On the occasion of a press conference before the start of the Players Championship, Jay Monahan, the boss of the PGA Tour, announced that new measures would be taken to stem the slow game. And in particular, this year with the publication of the game speed of each player … Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa are favorable.

There will undoubtedly not be a great revolution in terms of rules in 2025 to penalize slow players. But on the other hand, there will be more transparency: by the voice of his boss Jay Monahan the PGA Tour is committed to making public the game speed statistics of each member of the American circuit. He also promised, without going into details, that a new game speed policy would be tested this year on the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA Tour Americas — a policy that would include penalty strokes in the event of an offense.

Asked about the publication of these game speed statistics, which indicate the time taken on average by each player to play his shot, Collin Morikawa said he was favorable.

I don’t think I am one of the slow players, but I am methodical. Last week, I watched a video of myself before hitting a shot. I think it has passed 1’50” or 1’45” before I hit the ball. It’s a lot, but of course, we have to measure the distance, the wind, and assess the game line. There are guys who take more than two minutes to do it. It’s too long. This is why we must publish these figures.

– Collin Morikawa

I want to know why I am slow

Justin Thomas

“I think these figures should be published. I don’t see why they shouldn’t be. In the long term, real penalties must be inflicted, whether FedExCup strokes or points, to those who are too slow. The pecuniary fines are in my opinion useless. We earn so much money, and some guys frankly don’t care about the sums to pay.”

“This is something I have already said; I think we have to make it public, and we have to display these statistics everywhere and especially in the locker room. I am one of the slow players. I’ve already talked about that with officials. I want to know why I’m slow. Because all slow players want to convince themselves that they are not slow. With these figures, we will have something concrete.”

This new initiative by the PGA Tour aims to address the longstanding issue of slow play in professional golf, with key players like Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa advocating for transparency and accountability.

Photo: DAVID CANNON / David Cannon Collection / Getty Images via AFP