One of the interesting debates in golf over the last couple of years is whether or not the PGA Tour should adopt 54 holes or continue with 72 holes? For the longest time the LIV Tour’s identity was a 54 hole tournament, and this past weekend we saw the LPGA have a 54 hole tournament with Japan’s Yuna Nishimura winning the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship with an impressive score of -21.
You can criticize the LIV Tour for many reasons. There have been gigantic contracts, guaranteed money to enter events, an overall lack of identity, and significant financial problems where there are now legitimate questions about the LIV’s future.
One area where you need to praise the LIV Tour was trying 54 hole tournaments. Sometimes less is more. Smaller tournaments when it comes to length brings greater excitement among the fans.
However, what we saw this past weekend in Arkansas in women’s golf on the LPGA Tour was a blowout win by Nishimura (she beat her three closest competitors by five strokes) and a spectacular nine hole stretch by Lauren Coughlin, who had nine straight birdies. The fact that Nishimura had a winning score of -21 and handily beat her competition needs to be positively recognized when she only golfed 54 holes.
I would like to see the PGA Tour try 54 holes for various events in the future. The events could still end on Sunday, but begin on Friday rather than Thursday. It would also be interesting to compare television ratings for 52 hole events versus 72 hole competitions.
