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Slow play has been an issue for the sport of golf recently, but Brooks Koepka believes he has a simple solution. He was critical of Patrick Cantlay's pace of play at the Masters when the golfer appeared to slow everyone down. Now, the LIV Golf member believes there should be harsh penalties for the same.
He said via Golfweek:
“I would start stroking guys. If you are going to take that long, you have to get stroked.”
He continued:
“There’s a lot of guys out here that take their time. I think it is a problem. Technically in the rule book it says you have 40 seconds to hit your shot. I think that’s what it is. If you are taking over, technically you’re breaking the rules, right?”
Brooks Koepka said that he doesn't remember the last time anyone got a stroke penalty, but believes it would quickly fix the mess:
“I know if you follow guys around with a stopwatch this week, there will be plenty of guys that are over time and stuff like that, but I can’t remember the last time anybody was stroked."
He added:
"I remember the little kid at Augusta (14-year-old Guan Tianlang of China). I don’t know if anybody has been stroked since. That’s kind of the most recent one I can think of. There are some guys that probably definitely could be stroked.”
Ironically, Jon Catlin was penalized at the 2021 PGA Championship as the most recent example of "stroking." Koepka, who is not on the PGA Tour anymore, still wants to see the problem fixed even though he's with LIV Golf:
“There are certain circumstances where the wind switches, something like that, it’s understandable, but taking a while is I just think unnecessary."
LIV Golf star Brooks Koepka unafraid to talk about PGA Tour
Despite not being a member of the PGA Tour anymore, Brooks Koepka would like to see them fix the glaring (from his perspective) issues with the game. Koepka was asked about this and said (via Golf Digest):
“I mean, yeah, it’s never quick. I was talking about it when I was on the PGA Tour, too, so I’m not afraid to talk about it. I never was fined for anything, so I’m all right. Yeah, there’s a lot of guys out here that take their time. I think it is a problem."
He further explained:
"Technically in the rule book it says you have 40 seconds to hit your shot. I think that’s what it is. If you are taking over, technically you’re breaking the rules, right? So, I don’t know.”
Koepka is one of the game's fastest players, so it makes sense that he would be frustrated with the slow play exhibited by Cantlay and others. He's also right in that many players are dragging down the pace of play.
The pace-of-play rules were updated in 2020, but from Koepka's perspective, they need to be updated once more. If slow play plagues the PGA Championship, something might be done.
