Luke On Kapalua Debacle: "Slow play is killing our sport"
/Jonathan Wall notes a nice mini-spurt of frustrated tweets from World No. 1 Luke Donald after watching the rude behavior of various leaders at Kapalua. Here are the tweets in reverse order:
When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Slow Pokes Creating Kapalua, BCS Clash!
/Doug Ferguson asked on Twitter this morning: "What time is the game? Because I'm not convinced the final round at Kapalua will finish by then."
"Ricardo Polo took the head cover off of his daughter’s driver and, according to the police report, began to lash out with the club."
/Beth Ann Baldry, who recently broke the LPGA Q-School blunder story, tweeted that she was writing up the most bizarre story of her career. And she wasn't kidding. This happened at the Dixie Amateur:
Read More"In the era of slow play...Haas' money shot should be heralded as a triumph of instinct, preparation and under-analysis."
/He might be using hyperbole to make a point (I know nothing about that), but Scott Michaux ranks Bill Haas' playoff shot as the greatest ever because of the appropriate amount of time he took to play it. Michaux clocks it at 55 seconds, but when you watch the YouTube version, it seems faster considering the circumstances.
Read More"Five hours 20? I thought that was actually pretty quick."
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John Huggan on day one at the Solheim Cup, where pace of play was unprecedented.Masters Competition Commitee Chair Put On The Clock!
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Jim Achenbach swoons over former USGA President Fred Ridley's first appearance in the U.S. Senior Amateur but did note this hiccup for the current Masters Competition Committee chair:USGA Defends Slow Play Penalty: "It’s just an unfortunate coincidence.”
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Golfweek's Ryan Lavner fleshes out the hole-in-one-with-slow-play-penalty madness at the U.S. Junior Amateur, telling us that Connor Klein's group had fallen 20 minutes behind, which created problems when Klein then took his allotted 10 minutes to search for a lost ball while his playing partners finished out the 11th hole of the day.USGA Horror Story Files: Junior Lands Slow Play Penalty On Hole He Aces!
/Chuck Stark in the Kitsap Sun reports on Connor Klein of Long Tree, Colorado, playing in the U.S. Junior Amateur, who aced the 170-yard fifth hole, yet has a 2 on his scorecard to show for it. (Thanks OWGR for the link.)
Read MoreThree Cheers For The R&A! A Proper Slow Play Answer!
/Other tours and governing bodies now just throw up their hands, shrug their shoulders and give the "it's always been that way" answer to slow play questions.
Not for the R&A's Championship Committee head Jim McArthur, with a nice assist from Peter Dawson!
"It's just what I think the game really needs right now, someone that's going to set an example that says you can play fast and win at the highest level."
/His dominating performance at the U.S. Open has been talked in the ground, so much so that CBS's Jim Nantz decided to point out something else besides McIlroy's demeanor and swing that kids should take note of.
"One thing I really enjoyed last week while watching Rory McIlroy's incredible performance at the U.S. Open was how fast a player he is," Nantz said. "Here's a guy that's going to be a superstar and a lot of people are going to try and model things after him ... especially kids watching him play. It's just what I think the game really needs right now, someone that's going to set an example that says you can play fast and win at the highest level."
The caveat: Nantz mentioned this as Johnson Wagner was preparing what one could only surmise was the last shot of his life. It was agony and credit to Nantz for showing no hesitation in sharing his thoughts on Rory, without calling out Wagner. That's for us bloggers to do!
It's O'Hair Who Is The Drain On His Pairings!
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Continuing my catch up from missed reading last week, Jeff Patterson's look at the scoring average of playing partners for bickering tour players Rory Sabbatini and Sean O'Hair--who engaged in a spat after O'Hair claimed Rory was a burden to his fellow golfers--shows that it's slow-poke O'Hair who is dragging his mates down.A Wild And Wacky Local Qualifier
/Garry Smits reports on Monday's US Open qualifier at Sawgrass. It included a DQ for a non-conforming wedge and one player qualifying in spite of a one-shot penalty for slow play.
There also was a controversy over the FSGA's pace-of-play policy, which requires groups to not only finish their rounds in a given time, but finish within 15 minutes of the group ahead of them on both nines.
Six players in two groups didn't make the deadline of four hours, 40 minutes to complete 18 holes; and were more than 15 minutes behind the group ahead of them. Included was Harman, whose 70 was changed to a 71 with the one-stroke penalty. He angrily berated tournament officials for not giving his group a warning during the round. He qualified anyway.
Under the FSGA policy, initiated two years ago, warnings are not issued during play. Stroke penalties can be assessed at the turn and when a group finishes, and can be waived at the discretion of the committee if players were held up by rulings or having to look for lost balls.
"They received the pace-of-play policy in a packet mailed to them before the tournament, got another copy on the first tee, and the policy also is posted on six holes on the course," Dudley said. "There's no excuse for them not knowing it. They don't need warnings from rules officials to know what the policy is. All they have to do is read the information they've been given."
Sabbo Now A Slow Play Advocate!
/Doug Ferguson reports that Rory Sabbatini, notorious fast play advocate, suspension-facing tour star who is a new favorite son of vindicative fans hoping he wins the PGA Tour's flagship event before taking some mandated time off, came to Jonathan Byrd's defense.
Read More“When we’re trying to get 156 players this week, which means there is going to be 26 groups on 18 holes."
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In light of Sunday's Webb Simpson ruling, Larry Dorman looks at the role of a PGA Tour rules staff member. Besides having to deal with brouhahas, their main goal is to figure out how to move players around the course each week and finish 72 holes on Sunday. Increasingly, you hear them say things like this about field sizes.
