The 2023 LPGA tour season continues this week at the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National in New Jersey City. Last week's trip to Las Vegas and the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play was a 2,227-mile schedule, and this year he covered nearly 84,000 miles across all 34 events. It's more than three trips around the world. This comes after players traveled from New Jersey to Las Vegas for the Cognizant Founders Cup last week.
In the year In 2023 season he set the record for longest course, covering a total of 2,000 kilometers between tour stops 18 times, up from 13 in 2022. Among the changes was moving the Chevron championship from Palm Springs, in California. It impacted the schedule near Houston. In 2022, the JTBC Classic in Carlsbad, California is ahead of Chevron. This year, the LPGA was in Hawaii one week before the first big lottery championship of the year.
Additionally, the KPMG Women's PGA Championship (Balthusroll, NJ) and the US Women's Open (Pebble Beach, CA) are on the 2023 tour schedule (albeit with a weekend to spare). . Play opposite sides.
And it's even longer. In March, the LPGA announced the October 26-29 Maybank Championship in Malaysia to replace the Taiwan Swinging Dress event, adding two more flights over 2,000 miles (one from South Korea and one from Japan).
Travel accidents are many and often frustrating.
LPGA Tour veteran Stacey Lewis said, "When I first came on tour, we had a few crashes ... like a little swing to ride." “[Now] we fly commercial, we lose our bags. We, you know, just like all stress. I mean, traveling is harder than ever with delayed flights, lost luggage. This is a common thing we deal with.
LPGA commissioner Molly Marceau faced similar issues with the tour in her first full season at the helm. "I think my experience is the same as the players. So being on a plane 32 weeks out of the year is tough," Saman told Mark of the 2022 CME Team Tour Championship and being a part of the women's sports community.
It goes without saying that how players handle the tough schedule will determine their ability to compete and how long they continue to play on the LPGA over time.
"I think if you follow that trend for two to three years, you'll see results," said Dr. Ara Suppia, who has worked with several LPGA players on their programs to find the best way to manage exercise. you will see that they will all grow.
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© Contributed by Golf Digest Tips and essentials for your golf journey from the editors of Golf Digest.After straining many LPGA players to play on tour, Supiah made it through the tough tour season.
Coping with travel fatigue begins with understanding the cause. It begins with players arriving at the airport, checking their bags, and boarding the plane before it takes off. Flight delays increase frustration and stress. Airport food options are limited and generally unhealthy compared to a typical gamer diet.
Once the flight begins, the tension continues to build. Sitting in a narrow place has negative effects. Electromagnetic radiation from the aircraft accumulates on the player's body. Not enough water is provided, which leads to dehydration. Sleeping pills or alcohol can affect circadian rhythms, as well as affect microbes in the air of small groups of people who have been living together for a long time.
"They researched this when they looked at people's saliva after the flight and when the immune system was activated," Supiah said. Because even during a short three-hour flight he experienced many things that he normally would not.
© Provided by Golf Digest 1488022270Nellie Korda played four straight weeks from late April to early May but misses this week's tournament in New Jersey due to prior issues.
Mike Mulholland
Once you land, the battle against jet lag begins. Supiya explains that for every three-hour flight, her body needs an hour to recover. But these are only the short-term effects of the flight itself: each trip takes a day to fully adjust to the new time in the two time zones. So someone flying from Orlando to Southeast Asia on one of LPGA's two transpacific flights, which span 12 time zones, could take up to six days to adjust to the new schedule.
"Most people do, maybe 30 to 40 percent recover," Suppia said.
Irritation is the body's response to fatigue during travel. As a result, players cannot train hard while recovering from illness. Additionally, cumulative travel disrupts the body's hormonal balance, which can affect an athlete's normal cycle from year to year.
"Now the body is burnt out, tired, the nervous system hasn't fully recovered, and you do the competition, you do the training, that's where it all comes together," Suppia said. "And it's no surprise if an athlete comes in and their immune system gets sick and sick. They tend to catch a cold and get sick.
