Quick question:
Will the PGA Tour ever penalize a player for slow play?
The answer:
No, never, not anytime soon, maybe not in our lifetime.
Basically the PGA Tour is one of the world’s best enablers of slow play. It simply turns its back — ignore the problem and it will go away.
Slow play was once again on display for everyone to witness Sunday at The Travelers.
The culprits? The pairing of J.B. Holmes and Anirban Lahiri.
Holmes was the prime offender — the guy literally takes forever to hit a shot. Forever!
Maybe the tour’s slowest routine.
How about if we flash back to the 18th hole on Sunday last January at The Farmers, where Holmes held Alex Noren hostage.
Took Holmes four minutes and 10 seconds to decide what to do with his second shot on the par five and after all the time-wasting, he laid up.
Luke Donald took to Twitter about that incident:
Last group was over a hole behind, we can all blame JB…and yes the player should take responsibility for their pace of play, but if they don’t that’s why we have Tour officials – they needed to step in a while ago IMO.
On Sunday at The Travelers, once again Holmes was up to his mind-numbing pace of play.
Once again, he caused his pairing to finish a full hole behind the group in front on a golf course that’s not all that hard.
Poor Paul Casey — he had to wait over almost all his shots thanks to good old J.B up in front of him.
And the guy’s a repeat offender.
But no, the tour covers its collective eyes and J.B. continues with his best turtle impression.
We’re with Luke Donald.
The Tour needs to do something — only problem is — it won’t.
