‘It needs to be banned!’ Collin Morikawa throws shade at major champ as slow play row rages on

Collin Morikawa leapt to the defence of his fellow AimPoint users

Collin Morikawa had a cheeky response to Lucas Glover after his AimPoint outburst, but accepts that a pace of play solution must be found soon

Collin Morikawa prefers to think of himself as a “methodical” golfer. But he’s the fourth-ranked player in the world and slow play is the hottest talking point on tour this year, so it was only a matter of time before his press conference ahead of the Genesis Invitational turned onto the subject.

Just two minutes and 10 seconds, in fact.

The Californian is not usually one to get sucked into such controversial debates, but this is different. He feels personally attacked.

Last week, Lucas Glover said the answer to speed up play on tour is to ban AimPoint – a green-reading method used by Morikawa as well as dozens of other stars. “It needs to be banned,” he huffed. “It takes forever.”

A smile broke across Morikawa’s face as his brain reminded him that Glover benefits from another of golf’s controversial conventions.

“I have nothing against Lucas,” he said, “but if we’re banning AimPoint, I think we should ban long putters as well.”

It drew a few laughs in the room.

“I’m just throwing shade back,” he confirmed. “I don’t have any beef. I don’t have anything wrong with putting like that, I just had to protect my AimPoint guys.

“But, you know, there’s some type of anchoring with like…”

Morikawa paused briefly to imitate using a broomstick-handle putter, then decided it wasn’t a debate he wanted to get into.

“It’s different,” he settled.

Returning to the topic, Morikawa added: “AimPoint does take longer if you’re not doing it properly.

“Some players might get a little bit too close to the hole, and I get that. I don’t want my line and my putt to go over someone else’s marks. [But] are you going to tell other players not to walk around the hole when we’re picking up putts?”

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As far as Morikawa’s is concerned, AimPoint is simply misunderstood.

“From my perspective, AimPoint has 1,000 percent helped me,” he explained.

“I listen to the announcers sometimes during play and they say why would you AimPoint this and that.

“It gets a basis of how I read a putt and how I start my lines. It’s just like reading something from behind the hole or behind the ball, that’s how I’m getting my general read for that.

“I don’t think people understand how AimPoint works to really say this is right or wrong.

“Does it slow down play? I think there are some players that maybe do it in the wrong spots, and sometimes, I’ll admit, maybe I can’t get in when I want to so it adds a couple more seconds.

“But I know that and I’m aware of that, and players need to be aware if they’re slow or not. Let people know who is slow and do something about it.”

While the LPGA have made their rules stricter, the PGA Tour’s approach has been to reduce fines and workshop ideas such as allowing rangefinders.

And though Morikawa says he will use his laser when allowed, he doesn’t believe it will make a difference.

“It helps more from the fact when you’re out of position,” he explained. “In the fairways, I don’t think it’s going to change anything. I don’t think it’s the end solution to changing our pace of play from five hours and 20 minutes to four and a half hours. It’s not going to shave 45 minutes off our time.”

Morikawa then turned his attention to TV broadcasters, who are often criticized for showing more adverts than they do golf shots.

“With the aspect of the fans, I realize they are complaining about slow play, but if you showed them more shots I don’t think they would.

“How would they know if it’s slow play or not if they’re seeing more shots in the coverage?

“But it is an issue on tour.”

Morikawa’s answer?

“You need to start fining people. If I got slapped on the wrist and got a fine, I absolutely would not want to be fined again.

“It’s just like the NBA, [with] the technicals? Some guys are OK with getting fined every week. If guys are OK getting technicals and getting penalties out here on tour because they’re slow, so be it.

“No one wants to be that guinea pig, but it has to start somewhere.”