"I know this is a complicated issue. Hopefully it can be addressed in the near future."

Tiger Woods made a little bit of news in his blog/newsletter post this week:

When I was in Tucson last week, I did a little shopping and noticed my new "Gatorade Tiger" in a store. Must admit it was pretty cool and weird; first my own video game, and now a sports drink. A lot of personal time went into the creation of this product and I am proud of all three of the initial flavors we have created, especially Red Drive.

Sorry, copied the wrong part. Here it is:

Before I go, I would like to talk about slow play. It's been an ongoing problem on the PGA Tour for a long time. I honestly believe the pace of play is faster in Europe and Japan. It has been suggested offenders be penalized with strokes. The problem is, you may get one guy that slows down a group for playing at a snails pace and gets them all put on the clock, which isn't fair. I know this is a complicated issue. Hopefully it can be addressed in the near future.

Nice somebody in his position will point it out. And funny, but in the same email he talks about his match with J.B. Holmes. Coincidence? 

Comments

[ed]

From GolfWorld, 2/29/08, Page 15, Lipouts

"Who are we holding up?" TIGER WOODS, 4 up after eight holes against Stewart Cink in the final of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, to a rules official who warned the duo (the only match on the course) they were close to being timed for slow play.

[CBell]

As if they were going to be playing 36...

[John Gorman]

Tiger's as guilty as anyone. He is painfully slow around the greens. And, since he gets about 60% of the airtime during the tournaments in which he plays, recreational golfers see him taking forever and then follow his lead. He's a big reason why 5 1/2 hour rounds are the norm on many courses.

[LEFTY]

Baddeley is slow, too.

Tiger seems to be one of the fastest players on tour. Right up there with Olin Browne and Brandt Snedeker, and even Rory in terms of speed.

[Power Aid Tastes Better]

The Buick on Sunday Tiger's group took 4:57 to finish. They played the entire back nine with an open hole in front of them. God forbid a rules official would put Tiger on the clock!

[In The Canoe]

You can't put the **** back in the donkey. Telling players today--actually, players for the last 10 years or so--to play a round in 3 hours is like telling baseball players that a game should be finished in about 90 minutes. Both were commonplace a few decades ago, but nobody can play this way anymore.

It's the sort of thing one has to keep under constant surveillance. The best professional sports organization in terms of this sort of thing is the NFL. Something gets out of whack, they fix it. Games were lasting too long in the NFL, and they quickly changed the play clocks, etc., so that the games finish much faster. They are aware that the sport is entertainment, and, oh I give up. Try telling Tiger Woods or any other pro that they need to stop thinking they are the only person in the world who matters when they are golfing and see what happens.

[FWIW]

Tiger can get deliberate at times, but he's nowhere near being among the worst offenders. And Baddeley has the fastest putting trigger out there (especially for a guy who can actually make a putt).

[Rick]

Something Tiger and Rory can agree on! Keep up!

[iacas]

Didn't Tiger famously "slow down" the speedy Chris DiMarco at Augusta? I don't think Tiger's the worst offender, but he's "an" offender. He walks quickly between shots, and tends to pull his shot off quickly from the fairway, but yes, around the greens, he's slower than most.

[Mark]

If you watch Tiger, he plays very quickly tee to green. He is almost always ready to play when his turn comes to him. He slows down signficantly on and around the greens. On balance, when watching Tiger I never get the feeling he is playing slow.