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PGA Tour’s ‘Slow Play’ Problem Rears It’s Ugly Head Again; Wyndham Clark Becomes Golf World’s Latest Target

Published 03/15/2024, 5:30 AM EDT

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Another week and another round of the PGA Tour event has been suspended. At the TPC Sawgrass – Stadium Course, the Thursday round was suspended because of darkness, but this time, the weather was not the culprit. In fact, the weather forecast showed the sky was clearer than ever but it was the play by the one pro that pushed the game into the evening hours.

A week after his cheating allegation floated in the golf world, where Wyndham Clark was alleged to have moved his ball. At the 50th PLAYERS Championship, he has been accused of delaying the play. Clark, who is tied for the lead after round one finished, was seen spending time with his caddie to go through a putting routine frequently at the greens.

Or, he just took a bit more time to assess the hole before making a putt. Golf WRX’s Rob Miller shared a snippet of the moment shared by the caddie-golfer duo on X (formerly known as Twitter). He joked about Clark’s caddie on the green and captioned the tweet “The Caddie Competition was yesterday, sir.” #PLAYERS. In recent weeks the suspension of rounds has been a recent trend on the PGA Tour.

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Round one of the Puerto Rico Open and the Cognizant Classic were delayed too. The constant weather hassle and delay in play have already irked the golf fans’ and it looks like Clark’s latest actions have further enraged them. The viewers have vocalized their stance on the need for stringent rules if slow play causes the round to be suspended.

The golf world reacts as the slow play halts the 50th PLAYERS Championship 

While Wyndham Clark was under fire, he was not alone in taking the heat from the golf world. The PGA Tour was targeted for not penalizing and having better rules for delayed play.

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After Dan Rapaport appreciated the low commercial count ad broadcast of THE PLAYERS, one viewer commented that penalizing the slow play of Clark with his pre-putt routine is another thing that the PGA Tour needs to do. They named it “ridiculous” and said, “Speed it up and you don’t need caddy lining up.”

The same fan tweeted another post pressing that they had enough of Clark and his caddie analyzing every hole.

This spectator asked in frustration how much time Clark and his caddie took to make a shot. They accused the PGA Tour of not tackling the slow play properly.

Another user wasn’t just angry at Clark, they were enraged at the PGA Tour for poor rule enforcement and how has there been no accountability for it. They shared an incident when LIV Golf penalized Adrian Meronk for slow play. And Slugger White, a former PGA Tour rule official who is now at LIV might need to be back on the Tour for a better rule execution.

This fan was frustrated that the golf commentators always say “on the clock” when “it means nothing!” The fan called out “Nobody has been penalized in a hundred years for slow play!” and asked to stop bringing the game on time “as if it means something.”

This fan screamed in frustration as the capitalization of words delivered their annoyance. They said, “SLOW BLOODY PLAY. No excuse for it,” as no other obstacle had been observed for the delay.

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Lastly, one fan recalled that the delayed round one is becoming a norm at the PGA Tour. They said that the Tour “can never seem to finish a round these days.”

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The PGA Tour hasn’t commented on Wyndham Clark delaying the round. Do you think the reaction towards Clark and his caddie from the golf world was justified? Tell us in the comments below.

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Written by:

Khambe Huda Imran

808Articles

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Huda Khambe is a Golf Writer for EssentiallySports. Growing up watching Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam bag one major after the other, Huda Khambe set herself on a path to becoming a sports writer early on. With a year of prior experience in writing, Huda now brings the greens to life with her unique insights on her favorite storylines, such as Jack Nicklaus's record rivalry with Tiger Woods and its impact on both stars.
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Edited by:

Tushhita Barua

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