The LPGA made a mistake. The boss owned it. But questions remain

In his young role as LPGA commissioner, Craig Kessler has already made some big and impactful decisions for his tour: brokering a new broadcast deal; forging partnerships that will put more money in the pockets of its players; bringing the LPGA in addition to the indoor golf competition of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, TGL.

But last Sunday, Kessler, who is 40, presented a different kind of business challenge: how to best determine the outcome of the LPGA season opener, in real time and with the eyes of the golf world (and the fingers of golf Twitter) pointed right at him. Complicating matters further, Kessler was not at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at Lake Nona in Orlando — he was 1,000 miles away, at home in Dallas, frantically trying to keep up with reports from the ground. “On the phone, reading material from dawn to dusk,” Kessler told GOLF.com in an interview Tuesday. “Constantly trying to gather as much information as possible to make an informed decision.”

That information — about the changing course conditions, unseasonably cold weather and logistical concerns surrounding shifting the event to a Monday finish — came from a variety of sources: Kessler’s deputies, tournament and rules officials, players and caddies, the grounds staff and even marketing partners. But ultimately the decision to shorten the event to 54 holes and declare world number 2 Nelly Korda the winner without hitting a single shot on Sunday was Kessler’s.

“One of the tougher decisions I’ve had to make in the six months I’ve been with the LPGA,” he said. “Whatever we decided, there would be some who understood and respected it, and others who did not. The questions were there from the beginning.”

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That doubt centered on whether the Tom Fazio-designed course, which woke up Sunday morning to subzero temperatures, was playable for a tournament at such a high level — or, more to the point, whether it could work out. become playable as the day progressed and the mercury crept from the twenties to the forties. When Amy Yang, one of eight players who did not complete their third round on Saturday, arrived at the site on Sunday to prepare for the resumption of Round 3 at 10am, she said the greens were “frozen” and “unplayable”.

Ricki Lasky, head of the LPGA’s tour business and operations office, added: “When we arrived on site and spoke to some players during warm-ups, we discovered that the terrain was very hard and that the trajectory of their shots changed during practice. The balls were coming loose when they weren’t supposed to, so we pushed back [starting times].”

Reasonable minds might object that battling the elements — assuming water doesn’t build up or the wind doesn’t blow balls off the greens — is central to the game, but Laski and her team didn’t like what they saw and heard.

The start was moved from 10 a.m. local time to 11 a.m. . . then afternoon. . . then 1 p.m. . . before the LPGA finally settled down at 2:15 p.m., at which point there was not enough daylight left to complete either Round 3 or Round 4.

Many observers noted that the decision to postpone play so deep into the afternoon was curious, as temperatures (and the golf course) were at least playable enough for the contingent of celebrities also participating in the event; they had been sent to the course hours earlier, at 10am. Among the participants in the celebrity division was LPGA legend and Lake Nona resident Annika Sorenstam, who played nine holes after bundling up and playing Sunday told Beth Ann Nichols about it Golf week: “I don’t know why they’re not playing. There are pitch marks. I mean, I hit some sharp shots today and the ball even stopped. I’m surprised. It’s hard, it’s cold, but it’s as fair as anything.”

Yang, after signing for a third-round 69 that secured her second place, also described the course as “playable.” “It’s gotten a lot better,” she said. “It’s still very cold, but compared to 9am this morning when I was warming up, much better condition.”

Still, Kessler said he had other concerns than just the competitive integrity of the lineup — namely the risk the icy surface posed to his players. This concern was not communicated to the players or the public on Sunday, but in a memo – essentially a mea culpa – that Kessler emailed to the players on Tuesday, he revealed that he was “concerned that our athletes could be injured given the way record overnight low temperatures hardened the course.” Kessler acknowledged in that note that “although the decision was difficult and contrary to previous statements we shared, I have made a judgment.”

There is, of course, precedent for calling tournaments after 54 (or even 36) holes, but almost always this only happens in cases where it is clear that severe weather (the wet and/or windy variety) will prevent play from being completed not only on Sunday but also on Monday. There is little or no precedent for hosting a professional golf tournament because players are concerned about their wrist getting stuck or stinging.

But Kessler said that from what he gathered, the conditions in Orlando were highly unusual. “Hand in hand, based on the information I had available when the call had to be made, I was very concerned about the potential for player injuries,” he told GOLF. “Especially in week one of the season, I think this is something that needs to be taken very seriously, and we have taken it very seriously.”

So serious that Kessler made the decision to declare himself champion after the third round. When the dust (frost?) settled, Nelly Korda, who had shot an astonishing eight-under 63 in windy and cold conditions on Saturday, was declared the winner by three.

After earning her first win since November 2024 and her 16th LPGA title overall, Korda sounded largely supportive of the LPGA’s decision to shorten the event, saying, “At the end of the day, what we have at stake versus what the celebrities have at stake is a little bit different. I think the LPGA made the decision to take care of their players, and ultimately there’s nothing we can do about that.”

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However, another question loomed: Why not complete the tournament on Monday, as is customary on the PGA Tour, when an event cannot be completed on Sunday?

“We weren’t fully prepared,” Kessler said.

Did you worry about what exactly that meant, i.e. not being prepared in terms of on-site logistics? Necessary support teams? Broadcasting needs? – the commissioner said, “It’s the whole nine yards. Think of the complexity of organizing a golf tournament. You have sponsored considerations, player considerations, fan considerations, volunteer considerations, people who actually show up to make the tournament come to life.”

The LPGA Tour’s last Monday finish happened to take place at the Tournament of Champions, in 2020, but that round included just two players — Gaby Lopez and Nasa Hataoka — who were still deadlocked after five playoff holes Sunday, forcing the players to return to the course Monday morning. Logistically, there is of course a big difference when it comes to two players playing a few extra holes versus 39 players returning to the host location to play a full round. Whatever the reason for the LPGA’s inability to extend into Monday, the tour was not equipped for a fifth day of competition.

“In retrospect, I wish we had spent a little more time thinking about solutions that would have closed all 72 holes,” Kessler continued. “I’m not sure if it makes sense to go back and re-examine all the details, but what I do know is that going forward we will work very hard to ensure that if we are ever in a position like this again, we are ready to get to work on those creative solutions.”

Kessler declined to say what those solutions might be, but aside from being better prepared moving into Monday, that could presumably mean that, in the event of an ominous Sunday forecast, more golf would be scheduled for Saturday. Kessler said he has no regrets about shortening the tournament, but in his memo to players he did acknowledge that “this decision, and others we made in real time, were confusing and disappointing for our fans. And our communication around the decision was not clear or timely enough. Your frustration is justified – I realize that, and I am sorry.”

When asked what, in retrospect, he would have done differently, Kessler said: “I think there are two main themes. The first is preparation: making sure we are ready for plans A, B and C, and we have thought through all the logistics from start to finish so that if we are faced with exceptional circumstances, we are ready to go. The second is communication and making sure that when we communicate with the people who matter most, our fans, our players, the media, our partners, we use clear language communicate.” English, so people read our statements and understand exactly what we decided and why we made that decision.”

Kessler is given a minute to process his lessons. The next LPGA event, in Thailand, doesn’t start until February 18. That tournament kicks off a three-week swing in Asia before the tour returns to the U.S. in mid-March.

“I know I made a tough decision from a very good position,” Kessler said. “I realized that there have been consequences and that there are people who are angry about the decision that I made. At the same time, I’m just really proud of what we’ve done, the momentum that we’ve created and the culture that we’re starting to create here with our team. I really hope that we can get back to that as soon as possible.”