Five hours and forty minutes. That’s the time it took for Charley Hull, Nelly Korda, and Alexa Pano to complete their third round at the ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican this Saturday. Almost six hours to complete a round of three golfers.
The waits were constant, and they had to kill time practically at every tee. The English player wanted to address this at the conclusion of the tournament: “It’s ridiculous, and I feel sorry for the fans for how slowly they had to wait. Yesterday we were on the course for nearly six hours when at home I play fourballs on a challenging golf course, and we complete the round in three and a half, four hours. It’s crazy.”
It’s not a new problem, far from it. Hull, one of the fastest players on the circuit, is aware of how much of a scourge slow play can be for both the players and the fans who want to follow the tournament, whether live or on television.
The English player never leaves anyone indifferent and has made her stance clear on how this situation could be changed: “I’m quite ruthless, but I have it clear. If you have three bad timings, each of them will mean two penalty strokes. However, on the third sanction, you lose your Tour card instantly and have to go back to playing Q-School. I’m sure that would hurry a lot of people up as they wouldn’t want to lose their Tour card,” stated the world number eleven. “That would end slow play, but they’ll never do it,” the English player is certain.
The LPGA as a circuit makes some effort to curb slow play, with several cases of penalties in recent years. But, obviously, it’s a lax application and doesn’t seem to be entirely sufficient. Despite the threat of sanctions and fines, rounds of more than five hours are the norm rather than the exception.
Charley Hull’s measure remains a proposal that doesn’t seem likely to gain more traction, but it’s clear that it’s a more than recurring debate that needs to be addressed. What would you do to curb slow play? Do you agree with the English player?
