Ever since the LPGA unveiled its 2026 schedule, it’s been the talk of the town. 33 tournaments and a Solheim Cup later in the season sounds hectic, to say the least. Sure, many would say the more opportunities, the better it is. But for top stars like Nelly Korda and Lydia Ko, the calendar leans less towards that and more towards a grind that will test their limits.

On the Monday Q Info podcast, host Ryan French hit the nail on the head when he asked LPGA star Alexa Pano about the schedule. He pointed out, like others have before, that the schedule is too “physically taxing” and that top players like Korda are “going to skip events.” And that defeats the purpose of the Tour, trying to achieve more visibility if the majority of the top women aren’t going to play that often.

Pano agreed to this wholeheartedly. After all, everyone wants fans out there, cheering them on.

“People want to see Nelly, people want to see Lydia, and with the schedule, it’s tough for them to play a jam-packed schedule. Or for anyone to play, every event all year is borderline impossible…” Pano noted on the podcast.

She praised Craig Kessler for doing the work he has in the short amount of time he’s been here. But she also pointed out that while the LPGA gets to see some new players, “you do have to have your top players having the ability to come and perform because those are the people that people want to see…” But that seems impossible with the punishing schedule.

It starts great at the beginning of the season with the Asian Swing and coming back to LA for the JM Eagle Championship. The schedule becomes particularly difficult from June, with three majors: the U.S. Women’s Open, the KPMG Women’s PGA, and the Evian Championship jammed into six packed weeks, with regular stops threaded between them.

We’re talking about three of the most important events in the season, which attract the most crowds and carry the most weight for rankings, all crammed into just six weeks. Insiders like Meg Adkins called it a major flaw in the schedule and stated that “it’s so congested…” For players like Nelly Korda and Lydia Ko, it’s a relentless stretch with little time to recover.

And recovery is a huge issue.

Nelly Korda has already complained about the physical toll of this year’s schedule and has voiced concern about the majors being bunched up next season. It’s not like players are playing the events in one region. Week in and week out, they are also traveling from one coast to the other, even if sequencing is slightly better than in past years. That leads to burnout.

Then, there’s also the Solheim Cup. Not only must players perform in each event, but they must also play to earn enough points to secure their spot on the team.  Pano’s message to Kessler was clear: that a jam-packed calendar is only impressive if the players can actually make it to the starting line.

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What the Jam-Packed 2026 LPGA Season Means for Players on the Edge

For players like Alexa Pano, the LPGA schedule won’t be just about managing fatigue. It can determine whether they even keep their Tour card.

LPGA players must earn a top-100 spot on the final CME points list by performing well in official events throughout the season to retain their card for the following season. Missing events or poor finishes can quickly push someone out of that safety zone, forcing them back into the grueling Q-Series to earn their card for the next season.

And that almost became Alexa Pano’s reality.  Heading into The Annika, Pano was precariously sitting at 100th on the CME points list. If just one player had leapfrogged her, she would have been back in the Q-Series. Instead, a T-36 finish at the event moved her up to 97th, securing her card and sparing her the pressure of qualifying. It was a small margin, but one that highlighted just how critical consistent performance and the ability to compete in events without burning out truly are.

With majors carrying 30% more value and winners racking up 500 to 650 points per event, the pressure to perform in each tournament is immense. Pano accumulated 227.298 points across 24 events, showing that every start counts. For players on the bubble, a jam-packed schedule like next season’s isn’t just exhausting, but it can define their entire season and career trajectory.