Slow play is a scourge on the game of golf — that’s something all golfers can agree on. But when it comes to what constitutes slowness, that’s where opinions differ. In a recent GOLF.com Anonymous Pro poll, 78 percent of the respondents said having a slow partner has hurt their on-course performance, but a whopping 100 percent feel that their own pace of play is acceptable. Hmm. Seems to be a bit of a disconnect there.
While it’s clear the major Tours aren’t prepared to start regularly penalizing players for slowness, one European Tour player is taking matters into his own hands via the name-and-shame method. Edoardo Molinari — yes, that Edoardo, star of the original hole-in-one challenge and brother to 2018 Open champion and recent Masters contender Francesco) — had a bone to pick about the all-too-typical five-and-a-half hour playing standard during tournaments. So he tweeted about it.
It’s time that professional golf does something serious for slow play…5h30min to play 18 holes on a golf course without rough is just too long…way too long! #stopslowplay
— Edoardo Molinari (@DodoMolinari) April 26, 2019
The tweet was liked over 4,600 times and spurred a lot of interaction, with most people applauding Molinari’s stance.
When a group is on the clock for 11 consecutive holes and it fails to close the gap with the group in front it means that the current system can be fooled if you are smart enough… Some players take 80” normally and 40” when they are on the clock… #systemfailure
— Edoardo Molinari (@DodoMolinari) April 26, 2019
Molinari then decided to take things one step farther, publishing the Tour’s timing summary. Juicy!
As promised…list of timings as of April 22nd. Next updates list will come out at the end of June!
There are a few usual suspects and a few surprises.
Please retweet and share to speed things up!#stopslowplay pic.twitter.com/VpR65M4Xrb— Edoardo Molinari (@DodoMolinari) April 27, 2019
Several big-name players appear on the list as having been timed, including Rickie Fowler, Bryson DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood and Tiger Woods, but the most familiar names on the most egregious offenders list were Henrik Stenson (four timings), Hideki Matsuyama (three timings) and Jon Rahm (three timings). Only a handful of players had fines listed (Louis Oosthuizen was one) for their slow play, but no one had to pay more than $3,000.
Will Molinari’s public shaming make a difference? He says the next timing summary will be released in June, so we’ll have to wait and see.
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