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Royal & Ancient chief executive: Time to name and shame slow players

November 28, 2015

Stories of interest you might have missed…

“Martin Slumbers, the R&A’s chief executive, believes it is time for golf’s slowcoaches at all levels to be named and shamed after their behaviour was described as both ‘selfish’ and a ‘form of cheating,’” Martin Dempster of the Scotsman writes. “The accusations were made on the second and final day of a pace-of-play symposium in St Andrews, where it was revealed that world No 1 Jordan Spieth had been put on the clock there in this year’s Open Championship.”

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“The most common refrain from the masses who rail against the [Official World Golf Ranking] is that it doesn't mean anything. This argument often follows a linear pattern: The best players are determined by victories; the biggest victories are major championships; therefore, the best players are those who win majors. As to who is ranked ahead of whom through the statistics-based algorithm, these dissenters will usually close the argument with one final retort: Who cares? That seemingly rhetorical question can easily be answered in two words: The players. They care, that's who.” Jason Sobel of ESPN has the story on the importance of the World Ranking.

One of golf’s most famous pieces of art, a portrait of Henry Callendar, Captain General of royal Blackheath Golf Club and on display there since the 1870s, is headed for the auction block to secure the future of the oldest golf club in England. “The portrait, replicated in golf clubs around the world, is to be auctioned off along with the authentic putter from the painting itself, as the club attempts to raise funds to buy the freehold from The Crown Estate,” Hannah Furness writes in the Telegraph.