The Loop

A slowwwww start to Solheim Cup

August 22, 2009

Given the spirited discussions of pace of play in recent weeks, the interminable first day of the Solheim Cup was rather disturbing, six-hour morning rounds that extended into the afternoon and delayed the start of afternoon play by an hour.

Golf World's Ron Sirak noted it on a Twitter post: "First group has played 12 holes in a little over four hours. A sundial has been brought in to measure pace of play."

The name of John Paramor was invoked by more than one in the media ("no John Paramor here to speed things up," Noel O'Reilly wrote in the Irish Times). Paramor is the European Tour rules official who issued the infamous slow-play warning to Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington on the 16th tee of the final round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Spectator golf is an exercise in tedium even when moving at a fast clip by the game's standards. The importance of the Solheim Cup notwithstanding, at this rate, it isn't likely

to convince those who perhaps are being introduced to the game for the first time that it's one worth pursuing.

-- John Strege