NW Arkansas Championship – Over?

Well I certainly didn’t expect this!

According to lpga.com, the Tour decided to reduce the event from 54 to 18 holes. Which would make Stacy Lewis the winner by one shot over Teresa Lu, Kristy McPherson and Katherine Hull. The 32 players who hadn’t yet finished Round One did so this morning but with more rain expected Sunday and Monday, officials decided that they would be unable to complete even 36 holes. Undoubtedly the Solheim deadline influenced this decision, and I’m not sure that it was a good thing to let it enter into the process.

As of 11:30am EDT, lpga.com is stopping short of declaring Lewis the winner. By not making that declaration even after all the players have completed 18 holes, that leads me to believe that LPGA officials may still be trying to figure out how to handle this unique situation. If Lewis is declared the winner, she would be the first amateur to win an LPGA event since JoAnne Carner did it back in 1969.

I have a feeling this uncertainty will be resolved by the time TGC begins its scheduled coverage at 1pm EDT.

UPDATE: Waggle Room found an AP story with more details. Put me on record as in favor of them coming back the weekend after Solheim to finish the event. Not sure if that's logistically possible, though it would be the right thing to do for the Arkansas fans and the players still trying to make the Top 90 on the money list.