Nelly Korda, Max Homa repost Charley Hull's 'ruthless' fix to cut down slow play
British golfer Charley Hull has found support in Nelly Korda and Max Homa for her "ruthless" solution to cut down slow play. Both the golfers have reposted Hull's video from a press interview at The ANNIKA on their Instagram stories.
World no. 1 Nelly Korda took home her seventh Tour title of this season at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge event in Florida, while Charley Hull tied for T2. The tournament however suffered from significant slow play as several players including Hull were forced to complete their third rounds in near darkness on Saturday.
This was not the first LPGA Tour event to be marred by pace of play issues and the severe lack of a punishment for the breach means that it certainly won't be the last. While referees can impose sanctions or fines on players for slow pace, they are rarely applied in elite tournaments.
When asked about potential solutions to slow play, she admittedly had a "ruthless" solution in mind. She said (via Guardian):
"I’m quite ruthless but (my idea would be) if you get three bad timings, every time it’s a two-shot penalty. If you have three of them you lose your Tour card instantly. I’m sure that would hurry a lot of people up and they won’t want to lose their Tour card. That would kill the slow play, but they would never do that."
Tournament winner Nelly Korda also talked about the pace issues at the Pelican Golf Club. (via The Guardian)
"It’s kind of hard when you don’t really see. I think it was a little bit of poor planning by starting so late for us. Whenever you’re sitting on 18 and the sun is already down, I mean, it’s never nice," Korda said.
She and PGA Tour player Max Homa seemed to agree with Hull's ideas as they took to Instagram to repost the video.
- Nelly Korda's story:
- Max Homa's story:
In 2023, the LPGA introduced weekend cuts to quicken the pace of play during the final 36 holes. Despite this change, the desired improvement in pace has not yet been achieved.
"I feel sorry for the fans" - Charley Hull on slow pace of play
English golfer Charley Hull is renowned for her fast pace of play and is considered one of the quickest in the elite circuit. She was naturally left frustrated having to wait for players and end up completing her round in near darkness at the recent The ANNIKA event.
During a press interview later, she didn't hesitate to make her opinion clear on how slow play affects tournaments. She emphasized that both golfers and viewers can become frustrated by a slow pace of play.
"It’s ridiculous. I feel sorry for the fans how slow it is out there. We were out there for five hours and 40 minutes in round three. We play in a four ball at home on a hard golf course and we’re round in three and a half, four hours. It is pretty crazy," she said (via The Guardian).
The Briton has one title to her name this season which is the Aramco Team Series that she won earlier this month.