The biggest issue on the PGA Tour right now is slow play, and fans want it to be addressed as soon as possible.
Even Rory McIlroy’s incredible victory at The Masters last weekend did not totally distract viewers from the ongoing debate.
Several players have made suggestions in recent times on what the PGA Tour should do, including Collin Morikawa.
The good news for the world number four is that they seem to have listened to his advice, as golf expert Rex Hoggard explained.
Rex Hoggard reveals PGA Tour’s plan to fix slow play problem
Hoggard spoke to a PGA Tour official before the RBC Heritage and said that they are trying to “find a positive way” to address the issue.
Many have called for the slowest players to be ‘named and shamed’, but the Tour ideally wants to avoid that scenario.
Hoggard thinks their existing plans, which should take a few months to come to fruition, won’t work for one simple reason.
“You referenced the naming and shaming part of it,” he said. “I had a chance to talk with a PGA Tour official about this yesterday. I would anticipate them coming up with whatever that list is going to look like before the end of the year. I was told it’ll be a month or two because they’re still digging into the numbers.
“What they want to try, and I don’t think it’s going to work, but I certainly understand where they’re coming from, is to find a positive way of doing this. What they don’t want is naming and shaming, which is what you just said.
“This official did a good job of pointing out that let’s take the data, and for example, Ryan Lavner’s average stroke time is 38 seconds, but then you can put it into context and on Friday, when he’s within two strokes of the cut line, it takes him 42 seconds. Or, on Sunday, when he’s within five strokes of the lead, it takes him 43 seconds.
“You see where I’m going here. They’re trying to find a way to turn this into a meaningful stat instead of just pointing and going, ‘That guy’s slow and that guy’s not, and that guy should be shamed.’
“I know what they’re trying to do; I can’t imagine it’s going to work because again, I had a conversation this morning with Billy Horschel, what this is going to boil down to is someone looking at that list and showing up to Hilton Head this weekend and start ridiculing whoever the slowest player on that list is.”
Why Collin Morikawa will be pleased about latest PGA Tour development
Collin Morikawa expressed one of the most ruthless opinions on slow play, as he wants all the data to become available and strong penalties introduced.
“I think it should be released, I don’t know why you wouldn’t want it released, and I think after talking with some guys, I think you just have to start stroking guys and giving guys actual penalties, whether it be strokes or FedEx Cup. What I’ve learned is that monetary fines are useless,” he said.
So, he should be pleased with the latest development that the PGA Tour plans to share the data on how long players take per shot.
Morikawa obviously considers himself quick, so it won’t be an issue for him, but the slower players probably won’t enjoy being outed, especially if fans then take it too far on the course.
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