The headline on Friday regarding changes to the upcoming LPGA season centered around a change in how cards will be allotted in 2025.
Essentially, there will be five more cards awarded to Epson Tour players, rewarding full-season performance on the developmental tour. Meanwhile, fewer players will leave LPGA Q-Series with status. (Though more players will receive full cards at Q-Series than in previous years.)
But beyond those big changes, however, there are a number of smaller shifts in LPGA regulations that are worth noting. Several changes, in particular, will impact those without LPGA status who find the winner’s circle.
Here are four changes worth noting:
When Mone Inami won on the LPGA late last year in Japan, she deferred taking up membership until 2024 and only received one year of Category 7 LPGA status.
Going forward, when a non-member wins on the LPGA she will receive Category 7 status for the remainder of the season thereafter.
This is the same two-year exemption that a member receives after a non-major victory.
Last year when Rose Zhang won the Mizuho Americas Open in her first start as a professional, the former Stanford player did not receive any Rolex Player of the Year points, Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year points or U.S. Solheim Cup points for that victory. (Zhang qualified for the Solheim via the Rolex Rankings.)
That all changes for 2024, though the Solheim Cup points will go toward the 2026 Solheim qualification period.
A victory is worth 150 Rookie of the Year points.
In 2023, Golfweek wrote about a couple top-tier LPGA players who were subject to a $25,000 fine for skipping the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. The LPGA’s 1-in-4 requirement stipulates that players in the top 80 of the CME…
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