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10 Things About Slow Play

Ashley Mayo, Alex Myers, Sam Weinman — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 04:00:00 GMT

A quick summary of all things S-L-O-W in golf

Putting the heckling of Keegan Bradley at the Tiger Woods Challenge in perspective

Steve Hennessey — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 23:22:00 GMT

Photo: Keegan Bradley was on the receiving end of some heckling from fans this week at Sherwood C.C. Courtesy of Stephen Dunn/Getty Images. By Stephen Hennessey It seems like we've entered another era of...

Punchlines on the Rory McIlroy bobble head that doesn't look like Rory McIlroy

Steve Hennessey — Wed, 30 May 2012 18:04:00 GMT

At Golf World, our Front 9 Punchline Contest allows our fans' to helps us write our magazine. Every Sunday, we invite readers to contribute a snappy comment for one item in the Front 9 feature...

Kevin Na gets upset after being put on the clock at Colonial

Fri, 25 May 2012 19:33:00 GMT

Kevin Na, the man with the stuttering golf swing, ran afoul of the law at the Crowne Plaza Invitational in Friday's second round when his threesome with Johnny Huh and Aaron Baddeley were placed on the clock for slow play. Na objected to the action strenuously. Huh shot a 66 Friday and was at four-under par through 36 holes. Baddeley's 70 left him one-over par going to the weekend. Na made three bogeys after being put on the clock -- Nos. 9, 12 and 14 -- but birdied Nos. 16 and 17 to shoot 71 and also be at one over after 36 holes. Here's what Na had to say after Friday's round at Colonial CC:

"We were in position all day. We were waiting the first few holes. I'm constantly looking where we are in position. Off the sixth tee we were in perfect position, off the seventh tee we were doing fine, we were in perfect position. We struggled a little bit on eighth, the par-3, as a group because we had long shots and long putts coming in and we stand on nine and we get off the tee and they are telling us we are on the clock. I get on nine green and I look down 10 fairway and they are on the green. We have an 11-minute interval and we are in position. After I putted on the hole I called them over and said, 'Look, we're in position, we shouldn't be on the clock.' That's all."

Asked if he thought he was being singled out, Na said: "No comment, no comment."

But he was clearly angry:

He Said, She Said: Do women play slower than men?

Ashley Mayo — Tue, 22 May 2012 18:40:00 GMT

In a weekly series called "He Said, She Said," Golf Digest Associate Editor Ashley Mayo will address your views on gender-related issues in golf. The former collegiate golfer is 26. She somehow maintains a 6...

Stingers: Why golf needs a shot clock

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:14:00 GMT

I want to write about slow play but I can't get started.

Wait.

There.

OK, I'm good.

Wait.

Pull the trigger!

Here's an idea: How about Commissioner Tim Finchem pulls the trigger? How about the game of golf pulls the trigger? How about we realize that as the world gets faster in every conceivable way, our game -- tour and amateur alike -- plods along at an excruciating pace. We're inching to a stop. We're pathetic. Golf has become not what you do when you hit the ball. Golf is what you do after you toss the grass in the air, look at your yardage book, make sure there's no one within four holes who might make a putt, and rehearse your swing. For the first of four times.

Kevin Na's painful pre-shot routine is a notable example of golf's slow-play problem, but it's not the only one. Photo by Getty Images

This is not a plea to speed our game up so that we don't lose players. This is a HOWL to speed play up so we don't lose our game.

Kuchar puts a happy face on a 'slow'-news weekend

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:10:00 GMT

It was an odd Sunday at the Players Championship, one in which the final-round focus was bookended by men responsible for the most groans and grins.

The winner by a smile was Matt Kuchar, whose two-stroke victory at the TPC Sawgrass buttressed the notion that he is a major champion in training.

Kuchar, 33, has become an assembly line mass producing top 10s -- 20 in the previous two seasons (which would explain his grinning year to year) and five already this year. More importantly for the months ahead, four have come in the most important tournaments with the strongest fields to date: the Players (first), the Masters (a tie for third), the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship (T-5) and the WGC-Cadillac Championship (T-8).

A month from now, Kuchar will be returning to U.S. Open at the Olympic Club outside San Francisco, where as an amateur in 1998 he tied for 14th and was tied for fourth through 36 holes. It doesn't make him a favorite, but he isn't a long shot, either.

Kuchar's happy nature, even on a TPC course capable of inflicting so much misery, gave the Players a happy ending that wasn't inevitable in the wake of the negative reaction to the man everyone was lamenting.

