The European Tour Continues To Try Literally Everything, Is Bringing A Shot Clock To The 2018 Austrian Open
- Updated: October 10, 2017
The Daily Mail — The shot clock is coming to a regular European Tour event next year, with penalty shots handed out to dawdlers, in the most radical move yet to tackle the horrendous blight of slow play.
The welcome initiative will be trialed at the Austrian Open with one official estimating it will speed up rounds by 45 minutes. If that happens, it’s hard to believe it wouldn’t be introduced subsequently at every tournament in the world.
A referee will walk with every group and time every stroke. Players will be allowed 40 seconds for each shot and receive the equivalent of a yellow card for a first offense. Every breach thereafter will see them docked a penalty stroke each time.
At this point, the European Tour has made it clear they’re willing to try just about anything to spice up their product. Let’s face it, golf isn’t exactly the NFL no matter how hard the PGA Tour tries. From GolfSixes which also used a shot clock to a night golf event in the future, CEO Keith Pelley appears to be totally down.
While there are many glaring issues with professional golf in 2017 (rules, equipment, etc) one of the most concerning is the amount of time it takes to play 18 holes. Frankly, it’s gotten out of hand.
No TOURING pros need 5+ hours to complete a round of golf. Maybe 30+ handicappers need a little longer, but not guys that are +7s.
⏱ Tick tock…
Paul Peterson's shot clock penalty. Keep your eye on Bradley Dredge 😂 pic.twitter.com/16BnJY7o6H
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 6, 2017
While somebody like Jason Day can argue that playing for millions of dollars naturally makes you more deliberate…the fact is that if everybody had the same amount of time to play the shot, no player would have an advantage…you’d just need to adapt. Close your eyes and visualize that, mate!
If we are being honest, this was a precedent set over time due to a lack of balls on the Tour’s end. Any rules official sent over to Tiger down the stretch in his prime was a death sentence. Not saying TW was slow, but he did need to wait for galleries, media etc to get settled before literally every shot. Since then, more and more guys took liberties (checking yardage books, wind, etc) which translated into more and more time spent in between shots.
“It underlines how long 40 seconds is to play a shot, and how ridiculous it is that rounds take so long,” 2016 Euro Ryder Cupper Andy Sullivan said. “The sooner it’s introduced on tour, the better.”
At long last, the golf shot clock will make its stroke-play debut at the Austrian Open in 2018. It’s worked in basketball, football, and even the slowest sport of all – baseball! Think it’s about time we give it a shot in golf.
Level the playing field and set a standard to eliminate one of golf’s biggest issues. If successful, this stunt has the potential to be game-changing, literally.
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[…] As reported earlier this month, the European Tour will be rolling out their wild shot clock idea this summer at the Austrian Open. Today, we found out that the event is conveniently being renamed the “Shot Clock Masters” thus proving if you told CEO Keith Pelley that in order to grow the game he needed to jump off a bridge, he probably would do it. […]