In a world in which everything accelerates, Golf condemns the slow game. The sport that has lived a greater revolution in the last three years for the emergence of the Saudi League and for alternatives that include YouTube, simulators and virtual reality, continues to be weighed by rounds that exceed five hours and end up boring the viewer. The youngest disconnect and the audiences collapse while the European circuit gets serious and the American, more permissive, looks the other way.
Tres seasons A more agile formula against the traditional PGA Tour. A shake. But something remains unchanged, as engraving in stone, the ramora of the slow game, mainly in the American tour.
The law is clear. In professional circuits, the first game player has 50 seconds to hit; The following, 40, either from the teeon the street or in the green (Except for the exit in a pair four or five, when the counter is 40 for all). The referees are usually flexible, and stretch up to 55 and 45s these times. With that measure to measure, a torque three must be completed in a maximum of 11 minutes, a pair four in 14 and a pair five in 18 in matches of three golfers; and in 9, 12 and 15 minutes for those of two. The equation shows that the round ranges between 4h 25m and 4h 45m. The reality is that on many occasions the clock exceeds five.
What happens if a player passes from the time? If a group loses the position, that is, it is delayed, the European circuit monitors the case, puts the magnifying glass. If the group recovers the land lost in three holes, the notice is forgotten. If not, the official stickers begin to be counted in hand. Two bad times in the same turn or tournament carry a coup of penalty. And the accumulation of infractions affects the pocket: from 3,600 euros of fine. There are golfers who accumulate more than 120,000 in sanctions.
Picaresca intervenes. The referees have golfers with a “double game”: slow when they do not watch them, fast when they are examined. The “lentorros” are indicated by harming the rest of the colleagues for their turtle rhythm. And another bad habit has been entrenched, the talks between player and caddy on the choice of stick or coup type that further delay the game. The European circuit has got to work and has made a “surveillance list” of slow golfers. “Our policy has succeeded in identifying them and acts as a deterrent before penalizing,” explains a spokesman for the DP World Tour to this newspaper.
Many players also get on their nerves. “I am quite fast and I had a bad time when I wait for the group in front,” says Jorge Campillo, the only Spanish last year in the American circuit. He knows what he’s talking about. “The difference between the PGA Tour and the European circuit is abysmal. There you play very, very slow, it is desperate, even in easy fields. The European circuit emphasizes that it is played quickly, measures are taken and works. In the PGA Tour they don’t care, I never see the referees hurry up to the players. I don’t understand it, ”he adds. Ángel Hidalgo, last champion of the Open of Spain, asks for the same standard: “In Europe we fulfill the times and in America it is ridiculous. Something should be imposed to make it equal. You have to penalize and fine. And be fair. We are supposed to all play the same sport. It is as if in Wimbledon you leave a minute for the serve and in another tournament only 45 seconds. ”
The only measure that has worked was tested in 2018 in the Masters of Austria, then called Shot Clock Masters. Each of the 20 referees drove a stopwatch on a tablet connected to a screen on a buggy. Each blow of each player in each hole was measured by an countdown, in view of all (such as the tennis). The rounds shortened between 30 and 45 minutes per game. The experiment was a success, but it has not been put into practice for the infrastructure and logistics that requires: 20 professional referees to direct 20 games in the morning and 20 in the afternoon, technology and Wi -Fi in each hole and a number reduced of 120 players per tournament.
The slow game kills the show at a time when fast consumption prevails. And the support is reflected in the audiences. 90% of the most viewed retransmissions in the United States for 2024 belonged to sports, but golf did not cast a representative. Sunday’s days in the tournaments congregated at the screen at 20% less spectators than the previous year. And the final round of the American Express on January 19 was followed by 60% less people than 12 months ago. In Spain, Movistar has stopped buying this year the rights of the PGA Tour, now held by Max.
The alarm is on. Justin Thomas, number 14 of the world, sent a letter to his American circuit colleagues a few days ago asking to “better connect with fans”, for example carrying microphones during the rounds or being interviewed between one hole and another. “Let’s be honest. This game can be a bit distant. You have to get the youngest age group to be interested, ”he explained.
The Saudi League agitates the loop. LIV has just signed a television contract with Fox and an agreement with Rick Shiels Media, a content creation platform for YouTube and social networks, in addition to appointing executive director to Scott O’Neil, expert in sports management and with experience in the NBA. The American circuit continues in the past. As soon as the Masters offers the option to follow on television a particular player or game. And the slow game is the lace.
A low number one for some raviolis
The world number one, Scottie Scheffler, returns this Thursday to the competition in Pebble Beach after being more than a month off for a homemade accident suffered while preparing dinner on Christmas day. The American told this Tuesday how he suffered a cut in the right hand that took him to the operating room And we didn’t have the right utensils, so I used a glass of wine to cut the dough. He had his hand on top and broke. I made a cut in the palm. ‘God, how stupid, “I thought. In the house there was a surgeon friend and stopped hemorrhage. Then they had to operate. ”
Scheffler has spent this month recovering and watching on television some of his tournaments last season. Today he returns to the ring in a tournament in which each professional golfer plays with an amateur (there are two parallel classifications). Among the fans repeat Pau Gasol for the third year, who will play with the American JT Poston. In the two previous editions, the former Balcentist ended in ninth and sixth position.