Richard Bland was assessed his second one-stroke penalty for sluggish play this season.
getty photographs
One might argue that tempo of play isn’t extra necessary than at LIV Golf, the place a shotgun begin kicks off each spherical. With a full area of 54 gamers, every gap is at all times at its three-player capability. Any group who slows issues down an excessive amount of shall be clearly out of place, and holding all the things else up.
Enter Richard Bland, Patrick Reed and Kevin Na.
LIV is within the Chicago space this week, enjoying its season-ending Particular person Championship at Bolinbrook Golf Membership. Brooks Koepka constructed a 4-shot lead by means of 18 holes, however the story of the day got here from the aforementioned trio.
Beginning their day on the sixth gap, Bland, Reed and Na had slid out of place, pace-wise, from the group forward of them by the point they reached the tenth gap, their fifth of the day. They had been additionally behind place based on time-par, the allotted time a bunch is anticipated to make use of on every successive gap on the course.
Unhealthy pictures occur, penalty pictures occur, guidelines officers step in, play can decelerate. Golf occurs. However this trio doesn’t precisely maintain the fame of golf’s quickest bunch. They had been promptly warned by officers on the tenth gap. Two holes later, little had modified. Actually, based on LIV officers, the group had misplaced much more floor on the group forward of them. On the twelfth gap, officers stepped in to speak that the group was formally “on the clock.”
At that time, the logistics are fairly clear. When being timed, gamers have 40 seconds to play a shot when it’s their flip. They’ll get an additional 10 seconds if they’re the primary to play from a tee field. Take longer than that, with none irregular state of affairs arising, and that participant will obtain a penalty, each to their rating and their pocketbook. Richard Bland unfortuantely came upon.
Bland’s second shot into the par-4 twelfth exceeded the 40-second time restrict, incomes him a direct one-shot penalty, turning his par 4 right into a bogey 5. Together with it, he earned at $10,000 advantageous. With that penalty, his even-par spherical of 70 was kicked to one-over 71. LIV issued an announcement afterward.
As uncommon as this situation could also be, it’s not even the primary time it has occurred to Bland this yr. Earlier this summer season, at Valderrama in Spain, Bland was assessed a one-shot penalty for taking 84 seconds to play a tee shot on a par 3. That week, it could have been simply the distinction between tying for 14th and tying for twelfth, however in a $20 million competitors, that sluggish play penalty turns into lots costlier than simply the $10,000 advantageous.
