Slow play – highlighted by recent winners Bryson DeChambeau and JB Holmes – is the biggest talking point in golf at the moment, with Adam Scott calling for immediate action.
DeChambeau’s win in Dubai and Holmes in this past week’s Genesis Open were left with a blemish after both players were roasted on social media for slow play.
Now 2013 Masters champion Scott is calling on tour organisers to take a stand, even at his own expense.
‘Make me the victim,’ said Scott, who played in the final group with Holmes at Riviera.
‘I’ll take the penalty. The only way it’s going to work is if you enforce it. We’ve seen too many years, too much complaining about it, and zero action.’
Scott believes the tour must hit players financially in order to arrest the ongoing problem.
‘There’s a big media fuss, a big feeling [among fans] that we play slow, and we do, but the tour is an entertainment business and a big money maker for a lot of people.
‘Until sponsors and TV tell the commissioner you guys play too slow and we’re not putting money up, it’s a waste of time talking about because it’s not going to change.’
Fellow tour pro Zach Blair was also quick to call out slow players.
‘Slow play in golf is disrespectful and unfair to the rest of the field … there’s got to be a better way to monitor and enforce these situations,’ he tweeted.
Holmes defended his actions following his win, saying: ‘Well, you play in 25-mile-an-hour gusty winds and see how fast you play when you’re playing for the kind of money and the points and everything that we’re playing for.
‘I was never even close to being on the clock all week. When I first got out here [on tour], I was really slow, but I’ve sped up quite a bit. Like I said, the conditions made it tougher, too. Sometimes you’re waiting for the wind to stop blowing 30 miles an hour.
‘There’s times when I’m probably too slow, but it is what it is. I was never on the clock. I never even got a warning.’
