It’s not every day that athletes dip below 60 on the golf course. But that almost happened at the Ford Championship with Lydia Ko taking charge. She shot a 12-under 60 in the first round to get the lead. And the golf community wasn’t happy as the LPGA failed to capitalize on it.

Beth Ann Nichols wrote, “The Tour’s first mention of Ko on X came after her round. They posted a scorecard that required a magnifying glass to see that she’d shot 60. Two hours later, there’s one video clip of Ko’s putt missing on the seventh, and that’s it as far as action from the day. No video clips from her presser. A total of three tweets and one Instagram post. It has to get better and not by inches … by miles.”

For the unaware, Ko was 10-under through 15 holes at the $2,250,000 event. If she birdied the last three, she would have become the second player in the history of the tour to shoot a 59. Annika Sorenstam was the last one to shoot a round of 59, and that was about 25 years ago. For Ko, there was suspense surrounding her game on the back nine. Yet, the Tour provided no update. That didn’t sit well with many.

Nichols continued, “The LPGA was not on TV at the time and was not streaming. The tour did nothing to let fans know this was going on. Didn’t post on X. Didn’t send a scoring link or a photo… There was no lead-up to what could’ve been a historic day on the LPGA. No building of suspense.”

The score wasn’t the only missed capitalization opportunity for the LPGA Tour at the $2.2M event. Lydia Ko made her start at the 10th and made four back-to-back birdies. That’s something even Ko can’t remember ever achieving before.

“I don’t think I’ve ever actually started a round with four birdies, so it was nice to take advantage of the good start and continue that on my back nine,” the 28-year-old said after her round at Whirlwind Golf Club.

Nevertheless, Chad Coleman, the LPGA Tour’s chief marketing officer, took note of Nichols’ take and promised to get better. He further commented about a few changes that the league is about to incorporate in the 2026 season. The list includes streaming every round of every tournament on linear TV, using 50% more cameras with drone shots, four times the amount of shot tracers, better storytelling for the players, and StrackaLine laser-scanned green slope graphics.

However, the fans were already upset with how things turned out for Ko.

Fans are disappointed as Lydia Ko narrowly misses a record-breaking chance

Many fans even expected the broadcast to be better after the LPGA Tour’s deal with FM, Trackman, and Golf Channel. But the lack of coverage left one fan comparing the Tour with the PGA Tour’s coverage.

“The LPGA coverage is so abysmal. For example, the television coverage for each round this week is 2 hours. What are you supposed to do with 2 hours? It’s like that every tournament. Conversely, the PGA Tour runs content 12 hours a day (ESPN+, GC, NBC/CBS),” wrote a fan.

Instead of putting the rising stars and Hall of Famers under the spotlight, the LPGA Tour seems to follow mainly one player—Nelly Korda. A fan weighed in on the issue, and suggested others need to be covered, too.

“Agree! The LPGA has so much potential as a market, and its minimal coverage is very sad to me as a fan. Lydia is a person who needs to be featured more too (Brooke Henderson and others too) because she’s such an accomplished player and one of the great swings to watch in all of golf.”

The fans were already debating about the LPGA Tour’s lack of streaming options. Even though every single one of Ko’s shots was in her coverage window, the fans were deprived of the visuals from the Whirlwind Golf Club.

One fan reflected on this and wrote, “The next 59 on the LPGA will come. It almost happened today from active Hall of Famer Lydia Ko. Not a shot of her round was in the coverage window. No streaming option either. This is Exhibit A of why the next media rights deal is so critical. Can’t grow if you can’t watch.”

“My goodness. We often put a 🚨 59 Watch on college golf when a player is on a heater!” wrote one fan.

Another claimed, “Almost no other organization gets in the way of their own success better than the LPGA.”

But what hit the worst was the fact that even LPGA Tour’s social media profiles hadn’t acknowledged Ko’s feat properly. There are just four total posts (three on X and one on Instagram) by the tour’s official accounts on all platforms.

A few others noticed the possible lack of manpower at the LPGA Tour’s office. Why else would they leave out such crucial opportunities?

“Do you get the impression they’re woefully understaffed? It’s hard to understand,” they wrote.

It’s a big week for the sporting community. MLB has its Opening Day, and basketball courts are running high with March Madness. For female golf to receive attention, the Tours need something unique and special. The golfers are doing their job. Is the Tour it’s?