Section:GDN 1N PaGe:43 Edition Date:190815 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 14/8/2019 20:14 cYanmaGentaYellowb
Thursday 15 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •Sport^43
DeChambeau’s glacial
pace is bad for golf
If the focus on the world No 8
results in improvement on
slow play then criticism of the
player w ill have been justifi edEwan MurrayA
hilarious scene played
out on the penultimate
day of the Latin
America Amateur
Championship this
year. Whil e irked –
and worried – by the delivery of a
warning over slow play, Alvaro Ortiz
took to hitting shots half a hole in
front of his playing partners. The
Mexican was battering drives away
whilst his fellow players eyed up
putts on the previous green, before
offi cialdom delivered a hitherto
unheard-of message : slow down.
There was no levity surrounding
the Northern Trust event in
New York last weekend. Bryson
DeChambeau grabbed the spotlight
in a manner far removed from
typically upbeat portrayals of the
world No 8. The undertone was
that plenty in golf, including fellowprofessionals, had grown tired of
DeChambeau’s “ mad scientist”
persona. The issue causing the
rumpus was even easier to detect,
with DeChambeau’s glacial pace
of play leading him into uncharted
territory as fellow competitors
opened fi re, one by one.
Footage of DeChambeau went
viral; be it pacing out a 70-yard
approach shot or spending more
than two minutes assessing a n 11ft
putt. The contrast with Hinako
Shibuno, winner of the Women’s
British Open while standing on
no ceremony whatsoever, was
a s startling as it was depressing.
That before we even get to Ortiz’s
extroverted approach.
DeChambeau came out swinging.
He insisted his, ahem, deliberate
episodes only take place on a tiny
percentage of his shots. Rather than
serve as a defence, that painted the
25-year-old in an even worse light.
He is capable of playing at decent
pace, within the 40 sec per shot
guideline as issued by the PGA Tour,
but occasionally decides he needn’t
bother. And he would do so with
perfect comfort; the Tour is woefully
poor at issuing penalties for players
who take timing liberties. FurtherDeChambeau piffl e about the pace
at which he walks to his ball being a
mitigating factor is best treated with
the contempt it deserves.
Rory McIlroy, who has routinely
highlight ed this epidemic , had
bemoaned inaction from on high
even before the DeChambeau
circus ensued. “The guys that are
slow are the guys that get too many
chances before they are penalised,”
the world No 3 said. “It should be a
warning and then a shot. It should
be you’re put on the clock and that
is your warning, and then if you get
a bad time while on the clock, it’s
a shot. That will stamp it out right
away. I don’t understand why we
can’t just implement that. We are not
children that need to be told fi ve or
six times what to do.”
As it stands, entire groups are
timed if they are deemed to be out
of position relative to the group in
front. From there, two infractions
by a player will lead to a one-shot
penalty. That competitors know
how to milk the system is obvious
week on week; they simply speed
up when being timed. For shot
penalties, see hen’s teeth.
Golf is not designed to be played
with the tempo of ice hockey. To
many, the serene environment is
a welcome break from the modern
world’s instant gratifi cation.
Yet this contrast always existed
to an extent, when club players
could easily complete 18 holes
between breakfast and lunch.
Now, in examples glea ned fromwatching the PGA Tour in particular,
mid-handicappers think it perfectly
reasonable to dawdle for hours on
end. Th e decline in membership
numbers at golf clubs has multiple
explanatory factors but pace of play
is fundamental as detrimental to this
sport. It will be, too, at professional
level when television executives
discern this generation is not willing
to sit in front of screens for hour
after hour watching DeChambeau
and chums line up putts from angles
of which Pythagoras wasn’t aware.
It was hardly heartening to read
Slugger White, the PGA Tour’s most
instantly recognisable referee,
dismiss the necessity for punitive
action. Discussing slow play, White
painted a scenario whereby “you’ve
drastically aff ected the guy’s life
with the click of a stopwatch”.
Applying White’s logic, football
matches should run on until the
team more desperate for points
scores. In golf, whether a ball
bounces in or out of bounds from a
tree branch can dictate a tournament
outcome. Slow players have anegative impact upon their partners- opponents – and spectators
through blatant disregard; and
when well aware of the generous
boundaries within which they
should be operating.
