NAPLES, Fla. – There will be no split tees for the final round of the CME Group Tour Championship on Sunday. No threesomes. The LPGA season finale will instead have the look and feel of a big tournament with all 60 players going off in twosomes from the first hole at Tiburon Golf Club beginning at 6:50 a.m. E.T.
Players have been grouped in threesomes for the final round off the first and 10th tees at the CME going all the way back to 2016 (as far back as LPGA records are kept). With television coverage ending at 4 p.m. E.T. on NBC, the field played too slow to go off in twosomes from the first hole.
The move comes after the LPGA implemented a new pace-of-play policy in 2025. It also helps, of course, that Mother Nature has gifted the south Florida event with superb weather.
“I think it's improved a lot,” said Nelly Korda of the pace, adding, “You can't be too greedy and expect to snap your fingers and everything will be 100 percent.
“As long as we're making improvements, which I will always be very honest in that department because I'm a fast player and there is nothing more I hate than slow play, so I would say that it has gotten faster.”
LPGA player president Vicki Goetze-Ackerman told Golfweek last week at The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican that the number of timed holes have dropped about 40 percent since last year.
“The significance of that is meaning that we're having a better pace, better flow in our round,” said Goetze-Ackerman. “Also, a big number is that the player that had the most holes timed was 88 last year. They're at 43 right now … . I mean, people are actually making an effort.”
Pace of play has long been an issue on the LPGA, but it reached a pinnacle last year at The Annika, when they missed the TV window by nearly an hour on Saturday. For two rounds, play spilled over into the next day without an interruption in play.
The tour cut the field for the Annika from 120 to 108 in 2025.
In 2025, the tour’s new Pace of Play Policy included the addition of a one-shot penalty. The new policy gives a fine for those who are 1-5 seconds over, a one-stroke penalty for those 6–15 seconds over and a two-stroke penalty for more than 16 seconds.
This year, five players have been fined (those names have not been made public) and three players have received one-stroke penalties: Hira Naveed, T-Mobile Match Play; Jiwon Jeon, Meijer LPGA Classic; Ina Yoon, Maybank Championship.
There have also been a pair of two-stroke penalties: Yan Liu, Amundi Evian Championship; Chisato Iwai, Black Desert Championship.
So far, Goetze-Ackerman said the tour has missed only one TV window in 2025. As much as she would’ve liked to see Pace of Play improve to this extent years ago, she believes the membership wasn’t ready for it. The slow play committee will gather together in December to see what needs to be done next.
“I'm super pleased with year one,” said Goetze-Ackerman. “I'm pleased with the buy-in. I'm pleased with the understanding of the value and importance of it.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Improved pace of play means no more split tees, threesomes at LPGA finale
