Nelly Korda praises pace-of-play at LPGA Founders after new penalty system was announced

When it comes to speed, the LPGA got off to a strong start at the LPGA Founders Cup. While the tour’s new pace-of-play policy doesn’t go into effect until late March, players made good time at Bradenton Country Club.

“There was not one round that we sniffed 4:45,” said the uber-quick Nelly Korda. “It was very nice.”

Indeed, the median time for threesomes in Rounds 1 and 2 in sunny Florida was 4 hours, 31 minutes on Thursday and 4 hours, 23 minutes on Friday.

For Sunday’s final round of twosomes, the tour played in a median time of 3 hours and 48 minutes.

“I just think everybody knows that we need to play faster,” said Stacy Lewis, who was on the small committee that helped shape the changes.

It helped, of course, that the weather was nice and the Donald Ross design is an easy walk from green to tee. It’s also one of the tour’s smaller full-field events, with 120 players, due to daylight.

Last November, slow play became a hot topic once again after the tour missed its TV window at The Annika by 51 minutes on Saturday with two of the fastest players in the game – Charley Hull and Nelly Korda – in the last group.

Hull blasted the pace of 5 hours and 28 minutes, saying players should lose their cards for repeat offenses. While that didn’t exactly happen, the incident did spur the tour into action. A committee was formed during the offseason and changes were put in place for 2025.