When Lee Trevino won the 1971 Open Championship, he completed his rounds in under four hours despite playing in a three-ball. But today, groups take over five hours and 40 minutes to complete 18 holes. A 156-man field, no split-tee starts, inevitable bottlenecks, and increasingly elaborate pre-shot routines at Royal Birkdale are the factors behind the long hours. And that frustrates Colin Montgomerie, who highlighted the problem in a recent conversation with Today’s Golfer.

“Christ almighty, last night [it] was 5 hours 40,” Colin Montgomerie said after completing Round 2 at the 2026 Open. “TV hates it. Spectators hate it. Too long is the chat between the caddy and the player. My God, it goes on forever. The book comes out. How many times do they get the bloody book out of the thing? Once that ball is placed on the green, it should not be marked again to get the line on the ball, and then there is this business about AimPoint. Oh my God, don’t talk to me about that. It’s, oh God, it does my head in, the slow play.”

The Glaswegian isn’t wrong. Caddies do far more than carry a player’s clubs. They help plan every shot, and those strategy discussions add up. Players also frequently consult yardage books for distances, hazards, green layouts, and slopes, which eats into even more time. On the greens, many mark and replace their ball to realign the logo or alignment line before putting. 

🤔 golf trivia

This Should Be an Easy One, Right?

01/10

How Many Players Are Within Five Strokes of the Lead After R1?

59394015

Oops, bogey!

But don’t worry, there’s still the back 9 to prove your high golf IQ

PLAY GOLF TRIVIA

Then there’s AimPoint, a popular green-reading method that involves feeling the slope with the feet, standing in different positions, and calculating the break. While many players swear by its accuracy, critics, particularly older golfers, believe it slows play considerably. Individually, these routines seem minor, but when every player follows them on every hole, the delays become significant. 

Again, look at the opening round of The Open: Scottie Scheffler’s group and Cameron Smith’s group took roughly 5.5 hours to complete their rounds. However, this doesn’t mean there’s nothing stopping players from slowing play. The R&A has enforced a Pace of Play Policy that includes warnings, fines, and penalty shots. However, Montgomerie feels no players are facing those consequences for slow play. 

“They say there’s a deterrent for slow play, don’t they? 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. Far too slow. If I had a bee in my bonnet, that was it, you know? Slow play.”

While there’s no end to Montgomerie’s frustration with the slow play problem, not everyone felt that way. Cam Smith, who finished T79 after Round 2, said, “I think we’re used to it” at major championships. He described them as “long days” and “tough tests.” And he wasn’t “frustrated with the pace of play.” Instead, Smith claimed the slow pace became something players just waited through. 

But then, if that were true, Tyrrell Hatton, who’s currently tied for 17th, or Jon Rahm, who’s tied for 8th, wouldn’t be complaining about the slow pace of the round either. So, clearly, many people see the slow pace as a problem. But changes to fix the issue don’t appear to be on the horizon.