Nelly Korda praises LPGA’s new pace-of-play policy, which emphasizes penalty strokes

BRADENTON, Fla. – Nelly Korda’s initial reaction to the LPGA’s new Pace of Play Policy?

Finally.

At a player meeting on Tuesday night at the Founders Cup – the first one run by interim commissioner Liz Moore – the tour rolled out a new policy that hits players where it really hurts – strokes.

The new policy won’t take effect until next month’s Ford Championship in late March, giving players time to get used to the changes, which include shortening the amount of time given to hit a shot, plus the addition of a one-shot penalty.

In a memo sent to players, posted by @MondayQInfo, officials note that under the previous policy, 22 athletes received a fine in 2024 and nine received a two-stroke penalty.

If the new policy had been in place last year, 23 players would’ve received a one-stroke penalty and eight would’ve received a two-stroke penalty.

The tour plans to officially release the new policy next week.

“I think that’s one of the things that I’ve just noticed over my time on tour, is that we used to go from five hours, under five hours, to now you it’s just five and a half, typically,” said Korda.

“So I think that implementing harsher rules is going to be good for the game of golf. They were saying at the meeting, at the end of the day, we’re a form of entertainment. If we’re taking really long out there, I mean, that’s not entertaining.”

Two-time major champion Minjee Lee was also a fan of the changes.

“I would probably say that something had to be done at some point,” said Lee.

Former LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan called for a slow-play committee to be formed shortly after Korda and Charley Hull had to finish their Saturday round at The Annika last November in the dark. Golf Channel’s TV window was slated to end at 5 p.m. and extended to 5:51 p.m. The final group teed off at 12:13 p.m. on Saturday. That’s a snail’s pace of five hours and 38 minutes.

Not surprisingly, Hull and Korda had strong things to say about the problem. The committee, made up of players and staff, met a number of times during the offseason for sessions that lasted more than two hours.

“These players are role models,” Sorenstam told Golfweek last year at The Annika. “You see the young girls out here, they’ve got to show how to play fast if they’re going to grow this game.”

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: LPGA releases new pace-of-place policy to go into effect in March