Craig Kessler vows improvements after shortened LPGA opener

Commissioner Craig Kessler on Tuesday acknowledged mistakes made by the LPGA Tour during its controversial, weather-shortened season opener this past weekend at Lake Nona and vowed improvements going forward.

The Tournament of Champions in Orlando, Florida, was shortened to 54 holes because of wind and cold that led officials to deem the course unsuitable for a final round. That decision was questioned by many, including players, some asking why the tour didn’t instead opt to play the final round Monday, when temperatures and wind conditions were expected to improve.

Kessler, in comments made to Golfweek on Tuesday, said the tour wasn’t ready to do that.

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“We were not prepared fully for Monday,” he told the outlet. “In hindsight, if we can do it over again, there are a number of creative solutions that absolutely could have worked. We should have explored those and been more prepared. We weren’t.”

The canceled Sunday finish allowed Nelly Korda to win after a Saturday round of 8-under 64. It was her first victory in 14 months.

Kessler also sent a letter to players Tuesday, explaining that course conditions were why the tour didn’t allow the final round to be contested Sunday. The LPGA previously had said that course conditions were not impacting play but that “weather conditions are the determining factor for competitive play to resume.”

“I made the decision to limit the event to 54 holes, worried that our athletes might be injured given the way record overnight low temperatures hardened the course,” he wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by multiple outlets Tuesday. “While the decision was a tough one and ran counter to prior statements we shared, I made a judgement call. With the benefit of hindsight, there were clearly other ways we should have managed the situation.”

Kessler also said the LPGA Tour will take the following steps to do better going forward, per the letter: “Establishing clearer principles for play decisions in challenging situations, including strengthening weekly contingency planning” and “communicating faster, more clearly, and with better real-time information.”

The LPGA Tour resumes play later this month at the Honda LPGA Thailand from Feb. 19-22.