Slow play has been a big problem on the PGA Tour, drastically slowing everything and causing rounds to stretch into unbearably long durations. Take, for example, The Open last week. It took Scottie Scheffler’s group and Cameron Smith’s group roughly 5.5 hours to complete the first round. But the 154th Open winner, Ryan Fox, feels that the underlying problem is the cause. Talking on the Fore Play podcast, he pinpointed exactly what frustrates him.  

“My biggest pet peeve, and I think a lot of guys on tour would say the same thing, especially the guys that are fast, is just not being ready. Like there’s too much of that on tour, and that annoys the hell out of me.”

Fox’s frustration stems from a simple reality: players have ample time to prepare—talk to their caddies about club selection or strategy, read their putts, or think about their next shot—before their turn.

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“There’s times where you’ve got no choice, and you’re in someone’s way, and you just got to let them go, and then you’ve got to go do your own thing. But for the most part, in case you know this well as you can do, you can do your work when someone else is doing something and just be ready when it’s your turn.”

Fox draws a line: 40 seconds over the ball is fine if you’re ready. A minute to get ready, then 40 seconds? That’s the problem.

There are also, of course, policies to prevent players from taking forever to take their shots. Arpichaya Yubol was handed a pace-of-play penalty, which was a one-stroke penalty, on May 30, 2026, during the second round of the ShopRite LPGA Classic in New Jersey. Despite that, the rule doesn’t come into effect often. 

That’s exactly what frustrated Colin Montgomerie during the Open Championship. Speaking about the slow pace of play, he explained, “They say there’s a huge deterrent for slow play. 5 hours 40, was anybody penalised yesterday? No. Something’s gotta be done because it’s too slow.” Even former World No. 1 Jon Rahm has asked for serious consequences for slow play.

He wanted warnings to remain in effect throughout an entire tournament rather than resetting after each round. Ryan Fox particularly impressed Rahm. He took only 22 seconds to hit his winning putt after Sam Burns holed his putt. Rahm believes Fox’s performance could show other golfers that playing quickly is possible without hurting performance. 

That being said, slow play continues to frustrate players on the course. While some have learned to live with it, others are growing increasingly fed up.