ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates –– The European Tour is hoping to
cut rounds by 15 minutes with a new slow-play policy designed to stop
players from impersonating snails on the golf course.
European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley pledged last year to address the ongoing problem, and he has acted quickly to put a new strategy in place to get players to move faster. The new pace-of-play policy goes into effect this week.
“Our aspirational goal is to cut 15 minutes off a round on a daily basis,” Pelley said. “We feel that is significant."
The Tour has introduced a two-pronged monitoring and timing policy to force players to speed up.
In a release to all players, the Tour announced: “A monitoring penalty will have the same status as a bad time except it will not count towards any golfing penalty.
"A player having either two monitoring penalties or bad times, or a combination, will be fined €2,600, rising by €2,600 for each successive monitoring penalty or bad time.”
Previously, the Tour would inform a group it was out of position, and then leave it alone, expecting the pace to speed up. The new policy means officials will stay with the group to see who is holding play up.
“We will now be with the players rather than informing them that they are out of position and leaving them to do it by themselves,” said European Tour chief referee John Paramor.
“We found that had mixed success. We feel we are going to have to stay with the players so we will be able to see every shot played from the moment we identify that they are out of position so we can see who the problem is. They are the ones who will get these monitoring penalties which can end up being costly.”
Pelley hinted that this is only the first step to get European Tour members to play faster.
“I think it’s a positive first step," Pelley said. "We will continue to work closely with our players, closely with the R and A in other ways of making our game quicker which is then more appealing to consumers, broadcasters, stakeholders and fans. If we think we have to take more measures we shall.”
European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley pledged last year to address the ongoing problem, and he has acted quickly to put a new strategy in place to get players to move faster. The new pace-of-play policy goes into effect this week.
“Our aspirational goal is to cut 15 minutes off a round on a daily basis,” Pelley said. “We feel that is significant."
The Tour has introduced a two-pronged monitoring and timing policy to force players to speed up.
In a release to all players, the Tour announced: “A monitoring penalty will have the same status as a bad time except it will not count towards any golfing penalty.
"A player having either two monitoring penalties or bad times, or a combination, will be fined €2,600, rising by €2,600 for each successive monitoring penalty or bad time.”
Previously, the Tour would inform a group it was out of position, and then leave it alone, expecting the pace to speed up. The new policy means officials will stay with the group to see who is holding play up.
“We will now be with the players rather than informing them that they are out of position and leaving them to do it by themselves,” said European Tour chief referee John Paramor.
“We found that had mixed success. We feel we are going to have to stay with the players so we will be able to see every shot played from the moment we identify that they are out of position so we can see who the problem is. They are the ones who will get these monitoring penalties which can end up being costly.”
Pelley hinted that this is only the first step to get European Tour members to play faster.
“I think it’s a positive first step," Pelley said. "We will continue to work closely with our players, closely with the R and A in other ways of making our game quicker which is then more appealing to consumers, broadcasters, stakeholders and fans. If we think we have to take more measures we shall.”
Labels: EUROPEAN TOUR
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Wednesday, January 20, 2016
|
0 comments
