Among several “Official Notices” posted on the wall outside the players’ dressing room in Aronomink this week it’s a pace of play chart, which looks very similar to the pace of play charts you’ll find at every other stop on the tour.
The table lists the allotted time that each group of three (or two) golfers must play each hole—eg, 16 minutes to play the par-4 1st as a group of three; 13 minutes to play par-3 5; 19 minutes to play the par-5 16th, etc. Below these numbers, the table lists an estimated total time. Groups of three from the first group are expected to play the first nine holes in no more than 2 hours 21 minutes and 18 holes in no more than 4 hours 44 minutes. A second time group is also provided for groups that emerge from the 10th group, such as Justin ThomasKeegan Bradley and Cameron Young did at 8:29 a.m. Friday.
As is the case in major championships, the pace has been slow this week – really slow. 15-minute waits at the tee boxes. Three groups simultaneously in the same hole. Players sitting on the ground, their backs pressed against the box score, as they wait for delays. The glacial pace at which one of the first groups came out didn’t help matters RECITED played: 5 hours and 40 minutes. You can fly from Los Angeles to New York at that time.
The causes were many: gusty winds, flaming greens, demanding pins that Scottie Scheffler called it “absurd.” The weight and stress of what’s at stake. A two tee start. And, of course, the way many of the world’s best players go about their business: intentionally. If the second round was a wheel, it desperately needed oil.
Policing all this slack isn’t easy, but tournament officials are trying. As those locker room rules say, a group is considered “out of position” if…
…has finished playing a hole (meaning that the ball of the last player in the set to be teed has been removed from the hole) by exceeding the maximum time allowed for the number of holes played (see attached chart) and:
a. They reach an unplayable par-3 hole and all the players in the group in front of them have played their shots from the teeing area of ​​the next hole. b. Reach an unplayable par-4 or par-5 hole before all players in the group have played their shots from the teeing area.
Which brings us back to Thomas, Bradley and Young.
On the 4th hole – the 13th of the day – the official rules the PGA Tour Ken Tackett motored them into a cart and issued an official pace warning, which meant they were “on schedule” for the duration of the round. (In general terms, after players have been marked, a first “bad time” results in a warning; a second bad time earns a one-stroke penalty; a third bad time results in a two-stroke penalty; and a fourth bad time is no good at all. Disqualification.)
Thing is, Thomas and Bradley didn’t think they deserved the slap. As Tackett huddled with the golfers, they retreated, resulting in a brief verbal altercation that was caught on ESPN cameras.
“We just didn’t go with it,” Thomas said after his round. “It’s hard because it’s all about timing. What is a par time? How can a par time be the same on this course when it’s 25 and the pins are hard than if it’s not? And does the par time change every day? There are so many factors that go into it.”
Thomas did not dispute that his group was behind, but claimed that because they were not holding the group behind their group, the committee should have given them a grace.
“The hard part for me with all the pace of the game,” Thomas continued, “is that there’s so much that goes into golf and there’s so much that goes hole-by-hole in terms of, are you hitting it close, are you able to touch it, or (do) you have to score, things like that, as far as, are you holding the group that makes it very difficult or not.”
However, the warning seemed to have served its purpose. Thomas said his group caught up with the group ahead of them just one hole later.
Thomas, who bogeyed the 4th hole, birdied the fifth and bogeyed the 6th on his way to a one-under 69, said he refused to let the warning faze him, noting that on his first shot after being attended, he pulled away from his address. “The last thing I’m going to do is make a mistake because I feel like I’m rushing,” he said. “I just went about my business and was ready to play when it was my turn, like I feel normal.”
Thomas’ point about the overly difficult course affecting pace was echoed by at least one other player, world No. 10 Chris Gotterup.
“I don’t think it’s unfair by any stretch of the imagination,” Gotterup said of the setup. “But you won’t have any four and a half hour shifts here.”
On Friday, even five hours was asking too much.
