The LPGA Tour Had A Unique Travel Problem This Week.. Here's How It's Been Solved

Following a week off as the golfing world enjoyed the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, the LPGA Tour returns with the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei.

Defending champion, A Lim Kim headlines the field which also includes World No.2, Nelly Korda - who is returning to the event since a T2nd result in 2021 - two-time LOTTE Championship winner, Brooke Henderson and the LPGA Tour's most recent official victor in Charley Hull.

The English star triumphed for the third time on the US-based circuit at the Kroger Queen City Championship earlier in September before the NW Arkansas Championship a few days later was washed out after only 18 holes.

But, given rain is not in the forecast at Ewa Beach Country Club in Oahu, Hawaii this week, LPGA Tour officials and players alike are not anticipating the same problem again.

However, organizers did have to begin and end the tournament a day earlier than normal due to a unique issue this season.

Although the LOTTE Championship is on Hawaii–Aleutian Time (five hours behind Eastern Time) and would finish just a few hours later than normal, the Buick LPGA Shanghai is the next event on the LPGA Tour's schedule which begins in China on the following Thursday.

With the flight from Hawaii to Shanghai already around the 12-hour mark anyway, adding in the 18-hour time difference (across the international date line) means players would be unlikely to arrive in China until effectively 30 hours after they departed.

If the jet lag and general exhaustion developed from a journey that long are also taken into account, the players' performances would therefore suffer and it would take away from what is an excellent tournament.

The LPGA has moved east from the United States a couple of times already this term, but there has never been back-to-back tournaments and a journey of such great distance which could cause this issue.

Following the first two events of the year in Florida, there was a one-week gap in February before the tour headed over to Thailand, Singapore and China for a three-week Asian Swing.

Then, ahead of the Evian Championship in July, players were given a week off to sufficiently prepare themselves for a brief European run which took in France, Scotland and Wales. And immediately after the AIG Women's Open, another blank week was booked in prior to the Standard Portland Classic.

The upcoming LOTTE Championship is the final event on North American soil until mid-November, with the LPGA Tour set for its longest Asian Swing of 2025 thereafter.

Tournaments in countries such as China, South Korea and Japan will occur over the coming weeks as the race to become Race To CME Globe champion heats up.

The LPGA Tour season then concludes with The ANNIKA as the penultimate event before the CME Group Tour Championship caps off the campaign days later.