Following her runner-up finish to Nelly Korda at last week’s ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge, Charley Hull sounded off on the biggest issue plaguing the LPGA: slow play.
The Englishwoman provided a “ruthless” solution, saying that a player should lose their card after three violations. Lexi Thompson echoed that sentiment despite categorizing it as “aggressive.” However, she admitted that she “does not disagree with it.”
“I definitely think [slow play is] an issue,” Thompson said ahead of this week’s CME Group Tour Championship.
“Rounds shouldn’t take more than four and a half hours, especially in threesomes. Four and a half should be the max.”
It took over five hours for last week’s final pairing to finish their rounds, an unacceptable reality. On multiple occasions, Korda and Hull had to wait between 10 and 15 minutes on the tee, something you would expect at a local municipal course on a summer afternoon. Television coverage would go minutes without showing one of their shots, too, not because of commercials but because producers had to wait on the groups ahead. Talk about one easy reason for viewers to flip their television to something else.
You would not anticipate such a nuisance happening for the final group—with two of the LPGA’s biggest stars—during the penultimate event of the season. At least they did not finish in the dark on Sunday, unlike Saturday, when Hull’s group putted out after the sun had set in Florida, irritating fans and players alike.
“You’re going to hit a good shot or bad shot,” Thompson added.
“Might as well not take that much time over it. It’s just a game. Just do your routine, commit, and hit it. It’s definitely a problem out here right now. So I don’t know what we’ll do to try to get it resolved, but hopefully, we’ll just play quicker.”
Thompson acknowledged that LPGA leadership has to do something, or fans will become disenfranchised from the sport.
“Whether it’s fines or whatever it is, [something] needs to be done because we need to play quicker,” Thompson emphasized.
“Fans aren’t enjoying being out there for five and a half hours in the heat. Hopefully, we’ll be quicker this week.”
This problem is nothing new, either. It has plagued the LPGA for years, yet the song remains the same. Something has to change, or else.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
