The PGA Tour’s gradual play downside has been a thorn within the aspect of golf followers for years, and it looks as if a long-lasting resolution has been discovered after the Tour introduced plans to publish speed-of-play-related statistics, together with the names of the quickest and slowest gamers, in an effort to disgrace gamers into selecting up the tempo.
The Tour’s commissioner, Jay Monahan, made the announcement forward of The Gamers Championship final month. The PGA Tour will begin releasing speed-of-play statistics later this 12 months which can publicly present which gamers are quick and which gamers are gradual primarily based on stroke/time knowledge. They will even check rangefinders at six Tour occasions between the Masters and PGA Championship to see if that helps. As well as, there might be a brand new tempo of play coverage on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas together with the potential for extra stroke penalties which started on April 14th.
“We’ve dedicated to addressing the velocity of play,” Monahan mentioned. “To that finish, I’m excited to formally announce these suggestions from our player-led speed-of-play working group. We are going to start publishing speed-of-play associated statistics later this season. We will even start testing a brand new speed-of-play coverage on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas, starting subsequent month (April), which can embrace assessing penalty strokes for gradual play.”
Gamers Optimistic Over New Rule
Whereas the foundations are a welcome improvement, there have been questions from many corners about whether or not this new strategy will really work. Some gamers, like Justin Thomas, suppose it’s a step in the suitable course. Thomas admits to being on the slower aspect and welcomes the chance to enhance his tempo of play. Others, like Collin Morikawa, imagine that stricter penalties, comparable to stroke penalties, are wanted to actually make a distinction.
Rory McIlroy has additionally weighed in on the problem, suggesting that smaller fields might assist enhance tempo of play. Nonetheless, this resolution additionally comes with its personal disadvantages, as it could restrict enjoying alternatives for some golfers.
The LPGA Tour has already taken a extra aggressive strategy to addressing gradual play, introducing harsher punishments for gamers who exceed their time allotment per shot. Below the brand new pointers, gamers who take too lengthy will obtain fines and even stroke penalties.
Whereas it stays to be seen whether or not the PGA Tour’s new strategy might be efficient, it’s clear that one thing must be executed to deal with the gradual play downside. Many would agree that it is a welcome step in that course. With the sport’s prime gamers and governing our bodies lastly taking motion, there’s hope that golf followers will quickly be capable of take pleasure in a faster-paced and extra thrilling sport.
Photograph by Soheb Zaidi on Unsplash
