What if to fight against the scourge of slow play, the referees of the historic circuits took inspiration from the officials who work at LIV Golf? For the third time in two years, a dissident golfer on the circuit has been penalized for exceeding the time limit and has been fined as well as a penalty stroke!
Last year in Valderrama, Richard Bland Already received a heavy penalty for taking more than 80 seconds to execute his shot. The Englishman had to add two penalty strokes to his score, representing the loss of $40,000 in weekend winnings.
Friday in Chicago during the Bolingbrook Golf Club for the 13th meeting of LIV at the time, the Englishman, seen in the crosshairs of the referees, once again exceeded the time limit allowed to play.
Double punishment
The band he played in (with Charl Schwartzel etc Patrick Reed) first came under surveillance when he left the game ahead of him and two holes later a referee decided to impose a one-stroke penalty on the fifty-year-old Englishman guilty of exceeding 40 seconds allowed to play.
Bland’s birdie made par on the 12th and he was also fined $10,000.
Explanation of the one-stroke penalty assessed to Richard Bland in Friday’s first round of #LIVGolf Chicago pic.twitter.com/FgutM7feXv
— LIV Golf Communications (@LIVGolfComms) September 13, 2024
The record for Meronk!
In March, this Adrian Meronk who paid the price for the severity of the referees who officiated at LIV. The Pole lost $240,000 when referees asked him to add one stroke to his score for taking more than two minutes to play in the final round of the event held in Jeddah.
In doing so, Meronk dropped to 6th place and had to settle for $508,750 instead of the $750,000 tied for 5th in Jon Rahm should have accused him.