Augusta sensation Asterisk Talley and major winner Sophia Popov get exemptions into LA Championship

Former major winner Sophia Popov has been awarded a sponsor’s exemption into next week’s JM Eagle LA Championship, which is undoubtedly a nice twist in an otherwise roller-coaster season.

Popov, the 2020 AIG Women’s Open winner who went to college at USC, will return to the Los Angeles area for the LPGA Tour event at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, Calif., that begins next Thursday.

Also getting an exemption is 16-year-old Asterisk Talley, who finished solo runner-up by one shot in last week’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

Popov, 32, played in three tournaments this season, but after that, the LPGA realized it made a clerical error that erroneously placed her too high on the Priority List for those events, denying three separate golfers an opportunity to compete. The one-time LPGA winner has said she checked with the tour before being cleared to play in the tournaments, for which Popov was stripped of all of the CME points she had earned on the season.

The exemption into the LA Championship is a bit of a second chance in a city with which she is familiar.

“As a proud USC alum, Los Angeles has a special place in my heart,” Popov, a German native, said in a statement.

As for the confusion on Popov’s entries, she had a medical leave followed by a maternity leave and her status was miscalculated, according to an initial report by Golfweek, later confirmed by the LPGA to Golf Digest. In a letter to its players, the LPGA said the mistake was an “administrative error.”

Popov had an injury in 2022 and took medical leave, then had a baby in 2023. She returned to the tour in 2024, but made only four cuts in 17 starts. This season, Popov played in the Founders Cup, finishing in a tie for 59th and earned $5,170. She was  68th at the Honda LPGA Thailand and made $3,811. And in the HSBC Women’s World Championship, Popov finished T-52, earning $7,932. Neither of the last two events had a cut.

Talley, who is from Chowchilla in central California, will be making her debut in a regular LPGA event afgter competing in last year's U.S. Women's Open. She is 15th in the women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings and had a stellar summer in 2024, becoming the first woman to reach the final in three USGA events on one year, with a win in the U.S. Women’s Four-Ball and runner-up finishes in the U.S. Girls’ Junior (at El Caballero) and U.S. Women’s Amateur. Last Saturday in the ANWA, Talley holed out for eagle on the first hole and eventually shot 68 to finish second behind champion Carla Bernat Escuder.

“I’m thrilled to return to one of my favorite courses in El Caballero Country Club and test my game against the best in the world,” Talley said in a statement.

Fifteen of the top 20 players in the Rolex Rankings are entered in the LA Championship, including World No. 1 Nelly Korda. Defending champion Hannah Green will try to win the event for the third consecutive year, though the previous two were at Wilshire Country Club, whichi is under renovation.