The weather forecast already indicated trouble. Apparently strong wins and heavy rains are going to hover and well that’s what Hazeltine National Golf Club really got. The soaked course became the biggest storyline and broadcasters laid down a stern warning about what the players could face given the challenges. 

“There are 25 maintenance staff absolutely grafting to get water removed,” the broadcaster said in a video uploaded on X by Golf.com. “This is what you don’t see very often. But listen, it is going to be preferred lies today, but obviously, the condition, they’ve had a ton of rain, it’s kind of just all soaking around everywhere, it’s very, very wet.” She also gave a rather stern warning.

“Now that’s going to cause a little bit of an issue for these players. Well, they have to adapt. It’s a lot harder to control the spin or predict the spin, predict the contact on the golf ball…So it’s just going to play very, very different and a lot more challenging today.”

Ultimately, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship officials had to delay the round by three hours and 30 minutes. The officials announced via an X update that practice ranges would open at 10:10 AM CDT, and play for the final round would start at 10:54 AM CDT. Not just that the weather also forced management to mandate a rather controversial rule.

They mandated the preferred-lies play, a temporary rule that officials can enforce to allow players to lift, clean, and replace their ball in a designated area. It is applied when the course is too wet for fair play. And it has been implemented before too.

The PGA Tour implemented it at the 2026 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. It is a controversial rule because it violates the fundamental golf rule of playing the ball as it lies. Therefore, golf fans usually don’t like it when the rule is implemented. However, it becomes necessary at times.

For instance, during the 2026 Chevron Championship, officials didn’t implement this rule despite soggy course conditions. As a result, mud got stuck on many golf balls, leading to uncertain shots that had nothing to do with a golfer’s skill.

Thus, implementing this controversial rule at Hazeltine National Golf Club made perfect sense given the harsh weather conditions. But, while this controversial rule will soften this chaos by allowing golfers to play from preferred lies, it will introduce new uncertainty. What would be more exciting to see now is how Nelly Korda will adjust to the course conditions.

Blustery conditions had already affected the third round. Leader of the first two rounds, Ina Yoon, derailed from her course and carded a round of three-over 75. Nelly Korda was also affected, as her putting was significantly affected. She could only manage three birdies and two bogeys in the third round to finish one-under 71. In fact, her SG on moving day was -1.170, and she ranked 55th in the field.