Rory McIlroy gave a press conference at Torrey Pines Golf Course, this year’s house of the Genesis Invitational, in which he covered a variety of topics. One of those topics included pace of play on the PGA Tour. Pace of play has been a hot topic in the golf world in recent weeks, with several prominent voices speaking out.
That was the case for McIlroy, who said pace of play isn’t as big of an issue as others think. The Northern Irishman cited major championships as an example where, he said, “no one complains about the pace of play”.
You had Pebble Beach last week and CBS was complaining that we finished 30 minutes early. Like, what do you want? So that’s part of it, but no one really complains about the pace of play in the majors.
Usually, if you’re in one of those latter two groups at Augusta this Friday afternoon, it’s probably the slowest round of the year. No one is complaining about the pace of play at Augusta.
McIlroy also said golf at the highest level “takes time” and everyone needs to understand that. However, he also acknowledged that there were “some things” that could be done to speed up the pace of the game.
You have to understand that golf at the highest level takes time, you know? But there are certainly — there are some things we can do to speed things up, but whether it takes a five-and-a-half hour turn or a five-and-a-half hour turn, I don’t think it’s going to make that astonishing a change.
The pace of play has been in the spotlight recently due to a number of circumstances, including the long days that characterized the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, which was also mentioned by Rory McIlroy.
At the same time, the LPGA TOUR has published a new policy which will be implemented in the coming weeks with strict measures to streamline the pace of play at his tournaments. The policy ranges from fines to penalty strokes depending on the severity of the offense.
World number one Nelly Korda was among those to speak out on the issue, saying she was “very excited” about the decision.
Meanwhile, former US Open champion Lucas Glover has called for AimPoint putting to be banned. This prompted Collin Morikawa will hit back at Gloverand went so far as to say that the PGA Tour should take a cue from how the women’s tour is approaching the issue.
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