Critics of the PGA Tour will not have been at all surprised to see the final group take three hours to complete the front nine on Saturday at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
The PGA Tour is facing a battle to keep fans entertained after an underwhelming start to the season. The Sentry attracted poor ratings, while neither Scottie Scheffler or Rory McIlroy have featured so far. So the last thing they needed was for another event to come in for criticism.
The American Express was slated by fans with the final round taking the best part of six hours. And it was unfortunately a similar story at the Farmers Insurance Open.
There were factors which have to be taken into account. The conditions at Torrey Pines were considerably tougher, and the scoring was much worse. So it was always going to be slower.
Dottie Pepper receives fan support after criticising the slow play on the PGA Tour
However, that did not stop CBS on-course reporter Dottie Pepper hitting out at the situation during the final round.
“I think we’re starting to need a new word to talk about this pace of play issue, and it’s respect, for your fellow competitors, for fans, for broadcast, for all of it, it’s just got to get better,” she said.
Unsurprisingly, the comments received a lot of praise on social media. One fan wrote: ‘Get em Dottie!!! It’s an absolute disgrace!’ Meanwhile, another expressed how baffled they are by the situation, saying: ‘Everyone talks about it and nothing gets done. Is it so difficult to address? What am I missing?’
Another viewer wrote: ‘I understand there’s a lot on the line at a high level. But there is absolutely zero excuse for a group to take 3 hours to play 9 holes. The tour needs to look into ways to finish rounds in less than 5 hours. 4 and a half hours should be the max.’
Meanwhile, one fan said: ‘Unwatchable other than majors anymore‘. And Pepper was lauded for accusing some players of a lack of respect, with one person posting: ‘Good for Dottie. It’s ridiculous. And having slightly smaller fields next year isn’t going to fix the problem.’
How TGL shows the way forward for the PGA Tour
Of course, what has not helped the PGA Tour is the start of TGL. While there are reasons to dislike TGL, one of the big success stories has been the shot clock.
The matches have dragged at times, but at least there is an awareness of how long each fixture should take ahead of time. And with that, it has become absurd that the PGA Tour are not looking to do more to tackle slow play.
Waiting for the changes in 2026 is clearly not going to be good enough if the majority of the fans have found that they simply cannot put themselves through the remainder of the 2025 season.
Charley Hull was praised for admitting that she would strip players of tour cards if they receive a certain number of time penalties following The ANNIKA last year. And it seems that that idea is only going to gain more and more support until the PGA Tour do make a significant change.
A shot clock would be difficult to introduce across an event with around 150 players. And there would be times when it would be incredibly unfair. However, if players can call a couple of timeouts each round, it would perhaps represent the fairest way to make a noticeable change.
And if that does not address the issue, then perhaps it would be time to talk about taking drastic measures. But the fact is that Hull’s idea would probably receive more support than ever if put forward today.
The PGA Tour cannot continue to bury its head in the sand.
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