Friday at the PGA Championship was a captivating day of golf, but it felt like it took an age to complete.
It was clear we were in for a long afternoon when Scottie Scheffler’s group took three hours to complete their front nine. There were bottlenecks throughout the golf course, and several factors were to blame.
Conditions were difficult for the players, who faced howling wind, long, thick, rough, and impossible pin positions at Aronimink. All of that, plus the high stakes of major golf, led to slow play throughout the event.
Rory McIlroy even sat down on the 10th tee as he waited for the fairway to clear, taking a much-needed moment of meditation at the halfway juncture of his round. After shooting a three-under 67, McIlroy commented on the pace of play.
Rory McIlroy says slow play is to be expected at PGA Championship
McIlroy was asked about the slow play at Aronimink after his second round, and while he acknowledged that his round took a long time to complete, the Northern Irishman said it was to be expected at majors.
He said, “It was, it was slow. I think there were a couple of groups ahead of us — did Sahith maybe lose a ball on 10? We were on the 8th green when they were having a look for the ball, so I think that’s what definitely delayed us in the middle of that round.
“But it seemed like once we got through that little bottleneck — and there is a few bottlenecks on this course anyway, with the 8th green, the 10th green beside each other, you’ve got like 16 green and 9 tee and 17 tee right there. So there’s a few little parts of the course that you can sort of get jammed on.
“But it’s fine. It seems like that’s the first two days of major championship golf are always going to be like that. You get that afternoon tee time on Friday at Augusta, and it’s one of the slowest rounds of the year.
“You don’t mind being out there because it’s Augusta, but at the same time, it is very, very slow. But it will, obviously over the weekend it will speed up. Hopefully, we can play in two balls and things will flow a bit better.”
With the field cut in half going into the weekend, hopefully the players will pick up the pace in round three.
