LPGA Tour scraps slow-play warnings – Korda is a "big fan"

The LPGA Tour has significantly tightened its pace-of-play rules. On Tuesday evening, November 10, 2026, players received the revised pace-of-play policy, which was presented at a committee meeting in Belleair, Florida, where The ANNIKA is being held this week at the Pelican Golf Club. The new rules will take effect at the start of the 2027 season. The most significant change: warnings are a thing of the past. Anyone exceeding the time limit by one to five seconds will be fined immediately, starting at $2,000 for the first offense. In addition, there is a season-long tally: players who are clocked on 35 holes over the course of a season will be fined $35,000.

What the LPGA Tour has decided for 2027

Previously, players had a buffer. In the 2026 season, minor infractions resulted in two warnings before a $5,000 fine was issued for a third violation. Moving forward, the fine will double with each subsequent offense: $2,000 for the first, $4,000 for the second, and $8,000 for the third, each for being one to five seconds over the allowed time.

Larger infractions will result in penalty strokes. Anyone taking six to 15 seconds too long will receive a penalty stroke plus a $2,000 fine. From 16 seconds onwards, the penalty is two strokes plus a fine that increases based on the number of previous violations in the same season. The time limit for an excessively long individual shot is also being reduced from 70 to 60 seconds.

There is also a season-long ranking. The Tour tracks how many holes a player has been timed on. Reaching 35 holes results in a $35,000 fine. Each additional hole incurs further costs: $1,000 per hole between 36 and 40, $2,000 between 41 and 45, and $3,000 between 46 and 50 holes. In addition to fines, the LPGA is focusing on education through seminars and individual training. Anyone timed on 25 or more holes in 2026 must attend a mandatory pace-of-play meeting.

"Pace of play is important to our players, our fans, and our partners," the LPGA stated.

Nelly Korda and Charley Hull don't want five-hour rounds anymore

The Tour is receiving backing from its biggest names. Nelly Korda, who is returning to the Tour in Belleair after a two-month break, was clear before the start of The ANNIKA. "I'm a big fan," the world number one said of the new policy. "Nobody wants to be out here for five hours or more. No player wants that. Nobody wants to watch that."

You can follow Nelly Korda live at THE ANNIKA on the LPGA Tour here.

Charley Hull had been even more explicit. The 30-year-old Englishwoman, ranked eighth in the world, called in October for actual suspensions for slow players. "I think you should be suspended from the Tour for a year – or start with a three-month suspension," Hull said in an interview with Golfweek published on October 18. Her reasoning: "If the penalty is strict enough, you won't play slowly anymore." Hull also suggested fields of 100 players, a cut to 50–55 players, and two-balls on the weekend. At the press conference in Belleair on Wednesday, she was optimistic: "Hopefully we can play in four hours now."

Just how serious the situation on the course had become was evident a few weeks earlier. At the Buick LPGA Shanghai on October 17, Carlota Ciganda and Yealimi Noh were each assessed two penalty strokes for slow play during the third round.

Why the 2025 rules weren't enough

The LPGA had already introduced stricter guidelines in 2025. However, according to the Tour, the initial improvement stalled. Their own analysis is sobering: the median time for three-balls remained unchanged over nine tournaments, while two-balls became about seven minutes slower, recently taking 4:02 hours. The number of timed holes increased by twelve percent over 15 tournaments.

"The data has shown us that we are moving in the wrong direction," wrote Vicki Goetz-Ackerman, LPGA President of Players, in a memo to players and caddies.

The debate did not begin this season. Back in 2024, the final round between Hull and Korda at The ANNIKA already took more than five hours. Hull suggested afterwards that players should lose their tour card after three timing violations. Korda said at the time, according to Sports Illustrated: "The players just need to be penalized." Two years later, the tour is now taking action with higher fines, earlier penalty strokes, and a shorter shot clock. For an overview of the tournament in Belleair and Korda's current standing, see our Preview of The ANNIKA 2026; her season is also fittingly capped off by the award for LPGA Player of the Year 2026.

When the new penalties take effect

The current rules will remain in place for the rest of the 2026 season. The ANNIKA is the penultimate tournament of the year, followed by the season finale, the CME Group Tour Championship. The stricter pace-of-play policy will take effect with the first tournament of the 2027 season—with no warnings, starting from the very first second over the limit.