Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson might not feel as “ruthless” as Charley Hull when it comes to suggestions for fixing the LPGA Tour’s issue with slow play, but the American stars agree something has to be done.
Korda and Hull were battling for the lead at The Annika during the third round last Saturday that took five hours and 38 minutes to complete. Hull held the 54-hole lead, but Korda caught and passed her English rival on Sunday, dropping her final putt as darkness descended following another five-hour round.
Hull called the situation “ridiculous,” said she fell sorry for the fans who have to endure the long rounds and offered a solution sure to curb the growing issue.
“I’m quite ruthless, but I said, ‘Listen, if you get three bad timings, every time it’s a two-shot penalty,” she said. “If you have three of them you lose your tour card instantly. I’m sure that would hurry a lot of people up and they won’t want to lose their tour card. That would kill the slow play, but they would never do that.”
Asked about Hull’s solution on Tuesday ahead of the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship this week, Korda called it “funny,” while agreeing more measures need to be taken. The LPGA has doled out penalties and fines, but that hasn’t stopped the trend of five-hour rounds becoming the standard.
“It’s a pretty big issue,” said Korda, the world’s top-ranked player. “I think that it really, really needs to change.
“Players just need to be penalized. Rules officials need to watch from the first group. Once they get two minutes behind, one minute behind, it just slows everything down.”
Thompson will be playing her final event as a full-time LPGA Tour member this week. The Florida resident echoed concerns for fans coming out in the heat to following their favorite players for five-plus hours.
Thompson called Hull’s comment “aggressive,” but she doesn’t disagree with it.
“It has to be done. Something has to be done to quicken up the play out there, whether it’s fines or whatever it is,” Thompson said. “Needs to be done because we need to play quicker.”
Hull said she plays rounds at home on difficult golf courses in three and a half to four hours. She called the LPGA’s pace of play issues “pretty crazy,” and Thompson agrees there is no reason for threesome rounds on tour to be taking more than four and a half hours.
“Look, you’re going to hit a good shot or bad shot. Might as well not take that much time over it,” she said. “It’s just a game. Just do your routine, commit, and hit it.”
