The LPGA published a memo to the players on Friday evening which was obtained by GolfK, informing them of an administrative error which led to a member of the bad place on the list of priorities of origin 2025. Consequently, the member participated in three tournaments for which she was not otherwise qualified: the Founders Cup, the Honda LPGA Thailand and the HSBC women’s world championship.
To correct the error, the Memo, written by the business manager and the operations agent, Ricki Lasky, said that the points of points, the benefits and the AON risks of the member will be withdrawn from the official classification. The member was also moved to the correct position on the priority list, which determines how the fields are filled.
The domino effect of such an error means, of course, that the first alternative for each of these events has missed an opportunity that she had rightly won.
“We will share more details while we are working internally to best remedy the situation of the three players who were inadvertently impacted and left aside from these tournament fields,” said Lasky. “We apologize to those who have been directly affected and sincerely regret error.”
The LPGA did not publish the names of the players involved, but according to the latest entry lists for each of the events in question, the three players listed as the first alternative for each field include Saki Baba (Founders Cup), Hira Naveed (Thailand LPGA) and Peiyun Dog (HSBC).
Sophia Popov confirmed to Golfer that she was the player who was poorly placed on the list of priorities. Popov was listed as 57th on the LPGA priorities list to start the season with a double asterisk by name for maternity leave. Popov, however, participated in 17 events in 2024 and finished 136th on the list of CME points. She went to the last stage of LPGA Q-School in December and finished T-58TH, which means that she failed to improve her status.
A player is entitled to the equivalent of a full season of events on his return from maternity leave.
Although the LPGA does not confirm any of the players involved, the tour said in a statement to Golfer that the error was linked to a calculation of the return to the game following a combined medical and maternity combined absence. Popov had taken Medical leave in 2022 to heal her right shoulder And, shortly after, I discovered that she was pregnant.
The error was discovered when examining the maternity leave of another member.
HSBC and Thailand events are limited and have no cup. Popov obtained a pay check in the three departures as well as the CME points.
The tour noted that he “immediately implements additional audit and examination layers”.
