Padraig Harrington has highlighted an issue which consistently emerges on the second hole at Augusta National.
Completing 18 holes at The Masters, particularly during the third and fourth rounds, can prove highly arduous. Augusta’s design often leads to log jams, with Amen Corner known for groups piling up on top of one another.
The 2023 edition, which Jon Rahm won, was particularly infuriating for some. “Yeah, the group in front of us was brutally slow. Jon went to the bathroom like seven times during the round, and we were still waiting,” Brooks Koepka said after the final round.
Another part of the course which proves slow is the par-five second, and Padraig Harrington believes Augusta National must adjust its weekend tee time arrangement.
What Padraig Harrington has said about the second at Augusta National
As well as Amen Corner, Harrington believes the second, followed by the drivable par-four third, slow play down almost immediately.
“Probably the most known and recent ones was the 2023 Masters. At the second tee, there was a 20-minute delay,” Harrington said.
“That couldn’t have been slow play. It’s a 20-minute delay because you’ve got a par-five followed by a drivable par-four. Remember, every person playing the first hole looks across and sees the delay on the second hole and subconsciously slows them down. The minute you see traffic, you’re not going to dive up into it.
“That’s what’s happening. Less numbers will help that, but I will say tournaments haven’t done it in the past. When it comes to Saturday and Sunday, there’s more daylight and fewer tee times so that they could go to 12 or 15-minute intervals. They’ve never done that. The reason is that the TV and spectators at the event don’t want gaps on the golf course. Everybody wants when the players to put the flag in the hole and walk off the green; the spectators and the TV want the next ball to land on the green. There is a conflict here. We need a traffic engineer to sort out slow play.”
Padraig Harrington’s slow play solution at The Masters
Harrington went on to suggest a solution for Masters Tournament organisers, which involves spacing out the morning tee times during days three and four.
“Not to tell Augusta what to do, but they should spread their early tee times out over the weekend because they’re not winning the tournament to make sure there’s as little delay as possible for the later groups when they get to that second tee box,” Harrington added.
“The only way they can do that is to have 15-minute intervals for the first ten groups, but they don’t want 15-minute intervals for the last groups; they want them playing on top of each other.”
Harrington’s comments come after just three PGA Tour players have been penalised for slow play since 1995, the last in 2011. LIV Golf has issued more sanctions in its short two-and-a-half-year existence.
The PGA Tour is considering changes that will supposedly improve the pace of play. However, golf fans will have to wait until the season begins to see if there has been a marked improvement.
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