LPGA Injustice: Sophia Popov Out, Natalie Gulbis In At Tour Championship

Once again, the LPGA Tour has proven that it can be bought.

If you want to talk total injustice this week, you need look no farther than the season-ending Tour Championship.  It has left major champion Sophia Popov out and Natalie Gulbis in.

Imagine, if you can, the PGA Tour letting two undeserving players into the Tour Championship because FedEx asked for them to be included, even though they didn’t earn their spots.

There would be an uproar heard everywhere and even the Sheriff Of Nottingham (aka Tour commish Jay Monahan) is smart enough to not allow something like that to happen.

So here we are at the season-ending LPGA event.  Because of an injustice, we simply hate to even mention the name of the CME Group.  Its boss, Terry Duffy, basically told the LPGA Tour that it has to let two players in the field who didn’t earn their spots.  It’s basically a total slap upside the head to those deserving players who did it the old fashioned way — they EARNED it.

Professional golf is all about earning your way in.  Nothing given — you earn it.

In the case of Sophia Popov, the LPGA Tour isn’t letting her in this event because she was a non-member when she won the British Open in August.  If they granted her the points she would have earned, she’d be 15th on the points list for this season-ending event.

Popov, who ironically lives in Naples, site of the event at Tiburon Golf Club, was pretty much like the rest of us when she heard that Gulbis and Sarah Kemp were given a free spot in the championship even though they are not eligible.

“It’s a fairness thing as far as playing ability,” said Popov. “It’s not like I haven’t earned it. It’s like I have earned it points-wise, technically.”

And in this case, Popov is spot on, damn right in fact.  She thought one of those “sponsor’s exemptions” should have gone to her.  She found out before the first round of the Pelican event and of course she was shocked knowing she DESERVED to be in there this week.

As for CME boss Duffy, he basically went all Al Capone with the LPGA Tour and said it’s his company’s money so the Tour will basically do as he says.

The LPGA Tour tried to put a spin on it but that’s basically impossible and it wasn’t even Tour commish Mike Whan giving the reasoning.

LPGA Chief Tour Operations Officer Heather Daly-Donofrio said sponsor-exemption decisions are at the discretion of each week’s title sponsor, without input from the LPGA, as a benefit for their investment and partnership.

“The decision to add sponsor exemptions for the CME Group Tour Championship is for this year only,” said Daly-Donofrio. “In this abnormal 2020 year, the CME Group Tour Championship is slightly different than in the past, allowing more players in the field and offering two sponsor invites. In 2021, we expect to return to a 60-player field that is filled strictly off the Race for the CME Globe rankings.”

To which we say BULL-SPIT!

This isn’t your basic week-to-week LPGA Tour event.  It’s the event that rewards those who have played well.  These days, Gulbis struggles to break 80 but she’ll be in there with all the players who earned a spot.  Same for Sarah Kemp, whoever she is.

So what did Gulbis do to earn her spot?  Nothing.  She played in five LPGA Tour events this year, missed the cut in four and withdrew from the Pelican Championship after one round.  She earned ZERO for the season.

Fortunately for this event, the world’s No. 1 — Jin Young Ko — earned her way in with her runner-up finish last week at the U.S. Open, tying for second with Amy Olson.  Olson, whose father-in-law died last Saturday, won’t be in the field for obvious reasons.  Marina Alex and Ally Ewing were also qualified but wont be there.  With the field expanded from 60 to 70, those three spots will be filled by the next three players on the points list — Brittany Lincicome, Anne van Dam and Maria Torres.

First round play got underway under clear blue Florida skies with temperatures a balmy 70 degrees.  Lexi Thompson, who has won here before, got off to a fast start and by day’s end had eight birdies and just a single bogey on her way to a field-leading 65 — seven-under at Tiburon.

Defending champion and world’s No. 2 Sei Young Kim was hot on Thompson’s heels with 67.  World’s No. 1 Jin Young Ko is finding her form and was one of a half-dozen players in at four-under par 68 on a perfect day for scoring where 35 of the 72 players shot under par.

And then, of course, there was Natalie Gulbis.  She was dead-last in the field after shooting 77, proving once again that she has no business being part of this elite event.

It’s a pretty sad look for the LPGA Tour.

This is a big-fat, big-money event for the ladies.  And it’s one where those who earned their way in should be in.

Sad as it sounds, this time, the LPGA Tour proved that it can be bought.

Bah, Humbug!

CME Tour Championship Scoreboard: