‘They Had the Guts…’: Fuming Against the War on Slow Play, Jack Nicklaus Gets Dragged Into the Conversation By an Impatient Lee Trevino

Published 04/26/2023, 2:26 PM EDT

Slow play has been one of the biggest challenges in the sport of golf for many decades. However, during the Masters earlier this month, fans and golfers had to endure with the sport’s biggest drawback yet again. Nonetheless, six-time Major winner, Lee Trevino also joined in the delayed play conversation by reminiscing the time when Jack Nicklaus was penalized decades ago.

At the 2023 Masters, golfers such as Brooks Koepka along with several fans have criticized the slow play that took place at Augusta National. Koepka completed his final round in nearly five hours and blamed the pair of Patrick Cantlay and Viktor Hovland ahead of him for the delay.

The troubles of the current generation of golfers have even got the legends talking about it. During his recent appearance at Michael Breed’s SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio Show, Trevino took the golf world a trip down memory lane by talking about a famous 1962 incident.

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Lee Trevino recalls the Jack Nicklaus incident

Dubbed ‘Supermex’, Trevino is widely considered one of the most vocal golfers of all time, who didn’t shy away from sharing his thoughts. As the pace of play has again become a massive issue in the professional circuit, the Hall of Famer’s opinion was highly required.

"They had the guts to penalize a superstar"
Lee Trevino spoke with @MichaelBreed about the slow play penalty Jack Nicklaus received in his career, and how that's the example to fix slow play. pic.twitter.com/1LwpWlp9t1
— SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio (@SiriusXMPGATOUR) April 25, 2023

“They need to penalize some of these slow players”, said the Mexican legend. He talked about how no high-profile golfer has been penalized for the past many years for delayed play. However, Lee Trevino then recalled an incident from 1962 which involved Jack Nicklaus indulging in slow play.

During his rookie year on the PGA Tour, Nicklaus was competing at the Portland Open in 1962. While the event marked his maiden victory out of the 73 wins from his illustrious career, the Golden Bear was penalized two strokes for slow play. “Jack went ahead and won by six,” Trevino said at PGA Tour Radio Show.

He further added, “It didn’t make a difference. But at least they had the guts to penalize a superstar. It doesn’t do any good to [penalize] some guy who can’t pay his rent”. Though many players in recent years have been criticized for slow play, none have been penalized.

If the Tour didn’t mind penalizing an 18-time Major winner Jack Nicklaus once, taking disciplinary actions against the current generation of golfers shouldn’t be much of an issue. While Trevino’s words about the pace of play may have been recent after the 2023 Masters, his battle with the issue has been going on for the past five decades.

Lee Trevino’s war on slow play

In 1973, a 34-year-old Trevino decided to share some of his golf wisdom for GOLF Magazine. The Mexican is known for his fast play and decided to disclose ten tips to avoid slow play. With ‘Trevino Declares War On Slow Play’ being the cover line, the Supermex stated short courses, fewer bunkers, and more rangers as his first three tips.

The Mexican legend also suggested parking golf carts back at the greens, having fewer practice swings, and allowing partial par-3 play through. However, Lee Trevino has provided some tips for golfers to not do on the golf course such as having only two waggles, avoiding acting on television for the camera, avoiding marking your balls, and putting an end to ‘Honors’.

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Though Trevino released these tips 50 years ago, they still sound to be quite effective. As the PGA Tour looks to form a solution for the everlasting problem, perhaps they must remember the time when they penalized one of the greatest golfers of all time if not the greatest, Jack Nicklaus.

What are your thoughts on Trevino’s slow play tips? Let us know in the comment section below.

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Written by:

Abdul Bari is a seasoned golf writer at EssentiallySports with an impressive portfolio of over 700 articles. Abdul has ‘putted’ his way into the EssentiallySports Hall of Fame with his in-depth coverage of the sport. One of Abdul's career highlights at ES was his article on Phil Mickelson's potential penalty, which received widespread praise from golf enthusiasts worldwide.

Edited by:

Manaal Siddiqui

‘They Had the Guts…’: Fuming Against the War on Slow Play, Jack Nicklaus Gets Dragged Into the Conversation By an Impatient Lee Trevino

Lee Trevino recalls the Jack Nicklaus incident

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Lee Trevino’s war on slow play