SLOW PLAY IS A SORE POINT
SOREN KJELDSEN believes the eyes of the golfing world will be on the European Tour as it stages the inaugural Shot Clock Masters.
This week’s event at Austria’s Diamond Country Club will be the first in professional golf to deploy a countdown on each shot from all 120 players.
A digital clock mounted on a buggy will follow each group and be operated by a referee. Each player will have 50 seconds to take their shot if they are first to play, including tee shots on par threes, or 40 seconds for tee shots on other holes or when second or third to play.
Players will incur a one-shot penalty for each bad time incurred, which will be shown as a red card against their name on the leaderboard. They also have the right to call two time extensions during a round which will allow them twice as long to play their shot.
“It’s going to be really interesting and I think it’s gathered the attention of the golfing world,” Danish star Kjeldsen said of the welcome experiment to try to eradicate slow play. “It will be really interesting to see how it all pans out, how much time we save and how much stress the slow players are going to be under.”
The 43-year-old former World Cup winner added: “With regards to the time extensions, it’s important to look at it that it shouldn’t really be necessary. I think it’s OK that they are in there if you get into an extraordinary situation, but overall you should play within the 50 or 40 seconds.”