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Rory McIlroy had several reasons to seem unhappy on Thursday, one of them may well have been the six-hour round he endured - Getty Images/Andrew Redington
It was no surprise Rory McIlroy did not stop to talk to the media after posting a first-round 72 at Augusta on Thursday. Not only had the Northern Irishman just blown four shots in his final four holes to tumble off the Masters leaderboard, giving himself a mountain to climb as he seeks to end his major curse, he had taken almost six hours to get round. He probably needed an ice bath and a revitalising massage just to feel human again.
Yes, the Masters is only one round old and already slow play has become a talking point. And for good reason. Sitting back and watching the best golfers in the world play the most famous, manicured course in the world is one of life’s great pleasures. But when you feel as though you have aged significantly watching just one of the four rounds, that pleasure has its limits.
McIlroy teed it up at 6.12pm BST on Thursday and rolled in his final putt on 18 at close to midnight. Broadcasters still hurting from last year’s disappointing viewing figures will just be thankful that TV magnet McIlroy was in one of the day’s final groups otherwise most of their viewers would probably have switched off long before then.
There are many reasons for golf’s declining television audiences – the LIV-PGA row, which has removed many marquee names from fields, competing distractions, the attention spans of the modern-day fan – but interminable play must surely be up there.
Yes, Augusta is one of the most treacherous golf courses in the world and you do not want the players to feel rushed. But with a limited field, and with the weather benign on Thursday, there was no excuse for rounds taking nearly six hours. Why players are not put on the clock more, or fined for slow play, is a mystery. The PGA Tour famously has not handed out a slow-play penalty in a regular, individual stroke-play event since 1995.
Slow play is not just boring for viewers, it is disrespectful to other players. Two years ago, when Jon Rahm defeated Brooks Koepka on the final day at Augusta, it was even cited as a factor behind the American’s implosion. One picture of a scowling Koepka, arms folded, waiting on the 16th tee box for Patrick Cantlay to finish putting, went viral. Cantlay would probably still be out there now if he had his way.
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Patrick Cantlay is one golfer known for slow play - Shutterstock/CJ Gunther
On Thursday, slow play was also mooted as one possible reason behind McIlroy’s disastrous chip into the water on 15, which precipitated his late collapse.
“Rory was imperious up until then,” noted Paul McGinley on Sky Sports. “Playing beautifully. Very focused, very concentrated and then a couple of things happened there as he was getting ready to play what was a difficult chip but not impossible on 15.”
McGinley highlighted the fact that McIlroy’s playing partner, Akshay Bhatia, also hit into the water on that hole and “took forever” to take a drop, which then fell right on the line of McIlroy’s chip. McIlroy had to wait for Bhatia to walk to the green and mark his ball. He then had to wait for the players on 16 to take their tee shots.
“It could well have been a factor that those two incidents happened and slowed him down to almost three minutes from when it was his shot to play before he actually played it,” McGinley added. “That is a long time for Rory McIlroy, one of the quickest players in the game.”
It would, of course, be spectacularly unfair to lay any blame for McIlroy’s late-round jitters at the door of Bhatia. McIlroy should be used to these marathon rounds by now. And anyway Bhatia showed how to bounce back from a dip in the water by finishing with three successive birdies. But all the same, it was frustrating, not least for European viewers with work the next morning.
Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley was asked about the issue of slow play in his traditional eve-of-Masters press conference and promised: “We will be dealing with that issue this week.” With luck they will not take too long about it.
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