LPGA Chief Under Fire as Slow-Play Controversy Refuses to Go Away — Pressure Mounts 😱⛳ The LPGA is facing renewed scrutiny as frustration over slow play continues to build, placing the tour’s leadership firmly in the spotlight.
With players, fans, and analysts demanding action, the ongoing issue is quickly becoming one of the most pressing challenges the league has yet to resolve.
👉 Full breakdown of the slow-play problem, why it won’t disappear, and what the LPGA chief may be forced to do next is inside the link.
LPGA Chief Under Fire as Slow-Play Controversy Refuses to Go Away — Pressure Mounts 😱⛳ The LPGA is facing renewed scrutiny as frustration over slow play continues to build, placing the tour’s leadership firmly in the spotlight.
With players, fans, and analysts demanding action, the ongoing issue is quickly becoming one of the most pressing challenges the league has yet to resolve.
👉 Full breakdown of the slow-play problem, why it won’t disappear, and what the LPGA chief may be forced to do next is inside the link.
Has the LPGA Tour’s new pace of policy helped with the lingering problem? As per what one of the Tour’s long-time caddies, Olly Brett, the issue needs more work.
“I don’t know,” he shrugged and replied on The Mixed Bag podcast, when asked if LPGA’s new policy worked.
“I feel like golf is just slow at the professional level.” Then, as if contemplating, he admitted that it would help if a round went from “five hours to four hours forty-five [minutes].”
The LPGA Tour announced its new pace of play policy in February that stated that the pros will either face a fine, a one-stroke penalty, a two-stroke penalty, or suspension, depending on how severely slow they’ve played.
What Brett is saying makes sense, and the policy has also worked to a certain extent.
For instance, at the Founders Cup, average threesomes in Rounds 1 and 2 clocked a swift 4:31 hours on Thursday and 4:23 hours on Friday. Sunday’s twosome finale? 3 hours and 48 minutes average.
In another instance, LPGA player president Vicki Goetze-Ackerman shared with Golfweek at The Annika that timed holes plunged 40% from last year.
But that is hardly the case at every event.
At the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the first round took more than six hours to play. Several pros complained about it, including Charley Hull, Stacy Lewis, and Nelly Korda. The pros faced a similar situation at the U.S.
Women’s Open, with the threesomes exceeding six hours and the broadcast window spilling over 45 minutes. Just last month at the CME Group Tour Championship, the concerning slow play and a daunting reminder of the broadcast ending at 4 p.m. E.T.
on NBC forced the pros to play the final round in threesomes.
On the other hand, this is hardly the first time LPGA leadership, and more specifically commissioner Craig Kessler, has faced such pressure.
At the CME Group Tour Championship, Nelly Korda admitted, “I think it’s [slow play] improved a lot.” Similarly, Minjee Lee confessed that she wants this issue to be the “highest thing” on Kessler’s to-do list.
Even Hull admitted that the LPGA needs to do a lot more, maybe like taking away the Tour cards.
The officials can also suspend players for breaking the new policy, as they did at the Maybank Championship. Or, when Chisato Iwai was ‘named and shamed’ for the slow pace of play at the Black Desert Championship.
Slow play needs resolution. It hinders both the viewing and the playing experience. For Kessler, aspiring to bring better visibility to the group, for which he has already taken a pretty big step, resolving the slow pace has paramount importance.
Not only to sell a “better product,” but also to ensure the game doesn’t feel like it’s being dragged. Not to mention, such drastic steps help bridge a better relationship with the golf fans, as we’ve seen at the Founders Cup.
LPGA signs new TV rights deal for better visibilityIn November, the LPGA Tour struck a new TV deal for 2026. That means fans can get more of Nelly Korda, Charley Hull, and LPGA stars via upgraded FM, Golf Channel, and Trackman partnerships. LPGA shared the same on Instagram.
Some of the changes include: All rounds live for the first time. 50% more cameras for hole/shot coverage. Drones flaunting venues and skills. Enhanced stories and walk-and-talks.
Of course, this was another welcome relief. Until now, some rounds aired, others ghosted. Like last year’s CME Group Championship, the finale of the LPGA’s season-long Race to CME. A key event, yet its third round suffered total TV zero coverage.
No wonder the new initiative excited many of the pros, including those who have long retired.
Take Michelle Wie West, for instance. In last week’s Golf Talk podcast, West shared, “Every single round will be broadcast live.
That is such a huge thing… fans of golf have begged for this for forever,” and then added, “I mean, it’s huge news, but it also at the same time feels so simple, right?” Indeed, that seems to be the case.
Now, it remains to be seen if it will be as helpful as the slow play policy the LPGA introduced this year.
