“It’s going to be a long day.” These were Nelly Korda‘s words when asked what she told herself to be mentally prepared at the 2025 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. And not just her, but other players, including Charley Hull, described this week as “pretty crazy.” After all, the major championship was played for the first time on Fields Ranch East. And what we witnessed was pure magic!

We saw one of the highest scoring averages at 76.012 on the second day.  And while the weather conditions made the course much more difficult this week, players faced another issue that left them fuming. So, what is it?

Lexi Thompson weighs in

Minjee Lee‘s 4-under victory is not the score we usually see in major championships, which can go as low as 10-under. But the most surprising fact this week was that there were only 3 players who finished under par after four rounds. The rest 75 players, including Nelly Korda, carded over par rounds overall. Many critics initially thought these scores were a result of the ridiculous 6-hour rounds for each group. But that was hardly the case. Stacy Lewis and Mel Reid boldly pointed fingers at the PGA officials for a disastrous course setup.

Speaking to the Golf Channel just a few hours before the final round concluded, “I mean you can look at it as slow play or setup. In my opinion, I think it is set up,” Mel Reid confessed. She even added that the ridiculous pin positions could barely allow the players to attack the pins. Lexi Thompson, too, hinted at the week being one of the most “stressful” tournaments when she put up a post thanking her sponsors.

“Thank you to all the sponsors, volunteers and fans for making the @kpmgwomenspga possible this week in the heat and wind 🥵 safe to say that was one of the more stressful/challenging weeks on the golf course 😂 one more week on the road then home 👏🏼.” Lexi Thompson finished tied 12th at Fields Ranch East this week, despite having the clubhouse lead after the second day. While she did not directly mention anything related to the course setup, her statement is clear that it was more than just the weather that made it challenging.

On the other hand, Mel Reid highlighted an eye-opening fact when she discussed the setup. She said that based on statistics, women should ideally be playing courses that are 1100 yards shorter than men. But in reality, the difference is only 200 yards. This week at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the women played at 6,552 yards. However, the men at the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands played 6,796 yards. That’s just a 240-yard difference.

Even other players agreed with Reid’s observation. “The @PGA set the golf course up to make us look silly and incapable the majority of the time there. Six-hour rounds in brutally windy conditions with pin placements that were mostly inaccessible,” said major champion Sophia Popov. 

While Nelly Korda felt the pace of play was ridiculous, she also blamed the setup for it. “The hole locations are kind of in almost impossible positions, where not many people are hitting the greens, so obviously it’s going to take a lot more time,” she said. She even stated that a 2-ball took nearly 6 hours to finish. But…

Where it all began

Lexi Thompson was in the soup at the start of the week when critics posted that the last few groups took nearly six hours each to complete their rounds. This came in just a few weeks after her controversy in the U.S. Women’s Open earlier this year. Charley Hull, who was paired with Thompson, sparked a frenzy when she was spotted sitting on a tee box waiting for Thompson to finish her previous hole. While it was all cleared out, LPGA players were in trouble again this week.

Initially, when the news of slow play broke out, Hull was one of the first few to comment. “I really don’t know. I think it’s hard this week because…it’s quite a big field…don’t know, cut the field sizes, but the golf courses are hard, so it’s a hard one, really,” Hull expressed after the first round. And this came as a shock to may, given Hull’s bold suggestions in the past to curb slow play.

But it was not so simple. Seeing the same pace of play each day, everyone eventually realized it was the course setup at fault. Stacy Lewis made the observation when she saw players waiting 25 minutes on a par-3, 8th hole. The hole location was so absurd that less than 20 percent of the players could hit the green from 157 yards on the first day!