Two-time major champion Collin Morikawa believes the PGA Tour should follow the LPGA Tour’s lead in cracking down on slow play.
Under new policies which will come into effect in March, LPGA players who take one to five seconds longer than the permitted time to play their shot will receive a fine.
Players who take six to 15 seconds longer to play their shot will receive a one-shot penalty and those taking more than 16 seconds longer will be given a two-stoke penalty.
While Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen was given a one-shot penalty during the first round of the 2024 BMW Australian PGA Championship on the DP World Tour, the last penalty on the PGA Tour was handed out in 2017.
“With the aspect of the fans, I realise they’re complaining about slow play, but if you showed them more shots I don’t think they would complain about the slow play, right?” Morikawa said in a press conference ahead of The Genesis
Invitational.
“But it is an issue on the Tour. By no means is it something that should be looked over. It should be solved.
The R&A has announced the qualification pathways for The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush where a new category will enable players competing in LIV Golf to earn a place in The Open
“Obviously you see what the LPGA’s doing. You need to start fining people. Look, if I got slapped on the wrist and got a fine, absolutely would I not want to be fined again.
“It’s just like the NBA, like the technicals. Some guys are OK with getting fined every week for Ts. If guys are OK getting technicals and getting penalties out here on Tour because they’re slow, so be it.
“Something needs to happen and no one wants to be that guinea pig, that first guy to do it and to get it, but it has so start somewhere.”
Highlights from the final round of the WM Phoenix Open from TPC Scottsdale, Arizona
Morikawa also said he would have no issue if a list of bad times and penalties was made public, adding: “It’s not going to be that bad if you let a list out.
“Whether it’s public or not, I think you’re focusing on the wrong thing. It’s more just you’ve got to do something about it, and I don’t think enough people are getting fined or enough people are getting penalised.”
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The Genesis Invitational is being staged at Torrey Pines following the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles which prompted the tournament to relocate from Riviera Country Club.
Torrey Pines also hosted the Farmers Insurance Open three weeks earlier. It is the first time since 2020 that two different PGA Tour events have been played at the same venue in the same season.
Watch The Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines on Sky Sports Golf this week. Early coverage is live from 5.30pm on Thursday ahead of full coverage at 8pm. Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW.
