HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC — Brooks Koepka did not win the Mastery last week for many reasons, but the one that resonates with players, fans and media is the slow game exposed on Sunday.
The first three rounds were slow, but Sunday’s final round, consisting of just 53 players in 27 pairs, in good weather, was problematic because some players had to wait and, for Koepka, the wait was a problem.
“The group in front of us was extremely slow,” Koepka said after his final lap. “Jon (Rahm) went to the bathroom about seven times during the tour, and we were still waiting.”
The group: Patrick Cantlay And Victor Hovland.
Even though Hovland is slow or not, it was Cantlay who received the most criticism social media.
“I mean, we finished the first hole, and the group in front of us was on the second tee when we walked up to the second tee, and we waited all day for pretty much every shot,” Cantlay said during his press conference at RBC Heritage. “We waited in the 15th fairway, we waited in the 18th fairway. I guess it was slow for everyone.
Jordan Spieth was once the target of criticism for his slow play, but he has made it a point to speed up.
Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated
Maybe not for everyone. Jordan Spieth was 10 shots ahead going into Sunday’s final round, but his duo experienced little to no slowdown, so why does one group have a smooth round and another as slow as if they were playing in maple syrup?
Could this have to do with being in contention or not, or is it inherently that some players are slow and others aren’t?
Spieth was not always a fast player and when he was labeled with the nickname slow player, he knew he had to change because peer pressure made the difference.
“I didn’t think it helped me personally,” Spieth said. “But also, I didn’t like that it was attached to my name. And people didn’t want to play with me because I was slow. So I tried to speed up and I’ve accelerated a lot since then, and I think that’s something guys should try to do.
Spieth acknowledges that at Augusta, where you have to aim outside the hole at three- and four-footers, this process takes longer.
Which can slow down the game.
Gary Woodland points to features like Aimpoint and the lack of detailed green papers as potential issues contributing to slow play.
The problems with Aimpoint are clear, as it may or may not be a better way to putt, but it inherently takes more time – and time is the true measure of a slow player.
When the USGA and R&A banned green reading books, the organizations believed that the essential part of putting skill would return.
How Aimpoint does not spit on the “essential” is not clear.
“I think it’s almost slowed things down because now guys are trying to do it on their own,” Woodland said of the ban. “Which is probably a good thing for golf, but it just takes more time.”
It seems like a balancing act to find systems or products that speed up the game, but it is a problem when these are seen as unfair or not respecting the essence of golf.
Fines, or even penalties, are the usual way to combat slow play, but they are not used enough by those responsible for the rules.
“They obviously talked about the time putting the 10 slowest guys on the board in the locker room, blah, blah. At the end of the day you’re penalizing somebody, nobody wants to have a chance here, especially when you’re playing as much as we’re playing and everything,” Woodland said. “I believe that’s the only way to do it. I don’t know how else you do it. But I think it’s a problem And I’m not smart enough to understand it But I look from the outside and I think penalizing is the only way to speed things up. .
As a member of the Players Advisory Council, Cantlay has access to data on slow play that has not been made public.
This data, Cantlay said, shows that rounds have taken about the same length over the past 10 or 20 years.
And while the hole locations, green runs and wind all lend themselves to slower play at a venue like Augusta National, it ultimately comes down to one thing.
“I think it’s just the nature of professional golf,” Cantlay said. “Where every plan matters so much.” »
