Slow play has always been an issue in golf. So, when the USC junior Bailey Shoemaker took approximately 1 minute and 12 seconds to pull the trigger on her tee ball on Champions Retreat’s par-3 eighth, her second-to-last hole at ANWA 2026, it was only a matter of time before the internet caught fire.

She was visibly struggling to find her rhythm. When she entered the eighth hole, the Golf Channel cameras focused on her tee shot, and the broadcast stopwatch began to climb. Shoemaker took seven distinct waggles and several half-swings before eventually hitting the ball to 25 feet. She appeared to reach the trigger point of her downswing but backed off and reset her stance multiple times.

The delay was not just her solo struggle. It expectantly seeped into the rhythm of her playing partners, Gyubeen Kim and Amelie Zalsman. Still, they managed to maintain their rhythm, carding 3 under and 5 under respectively. On the contrary, Shoemaker settled with a scorecard of 1-over 73. Shoemaker did not receive an official stroke penalty during the round because her group was not officially ‘on the clock’ at that moment.

Bailey has been through some physical and psychological challenges over the past year. In October 2025, she underwent surgery to repair cubital tunnel syndrome in her right arm. Before the procedure, she spent seven months playing through “excruciating pain” and numbness so severe that her fingers would involuntarily release their grip on the club at the top of her backswing. Though she has returned to 100% physical health and recorded five top-12s this spring for the Trojans, the USC junior is still fighting a ‘mental battle.’

“Just trying to reassure myself that there isn’t pain anymore,” Shoemaker explained. “I’ve been struggling with it for the last four months, just being fully committed to hitting the ball.”

And she was audibly dejected when reached by phone after the round, acknowledging the optics of the situation.

“That’s what it looks like,” she said of the viral clip.

However, Shoemaker, who famously shot a record 66 two years ago at Augusta National to finish runner-up, was more frustrated by her missed putts, as she entered the second round eight shots off the lead. USC head coach Justin Silverstein also offered a sympathetic perspective on his player’s struggle. Silverstein, who calls pre-injury Shoemaker “one of the fastest players I’ve ever coached,” also explained that this is a trauma response rather than a lack of respect for the game’s pace.

“It’s not easy what she’s going through as far as being able to swing comfortably and confidently,” Silverstein said. “She’s taking it back, and her brain is still firing like it’s going to hurt, and that’s how she played all last spring.”

But the internet was not as polite as her coach. So, when Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine shared the clip, the comment section exploded with furious comments.

Fan reaction to Bailey Shoemaker’s slow play at Augusta

“Brentley, respectfully, the context doesn’t matter. She’s either ready/able to show up and play by the rules, or she’s not. No fault to her if it’s the latter, but if it is, then don’t play—not fair to playing partners. Sixth start of the year, too—plenty of chances to test it,” wrote one fan.

Shoemaker has already competed in five events this spring for the Trojans, including the GameAbove Invitational and the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate. So, according to the fan, by her sixth start, the “testing phase” of her recovery should be over.  And in a championship where 48 of the top 50 amateurs in the world are competing, the field’s integrity should not be compromised by an individual’s ongoing rehabilitation.

Another fan added, recalling the fundamentals of the game, “My high school coach would yell at us for taking more than one practice swing. He was NOT about slow play! His thought was also that you were wasting energy. Make your decision. Get a feel. Hit it.”

The impact on the rest of the group was a major point of contention for those who were watching the group’s flow.

“Not fair to playing partners or the field to have to alter their routine/pace of play for slower golfers…so instead slow players get catered to and get preferential treatment at the detriment of faster paced players,” one fan said.

In many cases, faster players feel forced to slow their own walk or pre-shot routine just to avoid standing on the tee for minutes at a time. Tour pros like Matt Fitzpatrick and Ludvig Aberg always complain about slow play.

Most notably, Fitzpatrick, after a recent 2026 round with Adrien Dumont de Chassart, described it as glacial. Shoemaker’s partners, Gyubeen Kim and Amelie Zalsman, are both high-tempo players.

One fan even asked, “Was she on the clock?”

Shoemaker was not on the clock during the viral 8th-hole moment. Her group was still within their time par for the round. It means she was legally allowed to take more time than the recommended 40 seconds.

At the end, one fan lamented what they feel is a systemic issue in golf.

“Su*k that golf always caters to the slowest players. They never get out of rhythm,” the fan wrote.

In golf, pace of play is governed by Rule 5.6b. It encourages players to play at a prompt pace. A player can take no more than 40 seconds to execute a stroke. Penalties for violating these standards typically follow: a warning for the first ‘bad time,’ followed by a one-stroke penalty for the second, a two-stroke penalty for the third, and eventually disqualification.

However, golfers are generally only “on the clock” and subject to the 40-second limit if their group is deemed out of position. When a group is not being officially timed, players technically have a more lenient window. It is often up to 90 seconds before a referee might intervene.