People were happy to know Tiger Woods made his 24th consecutive cut at the 2024 Masters. But things are moving very slowly for him. Woods had five holes left from the opening round, as the play was suspended at 7:52 PM due to darkness. The 15-time Major winner started his second round in about 30 minutes but looked a tad bit tired. Not that it has affected his game dramatically. Tiger Woods picked up three birdies in the first nine. However, social media users believe he slowed down the group.
In fact, his playing partner, Max Homa, has been accused of slow play as well. Apparently, the grouping, which includes Jason Day, took 1.5 hours to complete the remaining first round on Friday. Notably, Augusta National hasn’t issued any slow play warnings to any of the three. Yesterday, they took 2 hours and 50 minutes in the first nine.
It’s extremely rare for the Tour or either of the four major organizers to penalize players for this. Augusta National punished Tianlang Guan, but that was 11 years ago. “You must try to play faster,” Paramor, the rules official, has stated. Despite three warnings, the teenager exceeded the clock and later tastefully accepted his mistake.
But Woods, for the record, was put on the clock at the 2019 Memorial. His group had included Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Rose. They were put on the clock during the final nine holes because they were lagging behind one hole. However, do you remember how the star player was always against slow play?
The 15-time Major champion, in fact, wrote about the issues with quite a fervor on his blog in 2008. Four years later, Tiger Woods emphasized that players should be penalized; a stroke would be a better way to curb the problem. “If get a warning, you get the [stroke] penalty. I think that would speed it up.” Woods’s staunch disapproval of slow play gave fans more ammunition to attack the five-time Masters champion.
Fans drag Tiger Woods through the mud!
TGL, the futuristic league, helmed by Rory McIlroy and Woods, will punish players for slow play. There will be a 40-second shot clock as well. TGL, unlike the Tour, doesn’t offer any warning. Ironically, at Augusta National, Woods had to face the clock issue.
“It has taken the Woods group 1hr to play 3 holes. Probably safe from a slow play penalty though as they are not young amateurs…,” tweeted one user. Another fan tweeted, “Slow play abound today. Rounds going to take 6 hours.” That was a cause for headaches for one fan, who termed it “atrocious.”
Last year, Brooks Koepka said that the group ahead of him was agonizingly slow to move around. This year, the five-time Major, winner has been paired with Brian Harman, who is notorious for his pre-shot regimen. But this fan believes Homa has outdone them all.
Augusta National most recently penalized Anna Davis for slow play at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. The rules officials docked one stroke from the 2022 champion. Davis eventually missed the cut by one shot. Fans believe that the same pro-activeness is missing when it is needed the most.
