Sophia Popov refused five-year LPGA exemption

Sophia Popov’s win at the 2020 AIG Women’s Open was one of the greatest triumphs against the odds that I’ve ever seen.

Previously 304th in the Rolex World Rankings and with no LPGA status, she is the lowest ranked player to ever win a Major.

It was an absolutely fantastic, fairytale-like story.

But now it has emerged that there's a severe downside to being such an unusual case.

Normally, a five-year LPGA exemption is awarded to all major winners, but the 27-year-old has just learnt that she will miss out on this.

This is because eight months ago, she narrowly missed out on getting her LPGA card for 2020 by one stroke, and that means that she isn’t eligible for it.

It doesn’t matter that she played on the LPGA for four years before that either.

Instead, she has been told by an LPGA official that she will have to settle for an exemption for the rest of the season and the 2021 season.

But it doesn’t stop there.

The upcoming ANA Inspiration is the second major of the year, but as that was originally scheduled for April (then moved due to COVID-19), Sophia will not be able to play in it.

It seems a bit illogical to me, and many others have expressed their outrage on Twitter.

This includes Tommy Fleetwood who said:

“Sophia Popov congratulations on such a special achievement!! The LPGA rule is stupid to say the least. The way you’re playing though you won’t have to worry about it.”

Hopefully this backlash will be enough to make the LPGA make an exception.

Popov talked to GOLF.com a couple of days after her win at Royal Troon.

“I definitely got a little bit frustrated about the whole thing. It’s tough because I feel like I deserve the full five years of exemption from the LPGA, but at the same time, I understand the regulations and the fact that they can’t change the rules for a certain player.

“The only reason why I really feel this way is because I had already played so many seasons on the LPGA Tour. I felt like, really? Just because I finished one shot short of getting my status last year at Q-Series, you’re going to take away four of the years I should have gotten?”

The Tour are said to be ‘sympathetic’ towards Sophia’s dilemma but have made no suggestion that they will be able to change their decision.

Surely, we should be encouraging other Symetra and LET players to strive to do the same, and show them that it is possible to win a major even without an LPGA card.

Sophia should be celebrated for winning against the odds, not denied the advantages that other major winners have.

To me it seems against the spirit of golf; the game is so special because anyone and everyone is given the chance to win.

Women’s golf is also on a roll at the moment and making huge strides, so it would be such a shame for this rule to get in the way of that.

Sophia said she is considering whether to appeal the situation.

“I definitely was thinking about appealing that and talking it out with the LPGA because, even if you could negotiate a couple more years than just the done, I feel like I deserve that," she said.

The rules have been waivered before in the mid 2010s so that Lydia Ko and Lexi Thompson could overcome the Tour’s age limit.

We hope Sophia gets the recognition she deserves and at least the chance to play in the ANA Inspiration in September.

The incredible rise of Sophia Popov - READ MORE