European Tour chief referee John Paramor (left) and Andy McFee who led the trials of the new pace of play timing system at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, in September

EUROPEAN Tour players who record two bad times in a tournament – instead of in the same round – will now face an immediate one-stroke penalty, tournament chiefs announced today.

The European Tour’s new tougher regulations aimed at tackling slow play come into effect at this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

The beefed-up four-point plan – announced back in August – will see the worst offenders on slow play targeted by referees and hit by penalty which will affect them immediately – not with a fine implemented after the event.

The immediate one-shot penalty will be handed out for two “bad times” in a tournament – rather than for two “bad times” within a round in a key revision of the rules originally announced five months ago.

It means additional powers for referees to target slower players starting at this week’s Rolex Series event at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

But players on the clock will get a “time out” which will allow them to notify the referee they wish to take an extra 40 seconds because of the difficulty – or special circumstances – for a particular shot.

If they are the first player to play in a group that is officially “on the clock” they will get an extra 10 seconds to play their shot, and could still request the extra 40 seconds by using the time out.

But any player wanting to use the extra time must clearly signal their intention to a referee before the initial 40-second allowance runs out.

And they can only apply the time extension to one shot in any one round of golf, the European Tour said this week.

A reduction in the time allowance for “in-position players” to play shots also comes into force this week – alongside increased fines for players who are regularly placed “on the clock” throughout the season.

The fines start at €3,500 for their first bad timing offence after their first official warning in any one season – and they rise incrementally for each subsequent offence, the European Tour has warned.

Further fines exist, depending on the number of times in total each season a player is “put on the clock.”

European Tour players have also been required to undertake an education programme since the four-point plan was announced last year.

European Tour chief referee John Paramor said: “The tougher measures which come into effect in Abu Dhabi empower our referees to more effectively target slower players.

“Changing the regulation for an immediate one-shot penalty to now be triggered by two bad times in a tournament – instead of a round – will force slower players to consistently ensure they play within timing regulations.

“This is part of our wider, robust policy to tackle slow play but our fundamental advice to all players remains consistent – they should be ready to play when it is their turn.”

The European Tour’s four-point plan, announced back in August, continues to put the European Tour at the forefront of pace of play management in the professional game.

It was introduced following a mandate from the European Tour Tournament Committee to take firmer action against slower players.

Edoardo Molinari caused a storm on social media by shaming the players dubbed the slowest on Tour by releasing a list of fines for slow play, which started a wider debate.

The new four-point plan focuses on key areas:–
•Regulation
•Education
•Innovation and
•Field sizes.

A new ‘pace of play’ timing system utilising the latest technology was tested at the BMW PGA Championship, at Wentworth, in September, with a further trial taking place in Abu Dhabi this week.

The intention is to roll the system out across a number of events in 2020, providing referees with the precise times for every group through every hole to make sure that no gaps are missed.

On-tee displays linked to the system will also provide the players instantaneous information on their position in relation to the group in front to try to avoid the chances of a one-stroke penalty being dished out.

Field sizes at fully sanctioned events will be reduced from 156 to a minimum of 144 – so long as all entered players in Category 18 (the final 116-132 on the 2019 Race to Dubai) and above make it into the tournament.

The last point will create space for referees to push groups over the Thursday and Friday rounds, while larger starting intervals will be built into play on Saturday and Sunday to create a better flow between groups.

KEY CHANGES TO PACE OF PLAY POLICY

• An immediate one-stroke penalty will now be applied on the second “bad time” in a tournament. It was originally announced in August as being applicable to a second “bad time” in a round.
• Players who exceed time limits (see below) while being monitored will now incur a bad time and it will count towards the one-stroke penalty.
• A player can call a “time extension” for any stroke ONCE in a round. This will add 40 seconds to the allowance for the stroke in question. If players wish to use this, they must make this clear to the timing referee BEFORE they exceed the allowance they have for the stroke in front of them. Referees advise a verbal call or clear signal which they will acknowledge.
• Referees have also been mandated by the Tournament Committee to focus on the players who are regularly taking too much time, even if they are ‘in-position’. The “in position” time limits have been reduced (see below). A breach of those limits will incur a “monitoring penalty” but they will NOT count towards the one-stroke penalty in a tournament, recognising the significance of being in position. A single monitoring penalty or single bad time in a season will not result in any sanction, but each one after that will incur ever-increasing fines starting at €3,500.
• The fines for the number of times players have been timed during the season have also been increased

OVERVIEW OF TIMING ALLOWANCES
Out of position
When players are out of position their time allowance is 50 seconds* for the first to play, 40 seconds* for second or third to play. A one-shot penalty will be applied after two bad times in the tournament.

In Position
The time allowed to play a shot when being monitored in position (previously double the out-of-position times above), will be reduced by 15 per cent, from 100 and 80 seconds down to 85 and 70 seconds respectively for first and second/third to play. Referees have been told to be proactive in targeting regular slow players for in-position timing.

*The existing principle of allowing an extra 10 per cent on the 40 and 50 second limits will be maintained by referees, recognising human differences can occur in starting timing. A player will be assessed a “bad time” if he has a third time after the 10 per cent allowance.

