"We've settled down now to a glacier pace here on the 10th hole."

Thanks to John Strege for documenting Gary McCord's comment on the last group's slow play Sunday at Harbour Town. I heard it and swore I must have been wishfully thinking that an announcer just called out the leaders of a PGA Tour event!

When Davis and Furyk appeared to be dawdling on the 10th green on Sunday, CBS' Gary McCord said, "We've settled down now to a glacier pace here on the 10th hole."

They were playing twosomes on Sunday at the Verizon Heritage and it still took more than four hours to complete play.

Do you think that just maybe the networks are tired of the slow play and extended finishes caused by slow play? Finally?

Monty Running Up Tab To Make Celtic Manor Palatable

From an unbylined AP story:

The alterations, unveiled to the European golfing media on Monday, have been implemented despite the fact that the Celtic Manor course was built and opened for play for $8 million just two years ago.

Ah, another shining example for the game's well-being.

Montgomerie has had many of the course bunkers deepened, had the rough made consistently thicker than its had been for the Wales Open on the European Tour in 2008 and 2009, and has insisted the greens be firmer and less receptive to spin.

“All along, Colin has insisted that he was not interested in gaining a home advantage,” said Jim Mckenzie, Celtic Manor’s director of golf courses.

“If Europe do regain the Ryder Cup he wants it to be because they have played the better golf and not because the course has been tricked up.

“And in all my dealings with Colin since he was appointed Europe’s Ryder Cup captain I have to say he has not been over demanding.”

Not over demanding. Just demanding.

Well Wasn't That A Strange Way To End A Golf Tournament...**

I'm not sure what was more bizarre about the conclusion to the final Verizon-sponsored Heritage Classic...

• That Brian Davis seemingly explained to Slugger White that he might have violated the rules because Slugger didn't see it happen, even though it was a playoff and there was nothing else to be watching

• That fans were booing the time it took to check with the replay booth whether a rule had been broken

• That CBS was showing its credits over a compelling playoff situation prior to Davis hitting his shot.
• That Davis actually violated the loose impediment rule when the item in question appeared rooted in the ground, but clearly someone thought it wasn't
• That CBS didn't have time for a quick post round interview (you go affiliates!)

Anyway, odd but as Jim Nantz noted, quite admirable of Davis to have immediately questioned what happened and to have called this on himself.

If you saw it, thoughts?

Update on 2010-04-19 07:27 by Geoff

**John Vander Borght explains what went wrong during the Heritage playoff and why it was indeed a penalty.

Slugger White explained what happened after the round and it sounds like he issued a gentle warning prior to Davis entering the hazard, which might explain why Davis called out his mistake so quickly. Davis doesn't mention that in his comments.

Well, when he hit the ball in the hazard, I cautioned him not to touch anything loose. When I went down in there, he said fine. And it's really strange, all these reeds that were loose, most of them were going this way, and this one reed was sticking out just outside his ball, I guess. And he looked and looked and looked, and when he took the club away he ticked it. And he immediately came to me -- I couldn't see it. The wind was blowing, so I couldn't see it against the sand. And he assured me that he ticked it when he took the club away. He called it on himself immediately.

The SI/golf.com Confidential team, in between debating Jim Furyk's place in golf history and what's wrong with Sergio--those hot button issues--were not very positive about CBS's coverage of the situation.

Van Sickle: TV did a lousy job of explaining the penalty. Viewers had to be confused. I was.
Herre: Faldo wouldn't shut up! You could make out the conversation Slugger White was having on his handheld — whenever Faldo wasn't talking over what was being said. Poor job by CBS.

Herre: For a journeyman who has never won on the PGA Tour, Davis was impressive. I don't think even the armchair rules officials would've picked up on his error.

Morfit: In the end it was much ado about nothing, right? Doesn't Furyk win the playoff on that hole even if Davis doesn't touch a loose impediment? Weird scene down on the beach, though. I thought I'd clicked on the Clamming Channel.

Evans: Not sure what to make of Davis not finishing the hole after all that overly officious professionalism and honesty. It was funny to see Slugger White tell Furyk that he still had to putt out after Davis shook his hand.

"That's how it started."

Thanks to reader Andrew for the new Met Golfer roundtable on rules. It seems Arnold Palmer is now getting official credit for the groove rule change.

Dick, can you take us through the process of how the 2010 condition of competition on grooves came about:

Rugge: It started with Arnold Palmer, who came here to the USGA offices in January 2001 for a meeting to talk about a lot of things regarding equipment.  He sat next to me, and near the end of our meeting, he stuck his finger in my face and kind of scolded me and said, "The biggest mistake the USGA ever made was to allow square grooves in the game."  That's how it started.

As reader Andrew noted, "I wonder what would have happened had Palmer said the biggest mistake they made was letting the ball go so far."