Tiger Woods Hypocritical About Slow Play?

Slow Opening Gate is story a dominating story amidst PGA Tour fans, writers, and players.  We have talked about it a decent amount in this space - that the pairing should have been put on the clock, that more penalties should be called, and that more people than Tiger should be fined by the Tour.

One aspect of this controversy that I have not seen explored elsewhere is Tiger's hypocritical nature when it comes to slow play.

In my piece on why Tiger and Paddy should have been put on the clock, I quoted JB Holmes from 2008 when he declared that he did not care if people thought he played slow.  (He plays at a glacial pace.)  What I did not include was Tiger's own thoughts that inspired the Holmes comment.

Tiger came out in a newsletter to fans last season after the WGC Accenture Match Play and lambasted rampant slow play.

"It's been an ongoing problem on the PGA Tour for some time.  I honestly believe the pace of play is faster in Europe and Japan."

This was after Tiger played with JB Holmes in the match play event.  So, wait a minute here.

Tiger Woods is angry that John Paramor put he and Padraig Harrington on the clock.  He said that Paramor "got in the way" of a great duel.  Curiously enough, Harrington is Irish and, therefore, obviously European.  Harrington should be one of the guys that play at a faster pace if Woods' hypothesis is true.  It does not appear to be for Harrington.  One could also indict Miguel Angel Jimenez or Niclas Fasth as other slow Europeans, as the Telegraph's Mark Reason did last year.

Woods clearly has a problem with slow play, but then has no problem with it when it is happening in the final group of a tournament with himself and Harrington locked in a close duel? 

If the comments he made in the newsletter were indeed directed at his Accenture Match Play opponent JB Holmes, then that argument holds no weight either.  Holmes was toasting Woods through 13 holes of the match before Tiger embarked on one of his legendary comebacks to oust Holmes.  Perhaps, then, it is ok for Woods to be upset with slow play when he requires an amazing comeback to defeat a slow player.  It can be overlooked when Woods has already made his comeback - the front nine 30 on Sunday did nicely - and has three holes at essentially All Square to secure the win.

Hold on, though.  In the same newsletter, Woods was not certain of the remedy to the plague of slow play.

"It has been suggested the offenders should be penalized with strokes (against them)," he added.  "The problem is you may get one guy who slows down a group by playing at a snail's pace and gets them all put on the clock, which isn't fair."

If Tiger is uncertain of the penalty to levy for slow play, but offers no alternative, then what disincentive is the Tour to provide for slow play?  Fines do not work.  The rumored amount of the fines handed down by the PGA Tour are paltry - at best.  Unless fines are made much more significant, then they are nothing more than a slap on the wrist. 

Strokes on the scorecard are tantamount to a much more serious fine.  A stroke could cost players hundreds of thousands of dollars.  If Harrington had made nine instead of eight at 16, he would not have finished tied for second.  It would have cost him a lot of money to fall from the runner-up position.  While Tiger is nearly a billionaire, most players would cringe at an honest threat of losing a stroke in competition.

If strokes are not the penalty that will speed up play, then maybe it is making golfers play in more tournaments.  Threaten a player with having to make an extra Fall Series start.  Or throw them down a few places on the money list without taking their money.  The penalty has to be substantive.

While Tiger may not have the answers, he certainly has an opinion - one that appears to vary by situation.