European Tour referees sit R&A rules exam

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Chief executive Keith Pelley says the European Tour has been leading the fight on slow play in the game of golf over the past four years – and intends to toughen its stance for 2020. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

EUROPEAN Tour chief executive Keith Pelley writes about the controversy over slow play on the European Tour and explains why the Tournament Committee and the board have decided to take firm action for the 2020 season.

MANY issues have affected the game of golf since I became chief executive of the European Tour – but none have been as recurrent as the topic of slow play.

It is the discussion that dominates dinner tables at tournaments and it is one of the main sources of frustration at all levels of the game. Rightly so, I might add.

While the intensity of these conversations occasionally diminishes, it is never long before it reignites, and I watched with interest the recent social media debate which flared up in the United States.

For us, the issue came to a head earlier this year when one of our senior players, Edoardo Molinari, posted on Twitter a list of players, who had received bad times and fines up to that point during the 2019 season – in a bid to “speed things up.”

I spoke to Edoardo shortly afterwards, and while I didn’t necessarily agree with his chosen method, he was entirely right to confront the problem and it prompted a discussion at the next tournament committee meeting, held at the Betfred British Masters, in May.

Thankfully, our Tournament Committee shared Edoardo’s belief that enough was enough, and they were prepared to make some hard decisions, accepting the need to be more punitive.

“We have the most aggressive monitoring policy in our sport, and we have issued shot penalties, but the past four months showed us finally that the time had arrived when players were willing to take a tough stance and we applauded that.”

European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley – on the problems of slow play

At that meeting we also determined there is a key fundamental difference between slow play and slow players – this is a key point to remember.

While we would all like to reduce overall round times, it was recognised that this can be impacted by several factors such as weather conditions and course set up, while for full field events, the sheer number of players on the course at the same time will always limit the pace of play.

Slow players, on the other hand, have become increasingly prevalent and problematic in our game in recent years – to the extent that we risk fans, both core and casual, switching off if we don’t do something about it.

The European Tour has been at the forefront of the assault on slow play for the last four years.

We have the most aggressive monitoring policy in our sport, and we have issued shot penalties.

But the past four months showed us finally that the time had arrived when players were willing to take a tough stance and we applauded that.

Slow play became a critical issue because our players wanted it to be. That moment was the door opening and the mandate we were given at May’s tournament committee meeting empowered our operations and rules team to present stronger, more robust recommendations.

We took a formal proposal back to the next Tournament Committee meeting at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open last month.

And following some fine tuning over the past six weeks, we yesterday publicly announced a four-point plan focusing on regulation, education, innovation and field-size reduction where appropriate.

This concrete strategy is more targeted towards slow players and more penal, including an immediate one-shot penalty for two bad times in a round and increased fines for players consistently ‘on the clock’.

I’m confident it will have a meaningful impact on combating slow play AND slow players, which is a more complex task that you might think.

Although superficially solving the pace of play conundrum would seem like an easy fix, golf’s biggest challenge remains the size of our arena, as an 18-hole golf course is equivalent to almost 90 football fields, with 156 players dotted around it.

Timing every player, on every shot, every week is a monumental, and costly, challenge.

We must also consider the complexities of policing more robust timing rules.

European Tour chief referee John Paramor and senior referee Andy McFee (right) discussed the problems of timing players with Keith Pelley

I recall our senior referee, Andy McFee, saying to me that timing is an art not a science.

He rightly posed the questions: “When do you start the clock? Is it when a player gets to the ball? When do you start timing the first player in a group?

“And how do you let them know you’ve started timing as they can’t tell unless there’s a visual clock on every single hole?”

These are all interesting points, however, I stress we are not using the challenges of the sport as an excuse not to tackle what is now golf’s biggest issue.

Another thing we have learned from studying this whole issue, is that playing slowly is habitual.

Most players aren’t taught to play the game slowly, it’s a practice they acquire, and one we have to try to reverse.

Our Shot Clock hole during the recent innovative GolfSixes Cascais in Portugal showed that players were ready and already thinking about their shots before they got to the ball.

They didn’t have the chance to second guess themselves, or overload themselves with information, and their performance benefitted as a result.

Our players have shone a spotlight on this topic and this is now the lightbulb moment for our sport.

But it is incumbent on all of us involved in golf to act.

The main Tours and four Major Championships have begun dialogue, but as the most powerful entities in global golf, we have to be united and consistent in fighting this battle if it is one we are to win. 

I do believe that with technology advancements down the road, there will come a time in the very near future when we will be able to time every player, on every shot, on every hole.

Until we are all ready from a technology perspective, our four-point plan has decisive, concrete action on how we can combat this issue right now.

•Read more about the European Tour’s four-point plan on combatting slow play here.

In 2019, there have been outbursts by Brooks Koepka who singled out J B Holmes for taking too long to play his final round of the LA Open at Riviera, while Bryson DeChambeau has also been attacked on social media for taking too long to play his shots.

The list of players who were timed for slow play by the European Tour in the first four months of 2019 released in a tweet by Edoardo Molinari condemning the problem, which Keith Pelley has taken up with the players representatives and acted upon

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