All of this leads to allostatic overload, which Supyya has been studying for over 15 years. The Centers for Disease Control defines stress overload as "long-term stress that causes a biochemical imbalance in the body."
When Supia works with athletes, she creates a "survival manual" to help them deal with allostatic stress. It all starts from a simple premise: get to the airport early to reduce stress. Another step to aligning your circadian rhythm, the body's 24-hour cycles, with your local time zone as effectively as possible is to schedule your flights to land during the day so you can see the sun when you arrive.
When players eat the day before their trip, they should plan their meals around the time they will be eating at their destination. Avoiding stimulants like coffee, tea or soda can help you sleep more soundly. It also helps synchronize sleep with sleepers at your destination. Although the latter is more difficult to use, he recommends Benadryl, magnesium or melatonin.
"You have to start taking melatonin two to three days before the flight to help your body adjust, which is very difficult for these athletes because they're already competing elsewhere," Supia said.
"If they don't plan their schedule carefully…then the risk of injury increases. During that time, the risk of burnout increases. Many people pay more to go, but if you get a suit, it's worth it. What about getting sick?- Dr. Ora Supia
Sleeping in a high chair is easy, but it's one of the toughest conversations Supiah has had with some of her clients. For players who aren't among the winners on (or off) the pitch, Suppia tries to get them to spend their money on a more expensive ticket, to get a better break, which he describes as an investment in themselves. But this is difficult for many to do.
The most important thing is to stop when the player's plane lands. No, the plane isn't just landing, it's actually the electromagnetic charge of their system. The body builds up on the plane, and Supia advises athletes to walk barefoot on natural surfaces like mud, grass or sand to avoid this. Then they should do a 45-minute recovery workout, such as a very slow treadmill run or a yoga interval, to help the body.
"The worst thing you can do is get off the plane, jump in your car, drive to your hotel, walk into your hotel room, and lay down on your bed."
These steps will ease the stress of travel. With so many transitions to different time zones throughout the year, even a recovery-focused offseason might not fully recover a player until the following season. Thus, according to Suppia, players can pay the price for career restrictions.
"If you don't plan the schedule as carefully as you do the competition, the risk of injury increases," Supiah said. "And then it increases the risk of burnout. Many people pay too much to quit, but is it worth it if they get sick from drinking mono?"
Nellie Korda, who will miss this week's Liberty National with a back injury, is a prime example of the price players can pay. In the year She wrapped up the 2022 season at the CME Group Tour Championship in late November, played the PNC Championship in December, and began her 2023 LPGA campaign January 18 at the Hilton Grand Vacation Championship. In the press conference at the beginning of the year, he explained how he intends to face the season.
“There are a lot of ideas on this year's schedule,” Korda said. “That's why I sit down and my team and I have decided it's really important to focus on your body to stay fresh. Every year I find myself in a situation where I feel a little tired and I hope to learn from that like I did last year.
© Golf Digest /content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/2023/5/bag-golf-club-sticking-out.jpgKorda made four consecutive tournaments, starting with the Chevron tournament in April and ending at the Cognizant Founders Cup in May. Chevron joked at the end of the episode that he was asked how tired he was. At various events, Korda traveled from Texas to Los Angeles for the JM Eagle LA Championship, the UL International Crown in San Francisco and then New Jersey. Despite finishing in the top ten in six of his first seven starts, Korda missed his first race of the year at New Jersey.
Korda replied that she was going to jump, although no one could ask how tired she was.
Business travel for tour participants only. After all, players have off-field trips. For example, Danielle Kang, who likes to travel on weekends to see friends, traveled to Hawaii before the Hope Bank LPGA Match Play in Las Vegas.
The six-time winner stressed how important it is to recover from travel to compete on tour.
"Sleep, stretch and do what you have to do, and yeah, it's all good," Khan said. "Drink lots of water. Do all the basic things that mom and dad have told us all our lives. It will do great things."