The PGA Tour will finally clamp down on slow golfers after facing calls from Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas on Tuesday to name and shame the worst offenders.
The Tour keeps a list of the dawdlers, but have previously resisted demands to make the details public and almost never apply sanctions to breaches of their 40-second shot rule.
However, commissioner Jay Monahan confirmed at the Players Championship in Florida on Tuesday they will begin rolling out their data later this season in efforts to tackle an issue that has seen some rounds stretch well beyond five hours. They will trial penalty strokes on the feeder circuits of the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas.
While Monahan was strangely non-committal on whether serial offenders would be directly identified, world No 4 Morikawa wants full disclosure and insisted financial penalties would not be enough of a deterrent.
He said: ‘I think after talking to some guys, you just have to start giving guys actual penalties, whether it be strokes or FedExCup (points). What I’ve learned is that monetary fines are useless. We make so much money, and some guys frankly could care less.
‘I don’t know how much the fines are, but whatever amount they are, and I think they care more about playing good golf and making sure they make the play-offs. That’s (ranking points) where it hits hard and I see no issue with it.
PGA Tour chief Jay Monahan (pictured) has stated there will be a clamp down on slow players
Collin Morikawa (pictured) is one high-profile player who called for something to be done
Monahan also delivered an update on a potential merger with LIV Golf chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan (right) and US president Donald Trump (left)
‘To me, there’s no issue with letting it out (naming the slow players). It’s only going to make things better because then you’re either going to have a target on you, put a little more pressure and hopefully you pick it up, or you get penalised. It’s very simple.
World No 9 Justin Thomas added: ‘I do think it would be something that would be helpful. I think that we’re making progress, but at the same time it can always get better.’
Despite optimism around pace of play, progression in merger discussions between the Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund remain tediously slow. Talks led by US president Donald Trump have so far not had the desire effect of a working relationship between the PGA Tour and the LIV circuit, with Rory McIlroy admitting last week that an agreement is not ‘close’.
Trump’s involvement had initially been heralded as key, owing to his sway over the US Department of Justice, who were concerned a merger would breach anti-competition laws. However, the practical difficulties of aligning two fractious tours has proven more complicated and it seems fanciful that any combined schedule could be achieved before 2027, if at all.
Monahan attempted to offer an upbeat assessment, but was characteristically tight-lipped on the specifics on Tuesday. How the two tours might dovetail, and indeed how team golf could be incorporated into the landscape, were brushed over.
He said: ‘President Trump is a lifelong golf fan. He believes strongly in the game’s power and potential, and he has been exceedingly generous with his time and influence to help bring a deal together. He wants to see the game reunified. We want to see the game reunified.
‘His involvement has made the prospect of reunification very real. When you’re in the midst of complex negotiations, particularly when you may be near a breakthrough, there are ebbs and flows in the discussion.
‘The most important thing is the mutual respect that we’ve built over the last couple of years. We appreciate Yasir’s (Yasir Al-Rumayyan, head of the PIF) innovative vision, and we can see a future where we welcome him on to our board and work together to move the global game forward. As part of our negotiations, we believe there’s room to integrate important aspects of LIV Golf into the PGA Tour platform. We’re doing everything that we can to bring the two sides together.’
