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LPGA event ends with improvised playoff after final round canceled

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On Sunday at this week’s LPGA event, the 2025 Toto Japan Classic, rain walloped the host course, leading to a canceled final round and an improvised one-hole playoff on a shortened par-5 to decide the winner.

Here’s everything you need to know about the bizarre finish.

‘Unplayable course conditions’ lead to canceled final round

Sunday’s final round at the Toto Japan Classic ended shortly after it began. At 10:57 a.m. local time, the LPGA announced that play had been suspended due to “unplayable course conditions” caused by heavy rain.

But two hours later, the rain hadn’t let up, the course was still swamped and more rain was forecasted for the remainder of the day.

At that point, tournament organizers made the difficult decision to cancel the final round and officially shorten the event to 54 holes.

The LPGA released a statement on X that read: “After assessing the golf course and discussing with the golf course superintendent, the course is currently unplayable. The forecast is for continuous rain, at times heavy. Due to the current conditions and the forecast, the decision has been made to cancel Round 4 and the tournament will be reduced to a 54-hole event.”

The statement added, “Official points and official money will be distributed based on yesterday’s 54-hole results.”

But there was one problem. Two players finished the third round tied for the lead. So the officials decided to stage a rare sudden-death playoff to determine the champion.

Toto Japan Classic decided in playoff on shortened hole

It’s not entirely uncommon for LPGA or PGA Tour events to be shortened to 54 holes due to weather. In most of those cases, whoever is in the lead at the 54-hole mark wins the tournament.

But when the Toto Japan Classic was officially shortened to 54 holes on Sunday, Nasa Hataoka and Yuna Araki shared the lead at 15 under.

Because they were knotted at 201 strokes, a playoff would need to be played to crown a winner. But the course conditions were growing more and more unplayable every moment.

To solve this issue, the LPGA came up with a unique idea. The playoff would be held on Seta Golf Club’s long par-5 18th hole. But due to the course conditions, Hataoka and Araki wouldn’t play the full length of the hole. Instead, the 18th would be shortened to a par-3 playing around 130 yards.

Amid the rain, Araki could only manage a bogey-4 at the shortened 18th hole during the playoff. Hataoka, on the other hand, saved par to officially capture the win.

With the victory, the 26-year-old Hataoka increased her career LPGA win total to seven. Once ranked as high as No. 4 in the world, Hataoka should see her current Rolex World Ranking of 32 vastly improve.