LPGA refuses to budge on Sophia Popov's exemption

According to LPGA Tour commissioner, Mike Whan, it will not be fair to change the regulations mid-season and extend Sophia Popov’s exemption for winning the AIG Women’s Open. She was world number 304 at the time.

Popov (27) was playing on the second tier of women’s golf on the Symetra Tour in the United States. This means her exemption will only run through to the end of the 2021 season. Whan has confirmed the LPGA Tour will not be reviewing the regulations until the end of the season.

Both Tommy Fleetwood and Ian Poulter were among those to criticise the decision

Tommy said on Twitter “As golfers we all dream of being a major champion. Sophia Popov, congratulations on such a special achievement!! LPGA rule is stupid to say the least. The way you’re playing though you won’t have to worry about it.”

Ian Poulter, also on Twitter, said “this story is absolutely embarrassing to the LPGA and quite frankly to the game of golf. Somebody wake up and figure this out. To the best story in golf for a very long time to the worst story in a few days.”

In a video on various LPGA social media channels, Whan said “You may not like the regulation and I’ll be the first to admit I’m going to think about that in the off-season, which is when we reassess all of our regulations. And maybe we should feel differently about somebody from the Symetra Tour or the LET because it comes from an LPGA-run Tour, maybe we should feel differently about non-member wins at majors period, and I’ll definitely look at that.

“What I won’t do is change a regulation in the middle of the season; what I won’t do is change a regulation the Monday after an emotional win; what I won’t do is try to explain why I did that this year and I didn’t do it last year.

"I'm pretty sure that's the same as the Masters, which means they set their field and now if you win on the PGA Tour, you're probably qualifying for the 2021 Masters rather than the November 2020 Masters. We've done that in the similar way," Whan concluded.

Popov is currently ineligible for the next month’s ANA Inspiration – the latest women’s major – and the US Women’s Open in December due to the fields being set before her Women’s Open win.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/34KlMAJ