Why Augusta’s best rule brings out the worst of the Masters

Rory McIlroy was affected by slow play at the Masters.

The slow play debate has reared its ugly head at the 89th Masters. And, as Alex Perry found out while wandering around Augusta on Friday, the club’s strictest rule has helped highlight it…

“Slow play is a curse for golf!”

What had started out as a relatively innocuous question about one of the sport’s biggest talking points quickly turned into an all-time Gary Player rant.

“Pro golf is not the important thing in golf,” the 89-year-old continued as he addressed the media alongside Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson following the legendary trio’s Honorary Starter duties at Augusta. “The amateur is the heart of the game. Not us.

“But they’re all watching us on television, and when they see us taking our time, they do it. And there’s nothing worse than when you have five-and-a-half-hour rounds of golf.”

It was somewhat ironic, then, that that would be the average time each group needed to play 18 holes over the next two days. Particularly as Augusta chairman Fred Ridley had vowed to tackle it in his own address on Wednesday.

According to Paul McGinley, it was the reason Rory McIlroy slumped on the back-nine with two double bogeys in three holes late on Thursday.

“I think he got distracted,” the Irishman told Sky Sports.

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McIlroy’s group, which also included Ludvig Aberg and Akshay Bhatia, were waiting for upwards of 10 minutes on some tees.

“He is such a quick player,” McGinley added. “He wants to get on with it. And for a player who likes to play quickly, it was a drop in concentration. And that is what great champions don’t do.”

While McIlroy seemed to have little issue on Friday as he roared back up the leaderboard with a second-round 66, the glacier-like pace was as frustrating for the fans as it was the players.

On Tuesday, Swedish stud Aberg had been asked for his favorite thing about Augusta National.

“One thing that’s very underrated,” he replied, “is the fact that the patrons don’t have their phones out.”

Explaining his reasons, he added: “There’s a lot more eye contact with the fans. You can really tell that they watch and appreciate good golf. No one is taking pictures and it feels like they’re a lot more engaged, which I, as a player, really appreciate. I think that’s very cool.”

And – apart from referring to the patrons as “fans” – he’s absolutely right. It’s marvelous. You get to spend a day walking around one of the most sacred pieces of land in sport watching the world’s finest strut their stuff on the grandest of stages. And not one person is blocking your view in a bid to catch a photo or video that they’re never going to look at ever again.

But while you would be hard pressed to find anyone over the age of 25 who disagrees with Augusta National’s no cells rule, what it does do is highlight golf’s “curse”, as Player so delicately put it.

When one group walks off a green, and the first player of the next lot is taking an age to pull the trigger, it’s as if time stands still. It’s almost painful. Like buffering, only real life.

At any other tournament, when you’re in these lulls, your natural instinct is to pull your phone out take a quick snap, or check the leaderboard, or text your mates and tell them how much fun you’re having.

Now you’re forced to talk to each other. To strangers! On Friday, a pleasant lady asked me how to pronounce “Aberg” in the correct Swedish way. I don’t know! If only I had my phone on me!

As we sat in the stand by the 13th green, waiting for the group of Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland and Adam Scott to clear the way for McIlroy and co, we noticed that they had fallen a hole and a half behind the group ahead.  

Which begged the question: How slow was 14-year-old Guan Tianlang playing to get hit with a slow play penalty in 2013?

Player didn’t like that either, by the way. “One of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen at Augusta is that young Chinese chap,” he raved. “My wife said, ‘Do you see there’s a boy of 14 playing?’ I said, ‘No, there’s a misprint.’ So I phoned the club. They said, ‘No, he’s playing.’ I said, ‘He won’t break 90.’

“I think it was the most unjust thing giving him a two-shot penalty because there were other players without a question of a doubt taking more time than he was, and it would have been the biggest faux pas in the world if he didn’t make the cut.

“And he made it, in spite of that. That’s one of the remarkable things.”

Shall we start a campaign to put Mr Player in charge of golf? Actually, forget I said that…