Spieth made victim of European Tour’s new pace-of-play policy
It took but just one day for the European Tour to show off its new pace-of-play policy. The first victim? Jordan Spieth.
On Thursday at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Spieth was given what’s termed a “monitoring” penalty that, if it happens again, will lead to a fine.
As Spieth and his playing competitors, Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler, approached the fourth tee (the 13th hole for the group), they were told by European Tour chief rules official John Paramor that the group was being monitored for their pace of pace, which had lagged behind the pace of the group in front of them.
Under a new policy which starts this week, players in a group on watch have 40 seconds (up to 50 seconds if they’re first to play) to play a shot. On the eighth green, Spieth apparently did not complete a putt in the allotted window. He was told on the ninth tee that he was receiving a “monitoring” penalty. There are no penalty strokes associated with the penalty (nor any part of the new policy), but Spieth could be subject to a fine of approximately $2,810 if he is put on watch and has another slow time.
“It didn’t make any sense to me,” said Spieth, who finished with 4-under 68, four shots behind leader amateur Bryson DeChambeau. “It didn’t affect the round, but Rory and Rickie were surprised as well.”
McIlroy didn’t see the rationale for the penalty either.
“It was a bit of a weird one,” McIlroy said. “Sometimes the refs have to use common sense. With the time we’re allowed if you take an extra look at a putt you’re over the time. But if we’re in position there’s no reason to time us.”
All things considered, including the incident at the end of the round, Spieth is pretty happy with his opening 68.
“I didn’t drive the ball well, which is really the key out here, so to shoot four-under with the way I felt with my driver is spectacular,” he said.
“I scrambled pretty well for the majority of the round and then a couple wedge shots just really (stopped) me from making it a great round.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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