Good news for anti-slow play advocate Nelly Korda as fascinating Founders Cup stat comes to light

Nelly Korda has been a strong advocate for fast play. She had mentioned in the press conference for the Founders Cup that over the years the rounds had started taking around five and a half hours to finish, which is too long.

Ahead of the Founders Cup, the LPGA Tour had decided to put strict measures in place to curb the long-plaguing pace of play issues. It was announced that players would receive penalties and fines if they exceeded their allotted time. LPGA's stance seems to have worked wonders as the average pace of play of the Founders Cup's final round was released on Monday.

It was three hours and 42 minutes! It is a piece of exceptional news in the age where slow play has been bugging not just golfers but viewers and broadcasters as well. The stat is likely to bring a smile to Nelly Korda's face.

Earlier, Charley Hull had also spoken strongly about slow play. She had found support in Korda and PGA Tour player Max Homa, who had reshared her answer to media in their respective Instagram stories.

The PGA Tour had recently revealed a set of regulations, they were considering to solve the pace of play issues.

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What had Nelly Korda said about the new rules ahead of the Founders Cup?

Nelly Korda at the Founders Cup 2025 (Source: Getty)

Nelly Korda had welcomed the new rules set by the LPGA Tour to curb slow play with open arms. In fact, she was "very excited" that a strong measure was being put in place. She explained her initial reaction to the regulations in a press conference before the Founders Cup 2025.

"Finally. I'm very excited about it and I think that one of the things I've noticed over my time on tour is that we used to go from 5 hours, under 5 hours to now it's just 5 and a half [hours] typically our rounds," Korda had mentioned during the presser (Via X/LPGA).

She further added:

"So I think that implementing harsher rules is just going to be good for the game of golf because they were saying at the meeting, at the end of the day we're a form of entertainment. So if we're taking really long out there, that's not entertaining," she added.

The World no. 1 also talked about the discussions that happened between the Tour officials and the players during the rules meeting.

"I would say it was pretty positive around. No one really - I think it was more of people asking how the rules officials time. What if a rules official times and they don't see the ball still moving on the green and they start the timer? But it's not necessarily your time to hit as the other person's ball is still moving. Time shouldn't start yet. There were questions about that but I think over time that's going to be ironed out. It's gonna be better for everyone that the rounds are going to be moving a little faster," Korda said.

Golf viewership has generally been on a decline for some time and while many causes can be listed for it, slow play is definitely one of them. Even Nelly Korda agreed that solving this major issue would make the tournaments more entertaining and would attract more attention from fans.