Slow play policy to be reviewed after criticism

The PGA Tour has announced plans to review its current pace-of-play policy after golf’s slow-play debate turned personal.

Bryson DeChambeau came in for stinging criticism from fellow professionals during the Northern Trust after video emerged of him taking two minutes and 20 seconds – the limit is 40 seconds – to hit an 8ft putt during the second round at Liberty National.

Eng land ’s Edd ie Pepperell labelled the American a “singleminded twit” while Ian Poulter implied that the world number eight was one of the players who “continually disrespect their fellow pros and continue to break the rules without a conscience”.

It is not the first time DeChambeau’s slow play has been highlighted and world number one Brooks Koepka made no secret of his displeasure at the time taken by playing partner JB Holmes during the final round of the Open Championship at Royal Portrush.

Rory McIlroy said last week that slow players receive too many warnings before being penalised and, although P GA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has previously said he does not consider slow play to be a problem, the latest incident may finally prompt action.

“The Tour’s current pace-of-play policy only addresses players whose groups have fallen out of position,” the PGA Tour said in a statement.

“The Tour is now exploring whether to expand its policy to also address players whose groups are in position, but who take an excessive amount of time to hit a shot.”

Tyler Dennis, the Tour’s chief of operations, said: “We are really focused at the moment on leveraging our ShotLink technology to assist us with these factors.

“This year, we have rolled out version 2.0 of an application which allows the officials to monitor every group in real-time, from their positions out on the course, and respond more quickly when a group is getting behind.

“We know that the individual habits of players when they are preparing to hit a shot can quickly become a focal point in today’s world, and our players and fans are very passionate about this issue.

“We are currently in the process of reviewing this aspect of pace of play and asking ourselves, ‘Is there a better way to do it?’

“We think technology definitely plays a key role in all of this and we are thinking about new and innovative ways to use it to address these situations.”

Unde r cu r ren t guidelines, a player’s group must be deemed to be out of position before being timed.

At that point an individual would receive a warning the first time he exceeded the allotted time limit (50 seconds if first to play, 40 seconds thereafter) and would only be penalised for a second such “bad time” in the same round.

Pepperell apologised for his “twit” comment in a tweet yesterday.

Getty. Bryson DeChambeau has come under fire.