The anti-slow play movement brigade remains active and in full flow! It is safe to say that the PGA tour has long been plagued with the issue of pace among other glaring problems. The quality of the sport rides on the back of professionals immersing in their art, taking in the necessary time to score the big one. But is it worth the wait? This question was buzzing around as Tom Kim found himself under fire for slow play at Pebble Beach, taking over a minute to hit an approach shot—only to send it out of bounds.

Three wins in 71 PGA Tour events is a decent haul, but lately, it’s not his trophy count making headlines. It’s his speed or lack of it. The chatter turned into a roar after the 2025 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where the Korean’s slow play at par 5-sixth had fans fuming, critics fuming, and fellow players losing patience. What started as murmurs of frustration have erupted into a full-blown debate, with calls for him to pick up the pace before slow play takes center stage over the sport itself.

Everyone saw his viral, slow-play video at the AT&T Pebble Beach, but now people are speculating deeper into the issue. Joining the brigade was former golfer Smylie Kaufman. On “The Smylie Show” podcast, Kaufman, and executive producer Charlie Hulme tackled the burning question: Why was Tom Kim moving at this pace? Kaufman didn’t hold back, speculating that the South Korean pro was either stuck in his head or simply marching to his beats. “It sure seems to me that he’s either mentally struggling with it or just thinking, ‘Hey, I’m going to play at my own speed,'” he said.

Kaufman also stressed the need for reforms to avoid missing the best of golf on slow play, adding, “If that’s the case right, like that’s what we want to try to change because that’s the type of stuff we just need guys working on.” He went on to relate with him for a bit, and “he (Kim) may be working on it,” but things must change soon. 

While the PGA Tour is trying its best to install changes, broadcasters did it with, “A little less waggle might have helped.” Among more, Michael S. Kim too held him, and a few other players guilty of dragging their feet. It’s like their sluggish pace holds up the whole field, like a long checkout line with one slow cashier.

His idea? A weekly ‘Top 10 Slowest Players’ list. It’s a risky leaderboard! Under pressure to act, will the Tour finally lay down the law? Or will golfers keep inching their way around the course? There have been some penalized in the past though, let’s have a look.

When it wasn’t Tom Kim: Early slow plays penalized on the PGA Tour

Slow-play penalties don’t come around often on the PGA Tour, but when they do, they make waves. Back in 1995 at the Honda Classic, Glen Day became one of the rare players to be hit with a one-shot penalty after his third round dragged on past the four-hour mark. While that moment put him in an unfortunate spotlight, his best career finish came a year earlier, when he placed T15 at the 1994 PGA Championship—a far better headline to have on his resume.

Jump ahead to the 2011 Zurich Classic, and slow play reared its head once again. Miguel Angel Carballo and Brian Campbell both found themselves on the wrong side of the clock, with Carballo first exceeding his time on the 12th hole before the duo was penalized on the 14th. It was the first slow-play penalty handed out since Day’s incident 16 years earlier.

Campbell later told Golf Channel he partly blamed the PGA Section team of Kyle Ramey and Phil Schmitt, who posted a 75 but admitted, “We couldn’t get ourselves back on time because bad shots were still happening.” In other words, it wasn’t just the clock working against them. There are slower pros, but not everyone was penalized.

We have to agree, slow play on the PGA Tour is like watching paint dry—nobody enjoys it, but maybe some do (just the paint part!). With more, and more scrutiny, players ought to, need to, and must find a better way to keep the game flowing! What are your views on this issue? Let us know in the comment section below!