The LPGA Has a Slow-Play Problem
Watching live professional golf is like watching paint dry.
And yes, it's worse with women’s golf, which is so slow that it's tortoise-like, driving players and fans to ask why something isn’t being done.
On Wednesday, LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan addressed the issue after a final round last week that forced television to go far beyond the telecast window in order to show Nelly Korda winning for the seventh time this season.
When asked about the pace of play, Samaan took the huge leap of suggesting that it is clearly an issue and that she is hearing from players.
Samaan also said the staff wants to speed up play and mentioned plans to form a pace-of-play committee.
LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan congratulates Nelly Korda (USA) on winning the Chevron Championship golf tournament.
Thomas Shea-Imagn Images
“We're going to form a pace-of-play committee in the offseason that includes all these stakeholders and put our best thinking forward to figure out how we can speed things up for our players' performance and also for the fans,” said Samaan, who has been commissioner since 2021.
In her 3,000-word opening to the State of the LPGA at the CME Group Tour Championship, Samaan never mentioned slow play. If not for a question from the media near the end of the press conference, the issue would not have been discussed, nor would the plans for the new committee have been disclosed.
It seems odd that the commissioner wouldn't mention it in her opening remarks, or at least in the Q&A portion of the press conference with the moderator if it is such an important issue.
World No. 1 Korda didn't hesitate to call the issue out.
"I personally think it's a pretty big issue," Korda said at the Tour Championship. "I think it's not good for the fans that come out and watch us. If it was me personally, I would be very, very annoyed watching for five hours, over five hours, five hours and 40 minutes, close to six. I just think it really drags the game down. I think that it really, really needs to change."
Nelly Korda participates in The Annika golf tournament Pro-Am at Pelican Golf Club.
Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Instead, Samaan focused on prize fund growth, strategic efforts to grow the fan base and marketing initiatives to expand engagement.
What is lost in all this rah-rah discussion about purse growth is that the LPGA Tour, and professional golf as a whole, are not addressing the scourge of slow play.
In her 2023 remarks at the Tour Championship, Samaan did not comment on the issue at all, even though fans and players have long discussed it.
In Commissioner Jay Monahan's State of the PGA Tour at the Tour Championship in August, the word "slow" was not found in a transcript of over 6,800 words.
While it's great to talk about growth and an increase in prize funds, by taking its eye off the ball regarding the speed of play, that growth will fade, and the increase in prize funds will start to decline.
While we are encouraged that the LPGA is going to form a committee, it sounds more like lip service than a significant effort, but let’s give it a chance.
For the others, it’s time to address the issue before it's too late.
