LPGA officially announces new pace-of-play policy, which includes stiffer penalties
The LPGA has officially released its new Pace of Play Policy, which introduces a new one-shot penalty. The new policy goes into effect on the LPGA on March 27 at the Ford Championship in Arizona and April 25 at the IOA Championship for the Epson Tour in California.
The current policy dished out fines for those who were 1 to 10 seconds over the allotted time and a two-stroke penalty for those who were more than 11 seconds over.
The new policy gives a fine for those who are 1-5 seconds over, a one-stroke penalty for those 6 – 15 seconds over and a two-stroke penalty for more than 16 seconds.
In addition, players who tee off first on par 3s and reachable par 4s will continue to get an additional 10 seconds. The new policy, however, eliminates the additional 10 seconds that was given to players who are first to play from par 4 and par 5 tees.
The new policy was revealed at the first player meeting of the season last week at the Founders Cup. World No. 1 Nelly Korda's reaction to the news: Finally.
'I think that's 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,' said Korda.
'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.'
A Pace of Play Committee met several times throughout the offseason to hash out the changes. If the new policy had been in place last season, 23 players would've received a one-stroke penalty and eight would have received a two-shot penalty.
'Based on a data-backed approach and direct player input, this policy now acts as a stronger deterrent, ensuring players take warnings seriously before penalties become necessary,' said LPGA Player President Vicki Goetze-Ackerman in a statement.
'Our overall intention is to improve the pace of play on tour, and these updates mark a significant step toward creating a more efficient and enjoyable competitive environment, benefiting both our members and our fans.'
Korda found the pace of play at the Founders Cup to be already a breath of fresh air.
'There was not one round that we sniffed 4:45,' said the Korda, whose pace of play is as beautiful as her swing.
Indeed, the median time for threesomes in Rounds 1 and 2 in sunny Florida was 4 hours, 31 minutes on Thursday and 4 hours, 23 minutes on Friday.
For Sunday's final round of twosomes, the tour played in a median time of 3 hours and 48 minutes.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: LPGA announces new pace-of-play policy which begins in March 2025
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