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COLIN MONTGOMERIE has praised the European Tour for finally getting tough on the scourge of slow play.
The Ryder Cup legend welcomed the long overdue introduction of one-shot penalties to punish dithering pros.
A new pilot scheme will take place at the rebranded Shot Clock Masters in Austria next summer which will time players on every single swing.
If successful the format could be rolled out across professional golf, including the Majors, in an effort to stamp out one of the biggest issues blighting the sport.
The event, taking place at Diamond Country Club in June, is a beefed-up version of the concept trialled by Tour chiefs on a single hole during the GolfSixes event earlier this year.
Each group will have 50 seconds for the first player to play any given shot – and 40 seconds for subsequent players. Any player who exceeds that time will land a one-shot penalty.
Each player will be given two time-outs per round which will double their allotted time should they be faced with a trickier shot that demands more thought.
Montgomerie, a long-time critic of the Tour’s failure to combat slow play, welcomed the development.
The Scots star said: “Congratulations European Tour. After 30 years a deterrent that will work.
“Pace of play has been determined by the slowest player for too long.”