Lucas Glover has been around the block.
The soon-to-be 45-year-old joined the PGA Tour two decades ago and has won six career events since, including the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. He’s an experienced veteran who understands how things work on tour—except for the FedEx Cup Fall, but that’s a different story in and of itself. Nevertheless, the former Clemson Tiger is never afraid to express his opinion and, sometimes, disdain for the tour whenever he believes something is wrong.
Look no further than his trashing of the Signature Event model, which Glover called a “selfish money grab” during the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this year.
Well, do you know who else is selfish, according to Glover?
Slow golfers.
“They affect the people they are playing with. They affect the people behind them. And for you weekend warriors out there, you are not good enough to be slow,” Glover said on his Sirius XM Radio Show.
“Tour players, yes, you do affect the people you are playing with and the people behind you. That’s a selfish act. So, speed up.”
But Glover then took his point a step further. He slammed the PGA Tour, which last week released a memo detailing the reduction of field sizes, changes to the FedEx Cup structure, and the elimination of numerous Monday Qualifiers. The tour cited “pace of play” for incorporating these new stipulations, which would take effect in 2026.
Glover does not buy it.
“The fact that the PGA Tour is hiding behind the guys who play slowly to change the field sizes… that’s complete crap,” Glover added.
“How about speed up play? How about having a better policy?”
Glover, who won the Wyndham Championship and the FedEx St. Jude Championship in back-to-back weeks last year, then provided a better solution.
“Everybody says, ‘If you are going to have a complaint, have an answer.’ Well, I have an answer,” Glover said.
“Bad time, you get a [penalty stroke]. Two bad times, you get another [penalty stroke]. Like, add a shot to your score. All of a sudden, guess what? You make the cut on the number, but oh, you had a bad [pace of play], and now you didn’t make money this week. Guess who is going to speed up? That person.”
Maybe that answer would solve the PGA Tour’s pace-of-play crisis, which has seemingly not been enforced for years. But with how things currently stand, and considering pro-golf’s current divide, which has only led to the top players receiving more money, Glover will likely not receive his wish anytime soon.
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.
