LPGA announced a new game rhythm policy on Thursday, which includes a low timing threshold for fines and fines, including a new free throw against golfers, which took them a long time to hit the shot.
The Tour said the new policy aims to speed up competitions on the Women’s Professional Tour and will take effect at the Ford Championship on March 27. It will also be executed on the Epson Tour starting with the IOA Championship on April 25.
The new policy requires any golfer who has allocated time in the hole to be fined, with the 6 to 15 second fine hit, and the 16 or more fine is two points.
Previously, LPGA fined golfers for 1 to 10 seconds in allocated time and evaluated the two-stroke fines for those over 11 seconds.
LPGA Player President Vicki Goetze-Ackerman said in a statement. “Based on data-supported approaches and direct player input, the policy now serves as a stronger deterrent, ensuring players take warnings seriously before they are necessary.
“Our overall intention is to increase the pace of the tour, and these updates mark an important step in creating a more efficient and fun competitive environment that benefits our members and fans.”
LPGA golfers were informed of the new policy last week at the Founders’ Cup meeting in Bradenton, Florida.
The LPGA said that the golfer ranked first in 4 and 5, and the 5 will no longer be given 10 seconds, except for the accessible 4. The golfer ranked first in 3-3, close-ups and putts. For example, players get 120 seconds of match to hit a hole, which requires them to make four shots.
Warnings and timing will still be continued until fines and stroke penalties are imposed. The tour said that fines and excessive shooting time arising from accumulation of accumulated time will violate the policy for one year in a row.
“I’m very excited about it,” said Nelly Korda, the world’s No. 1, said last week. “I think that’s one of the things I just noticed on the tour, we used to go from five hours, less than five hours, and now you only have five and a half hours, usually our rounds.
“So I think implementing stricter rules would be good for golf games. They said at the end of the day, we are a form of entertainment. If we were to spend a long time, I mean, it wasn’t fun.”
According to Golfweek, in the Founders Cup, the median time of one-third of the first and second rounds was 4 hours, 31 minutes, 4 hours and 23 minutes, respectively. The average last round on Sunday is 3 hours and 48 minutes.
