Will Players At The Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Be Paid Following Cancellation?

There was frustration at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship as heavy rain forced the cancellation of the Pinnacle Country Club event when only the first round had been completed.

On Saturday evening, there had been lingering hopes that either 36 holes of 54 holes could be completed to make it an official event.

However, it wasn't to be, with 3.25 inches of rain falling on the course overnight on Saturday, forcing the tournament to be cut short.

As a result, the scores after 18 holes will stand, although no CME points will be awarded to the players. But what about prize money?

Originally, the purse for the tournament had been set at $3m, with the winner in line to bank $450,000, the same sum Jasmine Suwannapura won a year ago.

The runner-up was set for a $280,000 payout, while all those inside the top six were expected to claim at least $100,000.

The cancellation of the tournament threw that plan into disarray. Despite that, in a statement published on the LPGA Tour's social media accounts, a promise was made to ensure all members of the field received some prize money.

It read: “For now, please know that our partners at Walmart and P&G have generously committed to pay out more than what's required in the event of a tournament cancellation.

“In addition, they've also committed to ensuring every player receives compensation regardless of where they stand on the leaderboard after 18 holes of play.”

It added: "More information about the purse distribution will come later today."

Sure enough, that has now been decided, with $2m due to be paid out to the players, with $1.5m going to the top 65 in the standard LPGA Tour distribution percentage and the remaining $500,000 shared evenly among all 144 players, or $3,500 each.

The two players set to benefit most from the revised prize money distribution are the co-leaders after 18 holes, Sarah Schmelzel and Minami Katsu.