Joy of Golf: Breaking down European Tour's pace-of-play policy

Joy Chakravarty 21:19 28/01/2016
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  • Jordan Spieth who got the first warning for slow play under new European Tour rules.

    Just before the DP World Tour Championship last November, Keith Pelley, the new European Tour chief executive, met a majority of Tour members, including stars like Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson. In those meetings, most players singled out pace of play as one of the biggest problems they faced all year round. Pelley promised to look into the matter, and while speaking to the media in November, he said tackling slow play would be his priority.

    The Tour boss then challenged Chief Referee John Paramor and his team to come up with a solution and they delivered in less than two months. It was passed at the Players Tour Committee meeting on the Tuesday of Abu Dhabi week and adopted from day one of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

    As it turned out, the first player to fall foul of it was the world No1 Jordan Spieth. The American later said he deserved the rap, having not read the memo despite being told that the European Tour policy is different from the PGA Tour. However, the rules seems to be a bit difficult to understand, so I thought I would just break it down and show what it entails…

    So, what is the new policy?

    There are now two types of Pace of Play observation – ‘monitoring’ and ‘timing’.

    A player has 50 seconds if he is the first player in his group to hit his shot, and the other players will have 40 seconds each.

    A group will be ‘monitored’ as soon as they are out of place. All players will be notified that they are being ‘monitored’. Spieth’s group was being monitored from the third hole onwards.

    If any player exceeds the time limit while being ‘monitored’, he will be assessed a ‘monitoring penalty’. Spieth took more than 40 seconds to hit his putt on the eighth hole. From that moment on, the player will be timed.

    Two ‘monitoring penalties’ will constitute a ‘bad timing’ and result in a fine of £2,000 (Dh10m). This will increase by £2,000 for each subsequent ‘bad timing’.

    How is the European Tour system different from the US?

    The PGA Tour allows 60 seconds for the first player in the group to hit his shot, and then 40 seconds for the subsequent players. Also, unlike in the US, European Tour measures pace of play by whether a group keeps to the starting interval between previous groups.

    What does the Tour hope to achieve with this?

    Paramor said more than targeting the slow players, this system is going to make it easier for the other two players in the group, who were forced to increase their already fast pace of play because the whole group would be on the clock.

    A slow player, the moment he knows his group is being watched by a referee, tends to pick up their speed.

    Will the slow players be named and their fines revealed?

    Yes. Unlike the PGA Tour, the European Tour reveals the fines being imposed on players.

    How much time each round is the Tour hoping to save?

    According to Paramor, they expect to cut down the completion of a round by at least 15 minutes.

    Apart from the fact that faster players will not get frustrated because of a slow player in their group, it also means that Tournament fields can be increased by at least a couple of flights (two threeballs, or six players).

    Finally, is world No1 Spieth a tortoise on the course, and why was he annoyed when warned?

    Not really. Spieth’s got a very decent pace of play. However, the group was being monitored when they fell out of place, and the first person after that to take more than the allowed time limit was the American as he lined up his six-feet birdie putt on the eighth hole.

    Spieth felt the group behind them had not even reached their balls on the fairway, and hence he could take his own time, but that is exactly what Paramor and his men are trying to achieve. They do not want a group’s pace of play to be dependent on players in the other groups.

    Loving Robie Fowler

    Youngsters just love Rickie Fowler. In fact, I think he is easily the most popular golfer among the new generation. It was no different during the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. There were plenty trying to get his autograph, and of course, there were the mandatory few who dressed up like him – in the customary orange during the final round – and followed him throughout the round.

    And then there was an interesting incident on Saturday. Kids are known to ask for memorabilia from the players, which, in most

    case, is restricted to their golf balls or gloves. Some players are even happy to hand over their caps after the round.

    But the most unusual request was when a kid asked: “Can I have your shoes Rickie?”

    He was obviously smitten by the new fashion trend being set by Fowler, who has been wearing high-top golf shoes this year.

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