Mistakes from the administration can create ripples in the careers of the golfers. That’s what came through on the LPGA Tour with Sophia Popov‘s return. After being away from golf due to medical and maternity leave, and struggling with her form, Popov wasn’t eligible for a few tournaments. But due to a clerical error, she was placed 57th in the 2025 Priority List.

So, Popov qualified and competed in three events—Founders Cup USA, Honda LPGA Thailand, and HSBC Women’s World Championship Singapore. None of which she was actually eligible to play. The latter two, being no-cut events, guaranteed CME points and prize money regardless of performance. That earned Popov points she didn’t deserve. When the league realized its mistake in March, it removed the CME points, earnings, and Aon Risk Reward Challenge points Popov earned from those events.

However, three players who should’ve played those events instead of Popov didn’t get the chance. Those were Saki Baba (Founders Cup), Hira Naveed (Thailand LPGA), and Somi Lee (HSBC). That raised eyebrows of many fans, urging the league to make amends. As a result, the Tour administration decided to increase the field size of the upcoming Buick LPGA Shanghai by one. In a statement to Golfweek, the Tour shared: “To minimize disruption, the field size of the Buick LPGA Shanghai will be increased by one so that no member presently eligible for the Buick LPGA Shanghai will be impacted.”

This means the league will be providing a special exemption at the Buick LPGA Shanghai to one of those competitors, increasing the field to 82 players instead. Since Baba and Lee already have a strong status for the 2025 season, that exemption was provided to Hira Naveed. Given this is a no-cut event, it provides Naveed with the opportunity to earn essential CME points and boost her rankings from her current 110th.

Interestingly, Popov doesn’t have to return the checks she already collected; the earnings would not be counted for her yearly stats. Regardless, the entire fiasco made the 2020 AIG Women’s Open winner question the league’s transparency and its administration process. Despite asking the league to double-check the rankings, Popov still had to face the hurdle. “Even though I believe the right decisions were made, it is very frustrating that this error occurred after I specifically reached out to clarify my status situation. It is very unfortunate for me and the girls that didn’t get into these events and missed out on guaranteed points in Asia,” Popov remarked.

It does raise bigger questions about the administration’s fairness, accountability, and damage control. With no-cut events, it can significantly influence the trajectory of a struggling player. However, the league stripped Naveed of early chances to bounce back. Although it made up for its mistake, the league negatively impacted Popov’s mental fabric. Not only was it frustrating, but it also acted as a fictitious ray of hope in her already difficult season. But this is not the first time the tour’s blunders have raised controversy.

Lexi Thompson’s 2017 ANA Inspiration tragedy

The LPGA pro, Lexi Thompson, held a 2-stroke lead through 12 holes of the final round. However, that lead vanished with a rule breach no one saw coming. Apparently, Thompson marked, lifted, and misplaced the ball on the 17th green by a slight error margin. She played the ball from the wrong spot, but none of the administrators noticed or stopped the motion. That was a clear breach of Rule 16-1b. Unaware of the mistake, Thompson signed her scorecard at the end of the day without accounting for the 2-stroke penalty. This was yet another breach of Rule 6-6d. However, it didn’t go unnoticed for long.

One television viewer emailed the LPGA with the video evidence about Thompson’s blunder. That prompted the league to quickly add the 4-stroke penalty to Thompson’s score. That brought her two strokes behind the lead, losing in a playoff to Ryu So-yeon. This brought the LPGA Tour pro to tears. The incident sparked debates over “trial by television” and whether outside viewers should affect outcomes. Critics questioned the fairness of the system. The LPGA admitted its fault in the entire fiasco, adding, “This was obviously a highly unfortunate situation which Lexi handled with poise and professionalism.”

Later, the USGA and R&A updated the rules so that if a player makes a reasonable estimate or measurement during play, they won’t get a penalty. This prevents minor, unintentional errors from deciding tournaments. Incidents like this show how small administrative errors can drastically impact players, careers, and tournament outcomes.