Jason Day Spits at Pace of Play, Vows to Slow Down

[iacas]

Quote

 

“I think there were a couple things that I didn't do as well the second half in the season. I wasn't as deliberate going into a golf shot. Gathering the information, I wasn't as deliberate,” Day said as he looks to make his 2017 FedExCup debut at the SBS Tournament of Champions.

“Obviously, everyone wants to speed up the game. Obviously, that's a big subject in golf, to speed up the game. But in my opinion, I don't care so much about speeding up my game. I've got to get back to what makes me good.”

 

Ugh. Then he brags about being put on the clock only a few times.

Quote

“I didn’t care what people thought and I played better. But I still played fast enough, I wasn’t overly timed, and I played some good golf. I hit a lot more fairways and greens because of it.

This may explain a bit of why I never really felt like I was a Jason Day fan.

P.S. As one commenter on Twitter said… "Wait, that was Jason Day playing fast?"

[Buckeyebowman]

I don't have that much of a problem with pace of play on the Tour. After all, when those guys, or ladies, hit it, they move it and are soon out of reach.

My problem is when I see guys (mostly) who can't hit the ball out of their shadows take forever on shots. And I've played behind some groups that, when they finally reach the green, they just drop anchor! You'd swear these guys had a million bucks apiece bet on the round!

[iacas]

4 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

I don't have that much of a problem with pace of play on the Tour. After all, when those guys, or ladies, hit it, they move it and are soon out of reach.

They're not out of reach for the guys or gals behind them.

Why should it take threesomes or twosomes shooting 65-75 five hours to play a round of golf?

4 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

My problem is when I see guys (mostly) who can't hit the ball out of their shadows take forever on shots.

You don't think that some of their behavior is influenced by what they see PGA Tour players doing?

4 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

And I've played behind some groups that, when they finally reach the green, they just drop anchor! You'd swear these guys had a million bucks apiece bet on the round!

Uhhhhh…

You mean they act like the guys who do have a million dollars on the line?

[David in FL]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Ugh. Then he brags about being put on the clock only a few times.

This may explain a bit of why I never really felt like I was a Jason Day fan.

P.S. As one commenter on Twitter said… "Wait, that was Jason Day playing fast?"

I never really had an opinion one way or another about Day...

...until now.  

[Buckeyebowman]

19 minutes ago, iacas said:

 

You don't think that some of their behavior is influenced by what they see PGA Tour players doing?

That's exactly what I WAS saying! They don't have the skills, but they have all the mannerisms!

[Hacker James]

it is a well known fact that the group in front of you is always too slow and the group behind you think the same about your group.

[roamin]

8 minutes ago, Hacker James said:

it is a well known fact that the group in front of you is always too slow...

Not always. My regular foursome was behind a cute, older couple once. Playing from the 2nd of 5 tees, we watched them hit "easy-going" drives up the middle of the fairway on 1, and then similar shots to the green...and we never saw them again until we hit the turn and they were already in the clubhouse having lunch after their nine. We all agreed not to talk about that day.

[Missouri Swede]

23 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

That's exactly what I WAS saying! They don't have the skills, but they have all the mannerisms!

But you had previously said this:

48 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

I don't have that much of a problem with pace of play on the Tour.

So you really do have a problem with it, because of the exact point @iacas was making and you were affirming.

[carpediem4300]

Never been an issue for me, ive never sat there and thought "jesus christ this is taking forever why dont they play quicker?", what I have thought is "why the heck are sky sports showing the full build up routine of every damn player?"

 

Now if i was at the actual event and following a group it would likely irk me somewhat, 5 hours walking around waiting for shots etc would perhaps be a bit much, but i would always have the option of walking away etc, go watch someone else.

 

unless its causing a detriment to the tournament and other players then i say let it be, this game is hard enough to play at a professional level and put food on the table without having people hurry you up because its convenient for them.

 

 

 

 

[DaveP043]

Its been said before in this thread, but to take 5 hours or more, playing in twosomes, is simply inconceivable to me.  And when you hear Jason Day say, in effect, "I'll play as slow as I think I need to" indicates how effective the PGA's efforts to enforce pace of play rules.  The players don't care.  The stars know they'll never be penalized.  