Kevin Na dominated the weekend conversation at the showcase event of a tour that steadfastly declines to address the issue of slow play, as do many of the players responsible. Na, for instance, was graciously apologetic on Saturday for the pre-shot twitches that Johnny Miller described as "the heebie jeebies," and insisted he's working on correcting it. Is he? Six months ago, Na posted this on Twitter: "Trying my best to speed up. Working on a new pre shot routine. I am not playing so on purpose. Hope the viewers understand." It's a slow process, apparently.

Na, the 54-hole leader, attempted to quell the criticism by picking up the pace on Sunday, which might have contributed to a final-round 76 that left him in a tie for seventh.

Ben Curtis continuing his recent revival at TPC Sawgrass

Sun, 13 May 2012 17:09:00 GMT

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Playing alongside Rickie Fowler and among a gallery that will surely be a sea of orange, Ben Curtis will probably feel like an invisible man during the final round of the Players. But for a guy who has played most of the past six years in obscurity, that shouldn't be a problem.

After nearly six years without a victory, Curtis came out of nowhere to win the Valero Texas Open last month. He's proving that performance was no fluke.

Since then, the 2003 British Open champion has been on the best stretch of his career with a T-13 in New Orleans, a T-5 at the Wells Fargo and now this effort at the Players, where he'll play in the penultimate pairing.

On Saturday, Curtis fired one of two bogey-free rounds (Kevin Na had the other) in the field despite gusty conditions at TPC Sawgrass. He missed a bunch of birdie opportunities, including two from within 10 feet on his final two holes.

Seven notable stats from Day 3 at the Players

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:26:00 GMT

Seven notable third-round Players Championship stats from Golf World contributing writer Brett Avery, who compiles the Rank and File statistical sections for the magazine's coverage of the major championships and other significant events:

1. Two men who traditionally play their best in the third round, Matt Kuchar and Rickie Fowler, excelled Saturday and put themselves in position to win the Players Championship. Kuchar's three-under-par 69 bore everything from a 2 to a 6 and only a bogey at the 17th, where his tee ball splashed short of the island green, cost him a share of the lead at 12-under-par 204 with Kevin Na. Kuchar has posted his best scoring average in the third round in nine of his 11 PGA Tour seasons. Fowler posted his third consecutive sub-70 third round, a day's-best 66. It followed his 69 at New Orleans (finished T10) and a 67 last week at Wells Fargo (won). It was the first time Fowler's shot in the 60s in the third round of three consecutive official tour starts since May and June in 2010 (Colonial, 64, T-38; Memorial, 69, second; Travelers, 69, T-13). If their 2012 form holds for Kuchar and Fowler, they may struggle in the fourth round, their worst scoring day this season. Kuchar came into this week ranked 23rd on Sunday (70.25) while Fowler stands 63rd (71.11). Leader Na? The last round is statistically his strongest, although he ranks 47th at 70.78.

2. Kuchar and Na remain the only players eligible to end one of the longest-standing droughts in Players history: No player has posted four rounds in the 60s since Steve Elkington won in 1997 (66-69-68-69). Kuchar (68-68-69) has made five cuts in eight starts at Sawgrass but Saturday was only his second weekend score in the 60s (68, fourth round in '09). Na (67-69-67) put up his first weekend sub-70 in five tries. Elkington is joined in the all-sub-60s club at Sawgrass by the three top finishers in 1994: Greg Norman (63-67-67-67), Fuzzy Zoeller (65-67-68-67) and Jeff Maggert (65-69-69-68).

3. There's an outside chance the tournament record at TPC Sawgrass for most birdies could be tied or broken. It was set by Fuzzy Zoeller, who made 26 in 1994 while finishing four strokes behind Greg Norman. Na (20), Fowler (19) and Kuchar (18) have an outside chance -- although what's most interesting is that they are among the less-likely candidates in a field of 144 of the world's best. Na went into the week tied for 34th among PGA Tour players this year in total birdies (151), while Fowler stands T-39 (149) and Kuchar T-93 (122). Season leader Cameron Tringale (180) has made only a dozen at the Stadium Course, which gives him a share of 21st for the week.

Trending: Kevin Na's redemption

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:59:00 GMT

Kevin Na returned to the site of his infamous 16 at TPC San Antonio yesterday and tried to put some demons to rest. His first trip back to the ninth hole, where one year ago he had a run in with the trees that would leave him with the fifth-worst score ever recorded in a PGA Tour round, was drama free on this day. On the scorecard at least. Na carded a pedestrian par, but took time out to memorialize the site of his meltdown by hanging the shirt he wore that notorious day in the trees. Unfortunately, things did not end well on this day either; Na finished his first round of the Valero Texas Open with a seven-over 79 -- only one better than his score from last year -- and proceeded to withdraw.

And in a twist of irony, Matt Every shot a course record 63 sending him into 4/20 as the tournament leader. I'll leave the jokes to you.

-- Derek Evers
Follow @DerekEvers