Damaged greens at LPGA event raise eyebrows. This is what happened

Only a handful of photos trickled out across social media earlier this week – not nearly enough to get a sense of the totality of what LPGA players in Shanghai faced.

But then the tournament started, the broadcast cameras turned on, the highlights were cut and sent to the world. The greens of the Qizhong Garden Golf Club are indeed in rough condition. Probably the roughest you’ve seen watching pro golf this year.

The LPGA itself released this statement:

We are aware of the course conditions at the Buick LPGA Shanghai. The golf course superintendent, tournament team and LPGA rules officials have been working diligently against the extreme heat this season in preparation for this week’s event. We will continue to monitor the situation throughout the week and provide the course appropriately.

They are right about extreme heat. Typical high temperatures in Shanghai in September hover between 80 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. But this year, from the last week of August through the first week of October, Shanghai had 23 days with a high of at least 95 degrees.

What that heat has done to the greens isn’t entirely clear from 6,000 miles away, but the visuals weren’t great from the first round of the event on Thursday. Some places are clearly baked dry, others show imperfections. Some greens are so destroyed that it seems difficult to find a place to dig the hole.

This is the second time in the past month that the LPGA has suffered damage from Mother Nature. In September, the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship was shortened from 54 holes to just 18 holes — leading to its cancellation — after severe thunderstorms made the course unplayable.

The shape of the greens this week didn’t entirely deter the scoring, as 57 players still shot under par. Of the handful of top performers who held post-round press conferences, none were asked to talk about the greens, although Minjee Lee did reference them.

“I think with the quality of the greens and the condition I managed to make seven birdies quite well,” she said.

Lee put a positive spin on it through 18 holes. One of her birdie looks that didn’t fall was this one, from just three meters, leaving her a meter short.