I
t is easy to feel an element of
sympathy for DeChambeau.
He is far from the only member
of golf ’s modern aristocracy
who procrastinates.
Nonetheless, if the focus on
someone of this profi le – rather
than Guan Tianlang, penalised
for slow play as a 14-year-old
during the 2013 Masters – starts
a conversation pointing towards
tangible improvement, it is more
than fair enough. And at base level,
DeChambeau needs to sharpen up;
bank robbers in Nottingham are
not protected because someone
simultaneously makes off with
stolen loot in Swansea.
By Monday DeChambeau had
conceded that “slow play aff ects
the quality of the game for players
and fans”. The PGA Tour, which
in fairness can only act when its
membership creates a stir such as
this one, has promised to review
its approach to pace of play. Next
week at East Lake, 30 players will
compete for a FedEx Cup bounty
now increased to $15m. The best
have never had it so good. Taking
affi rmative action against an
element of the sport where the
trickle-down is clearly detrimental
feels like the least they can do.▲ Bryson DeChambeau is not the
only slow player on the PGA TourBattling back Simona Halep rallied after
dropping the fi rst set to defeat Ekaterina
Alexandrova 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the second round of
the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. APMEG VOGEL/THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER VIA AP
BoxingHearns warns Ruiz
he must honour Saudi
venue for Joshua fi ght
Ed AaronsEddie Hearn has warned Andy Ruiz Jr
he must honour the contract for his
rematch with Anthony Joshua in Saudi
Arabia after the Mexican-American
insisted the bout would take place in
the United States.
On Monday Joshua’s promoter held
a press conference to confi rm the fi ght
will take place in Diriyah on the out-
skirts of the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on
7 December and confi rmed Ruiz Jr
had “100% signed the contract for
this fi ght ”. Yet, speaking in an Insta-
gram live video yesterday as he travel-
led to Mexico City to fi lm an advert,
the 29-year-old WBO, WBA and IBF
champion claimed that details of the
rematch had yet to be announced.
“I know everybody’s talking about
the fi ght and all but we got the real
news coming soon,” he said. “The
fi ght is going to happen soon. I’m
trying to give hope, give motivation
to all my people.”
Asked about hosting the rematch
in the USA, Ruiz Jr said: “Of course.
It’s going to be on my terms, our terms,
we’re going to bring it back here in
the United States.”
Those comments were given shortshrift by Hearn who claimed that the
man who stopped Joshua in the sev-
enth round at Madison Square Garden
in New York at the start of June would
have to honour their deal.
“The contract for the rematch was
signed prior to the fi rst fi ght,” he told
Sky Sports. “They are both signed at
the same time. There is no other con-
tract. We have to let him know the
time, date and venue which we have
done. That’s it. They are contractually
bound for the rematch.
“There are no conversations
between the two teams about not
doing the fi ght. I don’t perceive a prob-
lem. He signed a contract with us that
he was over the moon with, that gave
him the opportunity of a lifetime. He
will 100% honour that contract.”
Hearn added: “His choice is to have
a legal battle that could put him out of
boxing for years, or to defend his belts
for a lot of money against a guy he has
already beaten. There isn’t any doubt
he will take the fi ght.
“Any messing around and Ruiz Jr
will lose belts and he won’t want to
do that. We expect the IBF, WBA and
WBO belts to be on the line. There are
mandatories due but, in our opinion,
Ruiz Jr is within his rights to have a
voluntary defence. That defence is
against Anthony Joshua.”
If the rematch does eventually take
place, one interested observer will be
Tyson Fury. The 31-year-old will take
on Otto Wallin, an unheralded Swede,
in his next bout in September but pre-
dicted Ruiz Jr would repeat his victory
over Joshua.
“It was all about Joshua at that time
when he was fi ghting Ruiz ; nobody
gave Ruiz a prayer,” Fury said. “But
now it’s about Ruiz and I believe
Ruiz does exactly the same the second
time round.”‘It’s going to be
on my terms, our
terms, we’re going
to bring it back
here in the US’
Andy Ruiz Jr
World heavyweight championWorld heavyweight championРЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS