Here’s a couple of little vignettes to illustrate slow play.
Saturday at the Open, and the famously antagonistic pairing of Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia are out together. The R&A refs are clearly running a pace of play purge on Moving Day, and the group, largely down to Harrington (not unsurprisingly) has been put on the clock.
Having done his time and caught up, Padraig reverts to type and Sergio’s had enough. He says to an official “the minute he comes off the clock, it’s automatic handbrake”, motioning as if he’s engaging said handbrake. The official smiles and nods, recognising this as the standard “slow-quick-quick-slow” way serial slowies on tour get around the regulations.
Fast forward a week to the Senior Open, and the group of Colin Montgomerie, Mark O’Meara and Fred Couples arrive at a packed first tee to warm applause. They’re on the tee box for four or five minutes before Ivor Robson announces, “on the tee, the defending Senior Open champion, Fred Couples!”
Freddie waves to the crowd and then he stands next to his caddie and his bag, for a good 40 seconds, without doing anything. His right hand eventually tinkers with his clubs, he says something to his caddie. He does that trademark “shoulder shrug” as if ridding himself of a bad thought.
Fully a minute and half passes before he eventually reaches in to pick his weapon. Then he goes through his pre-shot routine, not excessive by modern standards but with several shoulder shrugs and the usual waggles and practice swings. Eventually he hits.
From the time his name was called, Couples comfortably passed the two minutes and 12 seconds that resulted in Hideki Matsuyama getting pinged during the Saturday purge at Muirfield. He had ample time to do all his pre-shot stuff even before Ivor lifted his microphone. But because it was his first shot of the day, he wasn’t on the clock, and he couldn’t be done for a breach.
The day before this occurred Montgomerie was holding court in the press room at Royal Birkdale on the very subject of slow play he’s always been a quick player and thinks there’s a way around this flouting of the regulations.
“Pace of play was far, far, too slow (at Muirfield), and unfortunately a Japanese player got a shot penalty when he wasn’t by far the slowest,” said Monty.
“What I would love to see, as a fast player, is one of the top players to have that shot penalty and then it would really resonate through the rest of the field, if one of the top guys finally, finally was found out.”
Amen to that, and Monty has a way to catch them. Namely, everybody should be on the clock, all the time.
He continued: “The only way around it is that where we have a referee with every match (as in every major but the Masters) the players should on the clock from word go.
“From the first tee, as soon as Ivor announces the first name. Why do we have to wait for them to be slow before they’re put on the clock?”
Monty also likes the idea of a basketball-style shot clock, but reckons his “all on the clock” method solves everything, and it’s an issue that badly needs solving.
“You can say what you want about belly putters and what have you, but the biggest buzz kill in golf is slow play, it’s killing the game,” he added.
The R&A’s purge worked; play was much quicker on Sunday. Having made all the noises and the right steps, albeit baby steps, the authorities at the major championships now need to make an example where it counts.
Over to you, PGA of America.