WATCH: Girl Takes Painful Eternity To Putt, But We Don’t Blame Her
- Updated: August 9, 2019
A video has emerged of girl taking 2 minutes to line up a putt and it is everything wrong with the game of golf today.
Let’s set the scene. Per golf.com, playing in the final of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, Jillian Bourdage, 17, had a three-foot putt on the 31st hole of the match at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wis. The putt was for a halve and would keep Bourdage just 1-down against her opponent, 18-year-old Lei Ye of China, with five holes to play.
After she missed the birdie putt to win the hole, this is what happened. Warning: it’s cringe-worthy…
friend just sent me this from the US Girls Junior… Trickle down effects of slow play on a 3 foot comebacker pic.twitter.com/trYC2vZZIo
— Brendan Porath (@BrendanPorath) July 30, 2019
At least she made the comebacker, right? But seriously, this is a travesty and you know what the worst part is? Somebody taught her this was fine. We don’t blame the girl at all. It’s probably the only way she knows how to hole a putt.
Her parents, coach, a friend (some form of an adult) probably said to her at some point to not make a stroke until she is 100% ready. So what did she do? She went through her whole routine. Like from :17 in the clip until it ended at 2 minutes. The WHOLE shebang. Painful is an understatement.
While we respect gamesmanship, there’s no way this was gamesmanship. This is a microcosm of an epidemic that is plaguing golf at every level.
It starts at the top. The USGA rulebook states you technically have 40 seconds when you get to your ball to play the shot. But who’s enforcing it when Bryson DeChambeau is calculating air density for 2 minutes instead of hitting a simple wedge?
Why it doesn’t say “You MUST” play your shot is a whole other story.
Rule 5.6b: It is recommended that the player make the stroke in no more than 40 seconds after he or she is (or should be) able to play without interference or distraction, and The player should usually be able to play more quickly than that and is encouraged to do so.
Playing quickly is a skill, like juggling. Playing slowly doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a bad player, it just means you don’t quite grasp how to play the game of golf.
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