Nelly Korda's latest win came with a cancellation, and now a letter is taking centre stage.

Korda became the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions' winner after the officials cancelled the final round, shortening the event to 54 holes. Players and fans criticized the move, and this has prompted the LPGA Tour commissioner Craig Kessler to address the golfers through a letter. 

The criticism stemmed from the fact that the tour waited till 2:15 pm ET to send the golfers, while the celebrities had been playing for hours at the course. Additionally, the event could have been extended to Monday. 

“We were not prepared fully for Monday,” Kessler told Golfweek. “In hindsight, if we can do it over again, there are a number of creative solutions that absolutely could have worked. We should have explored those and been more prepared. We weren't.” 

In the memo sent to the athletes, Kessler claimed that he was worried about the athletes getting injured due to the record overnight low temperatures that hardened the course at Lake Nona. Despite the availability of other ways to manage the situation, Kessler had to make a judgment call. 

He stated, “I recognize this decision, and others we made in real time, were confusing and disappointing to our fans. And our communication around the decision wasn’t clear or timely enough. Your frustration is valid – I own that, and I’m sorry.”

But with that apology came a couple of measures to ensure that the LPGA Tour improves in the near future. 

The LPGA Tour is taking 2 steps to ensure a similar event doesn’t happen

The LPGA Tour commissioner addressed the situation and said the organization would take concrete steps to prevent similar issues going forward. These include “establishing clearer principles for play decisions in challenging situations, including strengthening weekly contingency planning,” and “communicating faster, more clearly, and with better real-time information.”

Kessler further stated, “We won’t be perfect, but we will be accountable, learn quickly, and keep earning your trust.”

The short event at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club certainly posed as a learning curve for both golfers and administrators at the LPGA Tour.

Do you think Kessler did the right thing by announcing Nelly Korda as the winner of the HGV Tournament of Champions?

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Written by

Krushna Pattnaik

Edited by

Oajaswini Prabhu