As another PGA Tour event gets marked off in the books, we are once again talking about slow play and its impact on the game.
The AT&T at Pebble Beach this week didn’t quite have the same slow feel to it as the Farmers the week prior but still, there were issues.
Among the players focussed on was Tom Kim.
Kim is known as one of the slowest players on the TOUR and at Pebble, he was very much on the radar of commentators and fans.
Indeed, at one point Kim took nearly a minute over the ball before ballooning it into the water.
But according to Smylie Kaufman, Kim could well be battling with some issues we’re just not aware of.
Why Tom Kim is playing so slowly on the PGA Tour right now
Getting onto the topic of slow play at Pebble Beach, Kaufman was asked about Tom Kim and the issues he was facing.
However, almost defending Kim, Kaufman suggested the Korean may well just be stuck in a bit of a rut at the moment with parts of his game.
“Well, we’ll use Tom Kim, obviously, because he’s the person this week, but there’s plenty of other guys that have to get faster. Tom definitely is more deliberate in his conversations, always has been since he’s been on tour. I just think about Joe Skovron, when those two started working together, how their conversations always seem to just keep on going and going back and forth, back and forth, which I personally as a player, I love,” Kaufman commented.
“That’s some of the best part of TV. I think when guys mosey around and take too long to get the routines set up, before they even do anything, that’s the part that bothers me as a player. It’s like, I understand some guys, like right now, Tom is having issues over the golf ball, pulling the trigger.
“It’s pretty obvious. It’s just, he just can’t one, two go. It’s something that he hasn’t shown that he cares enough to really work on.
“He may be working on it, but just can’t do it in competition. But it sure seems like to me that he either, one, is mentally struggling with that, or two, just is like, hey, I’m just going to go at my speed. And if that’s the case, right? Like that’s what we want to, you know, try to, try to change, because that’s the type of stuff. We just need guys working on it, and hey, he might be working on it. And it could be really difficult for him.”
Rory McIlroy’s controversial solution to fix slow play
It seems like every man and his dog has had their say on how to resolve slow play in recent weeks but Rory McIlroy might have one of the hottest takes yet.
McIlroy has suggested smaller fields will help, which will, in turn, mean less players playing.
“There’s a lot of different answers, but not every answer is not going to make everyone happy. I could say smaller fields. Smaller fields, smaller fields would help pace of play, but that takes away playing opportunities from people and that’s going to p— some people off,” McIlroy commented.
Upcoming PGA Tour changes for 2026 could well have an impact but the reality is that with it being an issue for so long, we’re likely to be in the same scenario in the future.
The TOUR have been encouraged to issue shot penalties and even disqualifications but quite how that becomes enforceable, is another matter entirely.
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