Live golf
Richard Bland walked to hole 217 yards, par 3, 15 at Valderrama Golf Club. and then?
Things took a while.
salary:
With the clear green in front of him, Bland handed his putter to the caddy. He snatched his rangefinder from his bag. He went to the tee and cut the laser distance. He went back into his bag to put his rangefinder away.
Step away to put on his golf glove. He looked at his yardage book.
He reached the iron.
He returned to the tee and put the stake into the ground. Step back and stare at the target. He took one swing training. Step back and stare at the target.
He stepped to the tee and hit, and his ball ended left off the green.
And somewhere at this point, Bland was hit with a rare slow putt penalty, after taking just over a minute to hit Saturday during the second round of the LIV Golf event. Bland took four strokes on the hole, but was caught for five.
The news of the penalty kick came from A statement from the supported Saudi Leaguewho said:
In the second round, the group of Dean Burmester, Sergio Garcia and Richard Bland was officially cautioned by the rules official after the fourth hole of the day (hole 8) as the group was out of position on the golf course as well as far behind in terms of time par.
After the ninth hole of the day (the 13th hole) the group, which has lost position on the course, is officially timed by the rules official. According to the LIV Golf League Pace of Play policy, “a player has 40 seconds to play each stroke, with an additional 10 seconds if he The first to play any stroke in the group.
On the tee on the 15th hole, Richard Bland, who was the first to play, received a time of 84 seconds for his first stroke. One, Bland’s score of 4 on the Par-3 15th hole led to a score of 5.”
On the GOLF.com show of the 15th broadcast (above), Bland took 1 minute and 49 seconds from the time he reached into his bag for his rangefinder, until he hit. There appeared to be no conversation with the bases official, and Bland followed his tee shot with a pitch to the sidelines and two batters.
Neither he, Garcia, Burmester, or the bases officials held press conferences afterward.
Slow play penalties are rare and are imposed through events or rounds; The last known player in men’s professional golf came during the first round of the 2021 PGA Championship, when John Catlin suffered a stroke. As for the rules of golf, Rule 5.6b introduces this: “It is recommended that you stroke no more than 40 seconds after you are (or should be) able to play without interference or distraction.”
Notably, slow play — and potential penalties — recently resurfaced at the Masters, when Brooks Koepka, who also plays Leaf, noticed this while playing the final set during the final round: “Yeah, the set in front of us was brutally slow.” John [Rahm] We went to the bathroom seven times during the tour, and we’re still waiting.”
A month later, at the PGA Championship, Koepka offered this solution:
“Honestly, I’m going to start fondling men. If you’re going to take that long, you’ve got to have a stroke. There are certain circumstances where the wind turns, something like that, that’s understandable, but taking a little time, I think, is superfluous.”
On Saturday, LIV Golf agreed.