself a slow player. I’m fine with it. It doesn’t really affect me.”
“I think it’ll be better for the Tour because sometimes we’re waiting on holes for a while. We don’t want to do that. With my back, if you ever see me waiting a while I’ll be walking in a circle on the fairway. It would be nice to just get up to my ball and be ready to hit.” she added.
Star golf player, Nelly Korda also shared on Wednesday, “I’m very excited about it, “I think that one of the things that I’ve just noticed over my time on tour, is that we used to go from five hours, under five hours, to now you it’s just five and a half, typically, our rounds.”
“So I think that implementing harsher rules is going to be good for the game of golf. They were saying at the meeting, at the end of the day we’re a form of entertainment. If we’re taking really long out there, I mean, that’s not entertaining.” she added
Minjee Lee, an Australian golf champion said, “I think it was quite good, nobody really was opposed to it because obviously we get on TV and we have—I mean, a lot of holes might be backed up and then TV goes a little off and play goes a little off and everybody is unhappy. So, yeah, I didn’t really think it was too negative at all.”
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