HILTON GRAND VACATIONS TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

February 1, 2026

Ricki Lasky

Lake Nona Golf & Country Club

TV

Q. Ricki Lasky, one of the key players on the LPGA Tour to really make things go. You prefer being behind the scenes, Ricki, I know, and you're gracious to join us here. Tell us about what went into the decision to shorten this event to 54 holes?

RICKI LASKY: First of all, thank you for having me. Really appreciate it. Who would've thought we would be sitting in Florida at the end of January. As I was driving up in those conditions this morning, it was 23 degrees. Feels like temperature of 11, so pretty shocking.

First and foremost, I have to thank Hilton Grand Vacations and the crew at Lake Nona Golf Club. What we've gone through in the last 24 hours to try to get ready for today has been second to none, and appreciate their partnership very, very much.

As we watched Karen and Tom in the broadcast yesterday on 17, and as the wind was gusting, we knew we were in an unplayable situation and had to call play yesterday.

It was from that point forward we started scenario planning, what we could accomplish for today. We tried to become very creative to ensure that we could share our celebrity component of this great event and also attempt to finish 72 holes.

What we found was we had a good plan going into the day. We shortened the celebrity portion to nine holes so we could get that in for that exhibition component and the modified Stableford in which we play.

Then we really looked at trying to get started at 10:00 a.m. What we found was when we got on site and talked to several of the players when they were warming up was that the grounds was really hard and it was changing the trajectory of their shots as they were practicing. The balls were releasing when they weren't supposed to be so, so we pushed back.

We really tried to take as much time as we possibly could to get all 72 holes into play. We certainly did everything we could. We worked with the groundscrew, which again was impeccable. We had to make the really hard decision to call it at 54.

I just want to say, if anybody has a way to get to the gods that be and Mother Nature and can make a call for us, I'm all ears. Let's have a conversation. But unfortunately we had to call it at 54.

But super excited for getting the 54 in. The competition was amazing, and congratulations to Nelly Korda.

Q. I know you and the field staff were prepared to go into Monday if you thought that would've helped, but even the forecast for tomorrow isn't great. I know that. People maybe following on this event and watching our coverage are saying, well, the celebrities went out at 10:00 am. What would you say to that?

RICKI LASKY: Yeah, no, fair question for sure. What I would say is two different competitions going on, right? One is modified Stableford, one is stroke play. Every CME point counts as we go through our schedule.

We really wanted to ensure that the competition was up to championship caliber, and for that to happen, there are shaded areas, those positions could still be frozen, so we really felt like to be fair to the entire field, we had to call it at 54.

Q. You wound up with a great week I know and a great champion. Here is to 72-hole events the rest of the year.

RICKI LASKY: Well, appreciate you, Grant, so much. There is so much more golf to be played and we're so excited about our enhanced broadcast with you all. Thank you very much for having me.