[Vinny Cap]

So is he going to take even longer to see his shot?  He is one of a few guys who take too long before shooting.  Bradley was pretty slow with his back and forth multiple times and spinning the club but I haven't see him in a while as he hasn't been on the leader board in a while.  Spieth can take a really long time putting as well.  I think I could keep dropping names but we all know some are pretty slow.

They use to make fun of Na but he has really turned around and sped up his game.  3 to 3 1/2 hrs is plenty of time to go play 18.  5 hrs would kill me and I would stop playing but they do it on TV so they can sell more commercials!  All about the $$$

If you look at golf as a job, I guess you would feel guilty for taking so much $$$$ for only 3 hrs of work so for 4 days, they put in 5 hrs each day and then you get $1.2 million for 20 hrs of work.  I could sleep at night with that logic! 

Edited January 6, 2017 by Vinny Cap

[saevel25]

Until the PGA enforces stricter pace of play rules there is no reason for slower players to speed up. I can see the PGA Tour getting slammed if they enforce the pace of play rule on a player in contention on Sunday. They are not in a good position to enforce it. 

 

[mcanadiens]

Uh oh. Better tell the evening news to push it back another half hour. 

Obviously the pace of the groups in front of me matter way more than anything the pros do. The TV guys have enough different things to point a camera at. Other than the real buffoons who imitate everything a given pro does, I'm not sure how much of a bad influence it really is.  

It still makes you think, Suppose lightning strikes and you suddenly have a swing of the gods. You'd go insane waiting through that many five hour rounds. At my current rate of progress, it is not something that keeps me up at night.

 

[nevets88]

Disappointed he's taking this tack, seems out of character. Hope he reconsiders, maybe someone can talk some sense into him.

[Groucho Valentine]

Good for him? 

[krupa]

Day needs to understand that no one wants to watch him hem and haw over every shot.  I, for one, turn off the TV if they linger on slow players.  And if no one wants to watch, where's the prize money going to come from? 

19 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

Until the PGA enforces stricter pace of play rules there is no reason for slower players to speed up. I can see the PGA Tour getting slammed if they enforce the pace of play rule on a player in contention on Sunday. They are not in a good position to enforce it. 

If they start the season or tournament with a strict "no tolerance" stance, apply the rules equally and for everyone, there should be no room to complain if they also enforce it on a Sunday.  People will still complain of course, but the PGA Tour needs to be the "bad guy" here for the overall good of the sport.

At the end of the day, slow play = less viewers = less advertising = less money for the slow players to slowly play for.

[boogielicious]

10 hours ago, iacas said:

They're not out of reach for the guys or gals behind them.

Why should it take threesomes or twosomes shooting 65-75 five hours to play a round of golf?

You don't think that some of their behavior is influenced by what they see PGA Tour players doing?

Uhhhhh…

You mean they act like the guys who do have a million dollars on the line?

This was my point about him and Spieth last year. That is ridiculously slow. A foursome of average golfers is expected to play 18 in 4 hours.

[DaveP043]

48 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

Until the PGA enforces stricter pace of play rules there is no reason for slower players to speed up. I can see the PGA Tour getting slammed if they enforce the pace of play rule on a player in contention on Sunday. They are not in a good position to enforce it. 

I agree completely.  I'd love to see the PGA Tour enforce their policy uniformly, starting right now, at the beginning of the season.  Really, all it would take is one or two instances where they actually actually apply a stroke penalty, and every single player will get the message.  If that penalty comes against one of the "stars", even better.  

But the stars whine when they're even put on the clock.  They feel "rushed", and they say they can't play their best.  Well if you can't play at a reasonable pace, and someone else can, then the someone else should be rewarded.  Give the enforcement a year, and we won't miss the few current stars who can't cope, we'll have new stars who CAN cope with the faster pace of play.  If that means we see more of JImmy Walker (I don't know if he's a faster player, I'm just taking a name from the top of the leaderboard), and less of Jason Day, I really won't be bothered.