LPGA releases statement with context on decision to cut down to 54 hole event in Florida

The LPGA Tour has provided additional context.

On Sunday the Tour made the decision to cut this week’s Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions to 54 holes given the frigid conditions in Florida. The only golf played by Tour players, celebrities are a part of the event, on Sunday came from those finishing their third round of play. Nelly Korda wound up the winner.

That is a compact version of the story that had a lot of details to it. While it was certainly cold in Florida there was widespread confusion as to why the LPGA Tour did not pursue, or at least seemed to not do so thoroughly, another option over the one they chose. Late Sunday evening they released a statement that explained their decision.

This statement came several hours after the initial decision to cut the event down and in the time since many across golf have been questioning the LPGA’s decision through the whole process. No one is denying that it was cold out, but that any golf took place makes it questionable as to why all of it did not.

The Tour notes in their statement that the cold made for arguably unfair playing conditions for the entire field, but that is sort of golf in a nutshell sometimes. Even taking that as a point, the statement doesn’t address why the event couldn’t have been finished on Monday or Tuesday, especially given that the LPGA Tour has the next couple of weeks off.

Whatever the case may be… this is how the LPGA has chosen to handle it.