Following her runner-up end to Nelly Korda finally week’s ANNIKA pushed by Gainbridge, Charley Hull sounded off on the largest problem plaguing the LPGA: gradual play.
The Englishwoman supplied a “ruthless” answer, saying {that a} participant ought to lose their card after three violations. Lexi Thompson echoed that sentiment regardless of categorizing it as “aggressive.” Nevertheless, she admitted that she “doesn’t disagree with it.”
“I undoubtedly assume [slow play is] a difficulty,” Thompson stated forward of this week’s CME Group Tour Championship.
“Rounds shouldn’t take greater than 4 and a half hours, particularly in threesomes. 4 and a half ought to be the max.”
It took over 5 hours for final week’s remaining pairing to complete their rounds, an unacceptable actuality. On a number of events, Korda and Hull needed to wait between 10 and quarter-hour on the tee, one thing you’d count on at a neighborhood municipal course on a summer time afternoon. Tv protection would go minutes with out displaying certainly one of their pictures, too, not due to commercials however as a result of producers needed to wait on the teams forward. Discuss one simple motive for viewers to flip their tv to one thing else.
You wouldn’t anticipate such a nuisance taking place for the ultimate group—with two of the LPGA’s greatest stars—throughout the penultimate occasion of the season. No less than they didn’t end in the dead of night on Sunday, in contrast to Saturday, when Hull’s group putted out after the solar had set in Florida, irritating followers and gamers alike.
“You’re going to hit a great shot or unhealthy shot,” Thompson added.
“May as effectively not take that a lot time over it. It’s only a recreation. Simply do your routine, commit, and hit it. It’s undoubtedly an issue out right here proper now. So I don’t know what we’ll do to attempt to get it resolved, however hopefully, we’ll simply play faster.”
Thompson acknowledged that LPGA management has to do one thing, or followers will turn into disenfranchised from the game.
“Whether or not it’s fines or no matter it’s, [something] must be performed as a result of we have to play faster,” Thompson emphasised.
“Followers aren’t having fun with being on the market for 5 and a half hours within the warmth. Hopefully, we’ll be faster this week.”
This downside is nothing new, both. It has plagued the LPGA for years, but the music stays the identical. One thing has to alter, or else.
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By. Make sure you try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You possibly can comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as effectively.