The LPGA made a mistake. Her boss owned her. But the questions persist

Craig Kessler, in his still-new role as LPGA commissioner, has already directed some big and impactful decisions for his tour: brokering a new broadcast deal; creating partnerships that will put more money in the pockets of his players; setting the LPGA adjacent to Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s domestic golf league, 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) on him. Complicating matters further: Kessler was not on site at Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions on Lake Nona in Orlando—he was 1,000 miles away, at his home in Dallas, frantically trying to keep up with reports from the ground. “On the phone, reading material from sunup to sundown,” Kessler told GOLF.com in an interview Tuesday. “Constantly trying to get as much information as possible to make an informed decision.”

That information — about evolving course conditions, unseasonably cold weather and logistical concerns about pushing the event to a Monday finish — came from a variety of sources: Kessler’s deputies, tournament and rules officials, players and teams, the grounds crew, even marketing partners. But ultimately, the decision whether to shorten the event to 54 holes and declare the No. World No. 2 Nelly Korda winning without hitting a single shot on Sunday sat on Kessler’s lap.

“One of the toughest calls I’ve had to make in my six months with the LPGA,” he said. “No matter what we decided, there would be some who understood and respected it, and others who didn’t. The question was there from the beginning.”

“>

***

This second assumption centered around whether Tom Fazio-designed course, which woke up to sub-zero temperatures on Sunday morning could be played for such a high-level tournament – or, more likely, if it would Behe playable as the day wore on and the mercury crept from the 20s to the 40s. When Amy Yang, one of eight players who did not finish their third rounds on Saturday, arrived at the property on Sunday to prepare for the 10 a.m. restart of Round 3, she said the greens were “frozen” and “unplayable.”

Ricki Lasky, who is the LPGA’s chief business and tour operations office, added, “What we found was when we got on the field and talked to some of the players when they were warming up was that the field was really hard and it was changing the trajectory of their shots as they were practicing. Balls were dropping when they weren’t driven that way.”

Reasonable minds might argue that braving the elements — assuming water doesn’t pool or wind isn’t blowing balls off the greens — is essential to the game, but Laski and her team didn’t like what they saw and heard.

The start was postponed from 10 am local time to 11 am. . . then noon. . . then 1:00 p.m. . . before the LPGA was finally decided at 2:15 p.m., by which time there was not enough light left to complete both Rounds 3 and 4.

Many observers noted that the decision to push play so deep into the afternoon was curious given that the temperatures (and the golf course) were at least playable for the celebrity contingent also competing in the event; they had been sent to the course a few hours earlier, at 10:00 AM Among the participants in the celebrity division was the LPGA legend and Lake Nona resident. Annika Sorenstamwho after rallying and played nine holes on Sunday said Beth Ann Nichols to Golf week: “I don’t know why they’re not playing. There’s marks on the court. I mean, I hit some crisp 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 off for a third-round 69 that secured her runner-up honors, also described the course as “playable”. “It got a lot better,” she said. “It’s still very cold, but compared to 9 o’clock this morning when I was warming up, much better.”

However, Kessler said he had other concerns beyond just the competitive integrity of the setup — namely the danger the cold field posed to his players. That concern was not communicated to either the players or the public on Sunday, but in a memo – a mea culpa, really — that Kessler emailed to players on Tuesday revealed he was “concerned that our athletes could be injured given the way the overnight low temperatures hardened the course.” Kessler acknowledged in that note that “while the decision was harsh and contradicted previous statements we shared, I made a judgment call.”

Of course, there is precedent for calling tournaments after 54 (or even 36) holes, but that almost always 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, if any, precedent for a professional golf tournament to be called off due to concerns about players locking their wrists or catching a spike.

But Kessler said the circumstances in Orlando, from what he saw, were very unusual. “Hand on heart, based on the information I had available when the call had to be made, I had real concern about the potential for injury to the player,” he told GOLF. “Especially in the first week of the season, I think that’s something that needs to be taken very seriously, and we took it very seriously.”

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

After earning her first win since November 2024 and her 16th LPGA title overall, Korda appeared largely supportive of the LPGA’s decision to shorten the event, saying, “At the end of the day, what we have on the line versus what the celebrities have on the line is a little bit different. I think the LPGA made the decision to end their day and we can do anything to end their day.”

***

However, another question still arose: Why not finish the tournament on Monday, as is customary on the PGA Tour when an event cannot be finished on Sunday?

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

Did you commit to exactly what it meant – ie, no preparation in terms of logistics on the ground? Support teams needed? Broadcasting needs? — The commissioner said, “It’s the whole nine yards. Think about the complexity of running a golf tournament. You have sponsor considerations, player considerations, fan considerations, volunteer considerations, people who actually show up to make the tournament happen.”

Monday’s final finish on the LPGA Tour coincidentally came at the 2020 Tour of Champions, but that round featured only two players — Gaby Lopez and Nasa Hataoka — who after five playoff holes on Sunday were still deadlocked, forcing players back on the course Monday morning. Logistically, there is certainly a big difference paying attention to two players playing a few extra holes versus 39 players returning to the host site to play a full round. Whatever the reason for the LPGA’s inability to extend to Monday, the tournament was not equipped for a fifth day of competition.

“In hindsight, I wish we had spent a little more time thinking about solutions that would have allowed us to get all 72 holes in,” Kessler continued. “I’m not sure it makes sense to go back and review all the details, but what I do know is that going forward, we’re going to work like hell to make sure, if we’re in a position like this again, we’re ready to go with those creative solutions.”

Kessler declined to say what those solutions might be, but beyond being more prepared to postpone until Monday, it appears it could mean, in the case of an ominous Sunday forecast, adding more golf to Saturday. Kessler said he doesn’t regret cutting the tournament short, but in his memo to players he acknowledged that “this decision, and others we made in real time, were confusing and disappointing to our fans. And our communication about the decision was not clear or timely. Your frustration is valid — I own it and I’m sorry.”

Asked what he would have done differently, in retrospect, Kessler said: “I think there are two main themes. The first is about preparation – making sure we’re ready for plan A, B and C, and we’ve thought about all the logistics from start to finish, so that if we’re faced with extraordinary circumstances, we’re ready to go. The second is when we communicate with our fans and make sure who we are most important, communicate with our players and we make sure that we have more emphasis, our communication and our insurance to communicate with our players, our partners, we are communicating in plain English so that people can read our statements and understand exactly what we decided and why we made the decision.”

Kessler will have a minute to process his lessons. The next LPGA event, in Thailand, doesn’t start until February 18. This tour begins a three-week swing in Asia before the tour returns to the US in mid-March.

“I know I made a tough call from a really good place,” Kessler said. “I understand there have been consequences and there are some people who are upset with the decision I’ve made. At the same time, I’m deeply proud of what we’ve done and the moment we’ve created and the culture we’re starting to create with our team here. I really hope that as soon as possible we can get back to that.”