Mike Lorenzo-Vera, after a round that he says took him nearly a quarter of a day to play, did not hesitate in opining on it.
Add him, too, to the choir of those this year with cries over slow play. Of course, golf pokiness is nothing new, but this year, the frustration has been notable.
Remember Brooks Koepka’s thoughts at the Masters? Playing in the final group with eventual winner Jon Rahm during the final round at Augusta National, the pace of play was — well, we’ll let Koepka describe things, through this exchange started by a reporter afterward.
“You’re a pretty fast player, as we know. Curious your thoughts on pace of play this afternoon?”
“Yeah, the group in front of us was brutally slow,” Koepka said. “Jon went to the bathroom like seven times during the round, and we were still waiting.”
And a mild firestorm ensued. Ahead of Rahm and Koepka that day were Patrick Cantlay and Viktor Hovland, and Cantlay took the brunt of the blows. Memorably, a month later, ahead of the PGA Championship that he eventually won, Koepka offered this solution:
“Honestly, I would start stroking guys. If you are going to take that long, you have to get stroked. There are certain circumstances where the wind switches, something like that, it’s understandable, but taking a while is, I just think, unnecessary.”
Notably, the PGA Tour has a pace of play policy, which was updated in 2020, though its monetary fines are kept hush-hush and stroke punishments are rare. As for the Rules of Golf, Rule 5.6b offers this: “It is recommended that you make the stroke in no more than 40 seconds after you are (or should be) able to play without interference or distraction.”
Then there was Carlota Ciganda.
While grinding to make the cut last month at the Evian Championship, she was assessed a two-stroke slow-play penalty on the final hole for taking more than the allotted time to hit a putt while on the clock. She then refused the penalty and signed her scorecard anyway, and she was disqualified.
Brooks Koepka, when asked about slow play, had 1 immediate solution
“Very poor performance from the LPGA rules official, they don’t understand what professional golf is about, they only look at their stopwatch like if 20 seconds is going to make a difference,” Ciganda later wrote in an Instagram post. “I had family and friends watching and they all said it was impossible I took that long to hit that putt!”
And more comments came. When asked about slow play last week at the AIG Women’s Open, world No. 2 Nelly Korda said she’s in favor of the strict enforcement of the rule.
“At the end of the day, the Rules of Golf are the Rules of Golf and they should be enforced,” Korda said. “I really like Carlota. She’s a great person. I enjoy playing with her. I am a fast player, but I would say at the end of the day the Rules of Golf are the Rules of Golf, and it’s good that it’s being enforced.”
Slow play, she pointed out, isn’t just problematic for the players on the course.
“If I was a spectator and I was out here for 5 1/2 hours to 6 hours, you know, it’s tough to watch,” Korda said. “You want to watch a sport that’s continuously moving and not continuously stalling. I would say I think it’s really important for the rules officials to enforce the Rules of Golf.”
Then there was Lorenzo-Vera.
Playing the ISPS Handa World Invitational, a mixed event featuring men’s and women’s players, the longtime DP World Tour pro teed off for his second round at 9:09 a.m. ET on Friday, shot a three-over 73 at Galgorm Castle in Northern Ireland, then tweeted this at 2:46 p.m.:
‘Tough to watch’: Nelly Korda endorses slow-play rules enforcement
“5hrs40 to play a round of golf by professionals. A f**k’n joke.”
There was more. A few minutes later, he had this exchange, started by a Twitter user:
“WHO’s fault is it only the players”
To which Lorenzo-Vera replied: “Yes sir ! And the ref not pushing them.”
On Saturday, during the third round of the ISPS Handa World Invitational, Lorenzo-Vera shot a 72. Afterward, he did not tweet.
