While the LPGA will have been delighted with how the large majority of the week at The ANNIKA went, it seems fair to say that there was one glaring issue which emerged at Pelican Golf Club.
Of course, much of the talk ahead of the event centred around Caitlin Clark featuring in the Pro-Am. Meanwhile, Nelly Korda produced a masterclass on the back nine on Sunday to win by three – sealing her seventh victory of the season.
However, one of the major talking points coming out of the tournament concerned the pace of play at the event. The second round finishing on Saturday forced Korda and Charley Hull to finish their third rounds in darkness. Korda hit out at the scheduling.
Meanwhile, Hull labelled the pace of play ridiculous after the final round. The Englishwoman suggested that she would strip players of tour cards if they were penalised three times for slow play. Hull did laud Korda’s performance in the same interview, so there was certainly no hint of sour grapes after missing out on the title.
The ANNIKA urged to make change after criticism from Nelly Korda and Charley Hull
And speaking on Golf Channel, commentator Tom Abbott suggested what he thinks should be done with The ANNIKA to ensure that similar problems do not emerge in the future.
“It was a problem on Saturday because they pushed it all the way to darkness. In fact, Nelly was saying in her comments after the round on Saturday that they were finishing in the dark and it wasn’t very well scheduled. The reason they were playing so late was because the second round had spilled over into Saturday morning,” he said.
“I think in terms of The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge, the event last week, they need to reduce the field. I think they should say the top 100 in the Race To CME Globe, that’s the players that will avoid having to go to Q School, I think they should be exempt into the field at Pelican in The ANNIKA, and then the field can also be filled with some amateur invitees.
“That reduces it from the 120 that they had this time around and allows them some flexibility, and then at the weekend, they can reduce the cut to the top 45 or top 50 and ties, make it a really exclusive field with an exclusive weekend looking ahead to this week, which is the top 60.”
A missed opportunity for the LPGA
The LPGA had a great opportunity to showcase itself as the PGA Tour continues its fall season. And it would have certainly helped to have Clark involved in the Pro-Am and Korda going on to win with an outstanding display after a slow start to her final round.
But some – who may have been tuning in for the first time – will have inevitably been put off by the fact that Hull and Korda were forced to spend the best part of six hours out on the golf course due to the congestion out in front of them.
Obviously, the PGA Tour can be even more frustrating at times. It seems to be a regular occurrence that players are only finding out on Saturday morning at tournaments whether they have made the cut.
But what clearly had the potential to be a phenomenal weekend for the LPGA has been slightly marred by an issue that golf fans across the spectrum are growing very tired of.
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