LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Mothers returning to the LPGA amid the tour’s new baby boom need more help.
Karine Icher lobbied hard last year for a revamping of the tour’s maternity policy, and so did Sydnee Michaels. The more demanding global nature of the tour, with international travel greater than any other era, complicated their attempts to balance motherhood and a playing career.
The LPGA did more than listen.
The tour is delivering a revamped new policy expected to go into effect over the next week. It’s designed to be a more flexible policy, with new options that will help players beyond the year in which their child is born, and into the year after, allowing them more time to return with their babies.