[jwplayer qFYWf5vB-9JtFt04J]
Covering golf, at every level and on every tour, in 2020 was unlike anything our writers have experienced. Through the end of the year, our staff is looking back on what will forever stand out from the season of COVID – a season during which every aspect of the game we love was impacted by a global pandemic. Read the whole series here.
The first day back after the LPGA’s 166-day break from tournament golf, my head swiveled back ’round to the 10th tee at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, after spotting Sophia Popov carrying Anne van Dam’s staff bag. Popov had been lighting it up on the Cactus Tour, a women’s mini tour in Arizona which never stopped throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. I made a mental note. Times were tough for everyone, but especially for those who had lost their LPGA cards.
The next week, still in Toledo, it was the sleek, minimalist pull cart van Dam sported at the Marathon Classic that caught my eye. The story got even better when I discovered that it was actually Popov’s high-end pull cart, and that she was using it for the afternoon wave.
Two players, one pull cart.
A fun sidebar to the story of Danielle Kang sweeping the first two events back.
Popov was a Symetra Tour player who got into the Marathon Classic because the LPGA couldn’t fill the field. The Marathon also happens to be a qualifier for the AIG Women’s British Open, and by now, if you’ve paid any attention to women’s golf at all this year, you know how this story ends.
Popov, the 304th-ranked player in the world with no LPGA status, won the first women’s major ever held at Royal Troon. It was precisely the kind of hope-filled, against-all-odds story we all needed. One that inspired countless players whose dreams had been delayed that they too could pull a Popov.
“I almost quit playing last year,” said Popov. “Thank God I didn’t.”
It’s still quite stunning that the LPGA bravely took its tour bubble overseas for a two-week stint in Scotland after only a fortnight of testing its pandemic procedures in northern Ohio.
But it proved a raging success, much like the remainder of the year, when it comes to what matters most: health and opportunity.
LPGA commissioner Mike Whan found himself complaining about something to his wife, Meg, during the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, and she quickly shut it down.
Mike, stop it. You didn’t lose a single employee in 2020; you didn’t have one hospitalized player, staff member, volunteer, local official; and you didn’t leave one venue in a worse situation than before you got there.
Bold it, shout it, repeat it. The 2020 LPGA season was an absolute triumph.
The tour faced $3.5 million in unplanned expenses, but Whan had the tour financially prepared for such a crisis with a robust rainy-day fund. There were 7,200 COVID-19 tests given since late July and a total of 42 came back positive, with only 15 coming from tournament sites (and some of those were later found to be false-positives).
There were 18 tournaments staged, including four majors, and every sponsor that didn’t hold an event in 2020 is coming back next year.
Even more impressive, the 2021 schedule will consist of 34 official events and a record $76.45 million in official purses. (And that number is expected to rise.)
“I think a lot of us thought the year might get scratched,” said Sarah Schmelzel.
That was the greatest fear.
Then the fears morphed into test anxiety, getting stranded overseas and testing positive at the majors, which Charley Hull, Andrea Lee and Charlotte Thomas know all about.
Mel Reid got fined for celebrating her maiden LPGA victory at a restaurant, even though it was a private party with her partner and caddie. The LPGA became a take-out tour, and while players were happy to stay safe, the lack of host-housing and social dinners took its toll.
“It really heightened the sense of loneliness out here,” said Schmelzel, “where you’re just in a hotel eating take-out every night. It makes you feel even more separated from home than usual.”
And yet, every hardship was met with an even bigger dose of gratefulness. For the safe flights, the committed volunteers, the loyal check-writers and the fans (television viewership up 30 percent!).
There was much to celebrate: PGA Tour players engaged in an unprecedented #womenworthwatching campaign during the U.S. Women’s Open that hopefully yields more long-term allies. A Lim Kim birdied the last three holes at Champions Golf Club to author one of the greatest finishes in major-championship history. Mirim Lee chipped in a mind-blowing three times to take the ANA Inspiration. (We won’t talk about the blue wall here or Popov’s controversial absence.) Cristie Kerr became the third player to cross the $20 million mark in career earnings, joining Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb.
Powerful stories.
Inspirational performances.
Unforgettable moments.#WomenWorthWatching— USGA (@USGA) December 10, 2020
And in the final event of the year, the top two players in women’s golf split the money and the hardware. Sei Young Kim took Rolex Player of Year honors; world No. 1 Jin Young Ko won the CME and the money title after only four starts, and went off to pick out furniture for the house she’s looking to buy in Frisco, Texas.
The LPGA staged 14 events during a global pandemic across nine states and Scotland, putting that first Drive On tournament together in only six weeks.
Take a bow, Mike Whan and team. Not the 70th anniversary season anyone had planned but, fittingly, a Founders-like example of what it means to be tough.
[lawrence-related id=778081099,778081000,778080748]