The LPGA Pelican Women’s Championship concluded at the Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida on Sunday. The tournament was the penultimate event before the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, and Nelly Korda emerged victorious after a four-way playoff at the death. But not everyone was impressed with the proceedings in the final round.
The final round at Pelican Golf Club went ahead with every player feeling the nerves. Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson were in the final pairing, and the leaders lost their step as the day drew to a conclusion.
Korda triple-bogeyed the 17th, while Thompson made back-to-back bogeys on the final two holes of the day. But that wasn’t the problem for the general public. What disturbed them was the fact that the final round coverage was not as extensive as it should have been.
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The final round went beyond regulation and evolved into a four-way playoff between Korda, Thompson, Lydia Ko, and Sei Young Kim. While all this happened at the Pelican Golf Club, fans back home did not get a good piece of the action.
LPGA Players and media personnel reacted to the coverage snub
43-year-old Angela Stanford was one of the first people to blow the whistle on social media about the quality of tournament coverage. While Stanford was expecting to watch the Pelican Championship playoff on her television, all that was streamed was Sunday Night football.
@lpga 4 way playoff w #1 in the world, soon to be Vare trophy winner, bad ass @lexi, and defending champ, and……
Guess I’ll just keep watching football 🤷🏼♀️ and catch the tape delay. #wow https://t.co/UFieFBhuTm— Angela Stanford (@Angela_Stanford) November 14, 2021
Stanford made an Instagram post and a tweet showcasing her frustration, and she was joined by others too. Fellow LPGA Tour pro Brittany Lincicome joined in and expressed that the golfers deserved better.
🙄. So bad. We deserve better https://t.co/wcQgXb3eVn
— Brittany Lincicome (@Brittany1golf) November 15, 2021
Senior Golfweek writer Beth Ann Nichols was not too pleased with the fact that the live stream for the coverage was down during an important moment in the tournament.
Important LPGA moments we couldn't watch live on TV this year:
– Michelle Wie West's first rd back after maternity leave
– Annika Sorenstam's first rd on the LPGA since 2008
– Lexi Thompson & Nelly Korda going head-to-head at Pelican(And apparently the live stream is down!)
— Beth Ann Nichols (@GolfweekNichols) November 14, 2021
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Fans express outrage on Twitter
Following these tweets by prominent personalities, a lot of Twitter users chimed in with their comments. Everyone voiced out in support of the LPGA players and how they deserve better coverage that was provided to them.
I tried on several occasions throughout the day to watch the Peacock live stream. Complete bust. Way to go, @NBCSports
— Dave 🇺🇸 (@CountDownDave) November 15, 2021
So wrong on so many Levels in 2021. Time for Change!#Diversity#Equality #LPGA#PGA#TV
— Brian Kiely #Cork4Zero #BeaZeroHero #WeCanBeZero (@BrianKiely2) November 14, 2021
The golf channel announced the results before they aired the tape delayed broadcast. Are they trying to drive down the ratings for womens golf?
New motto for the golf channel “I’m the Golf Channel and I drive down”
— Jim purtell (@Jpurtell1) November 15, 2021
It's ridiculous how women's golf is disrespected
— justtweeting☕ (@skirow62) November 14, 2021
Needs an Arnold Palmer business sense and attitude. Someone needs to step up and take to another level.
— John Interval (@JohnInt) November 14, 2021
Isn’t it about time a major network start showing the LPGA?
— Larry Schmidt (@LarrySc74325815) November 14, 2021
Yes really stinks. How do you grow with such poor live coverage. And the broadcast team is top notch – so frustrating to miss it.
— Sue B (@sewerb) November 14, 2021
TV coverage is absolutely shocking. Embarrassing
— stephenmather (@stephenmathersm) November 14, 2021
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A real shame in this day and age of technology….
— TheAlfyGeeee (@Garner45550181) November 14, 2021
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In the end, Korda kept her cool to triumph in the playoff. She birdied the 18th on the second playoff hole to take home the win and moved one step closer to being named LPGA Tour player of the year.
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