Xander Schauffele is caught yet again in a slow-play controversy. As he proceeded to play the second round of the 124th edition of the US Open at Pinehurst No. 2, his visibly reduced pace started to get on the fans’ nerves. With the raised difficulty level at Donald Ross’s best-of-best golf course designs, is the winner of the PGA Championship at Valhalla in trouble?

Pinehurst is largely believed to be brutal this season. And it is not only Xander Schauffele’s group that includes Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, who are deemed to have a slower pace tag. The 15-time Major Tournament winner, Tiger Woods, has also portrayed a similar trend right during the very first round at Pinehurst. Woods took 42 minutes to finish two holes on Thursday. On the other hand, fans claim that Schauffele has been taking about 7-8 minutes just for his approach out of a lie on 3. Andy Johnson shared an update on X about Xander Schauffele’s group. He stated, “The Rory-Scottie-Xander group has been warned about their pace of play.”

But to Xander Schauffele, it is only a repeat of history. Previously, when he was accused of being a slow player along with Patrick Cantlay, the 30-year-old Schauffele revealed that he does not override any rules by playing slow. He replied, “All the things that have happened as of late have all been within the guidelines of the tour and what’s supposed to happen.” Schauffele made it clear that he likes to take an extra minute if that allows him to be in the right spot. Moreover, he called it “the nature of our game and our sport.”

Xander Schauffele is also aware that he follows the guidelines, which cannot penalize him even if he plays slow in any event. He cleared his view by confessing, “No one’s been penalised for slow play or anything of that nature, so we’re all operating within the framework of what the Tour gives us.” The golfer would also like to play safe and take his time when the purse is heavy. The US Open is one of the most prestigious majors, with a prize pool of $21,500,000. Given such a huge reputation and wealth at stake, Schauffele is thus showing his will to go against the fans’s opinions.

The golf community wants a stop to Xander Schauffele’s slow pace

One of the fans said, “Xander is bad news. And Scottie no rabbit, himself.” Xander’s pace has been getting much negative feedback for quite a while now. And as his play in the US Open is again going in the same direction, fans find it extremely bad. However, along with Schauffele, his group member Scottie Scheffler was also called a ‘no rabbit’ because of his slow play at this major tournament. In the 2023 PGA Championship, Scheffler appeared to take around five minutes before hitting his second shot 52 yards from the 14th hole on Thursday.

Another fan said, “No surprise. Schauffele takes an age over the ball.” Knowing Schauffele’s play quite well, they express that this play from the 2024 PGA Championship winner is not unusual. They re-established how slow Schauffele plays by comparing his pace to an age altogether. Some other fan wrote, “Xander makes my eyes bleed.” Schauffele’s rather “slow” action got on fans’ nerves. Schauffele was blamed for playing very slowly at the Genesis Invitational too during the final round. He was paired with Cantlay and it was reported that they were a hole behind from the penultimate pairing.

Yet another fan commented, “Someone needs to notify Officer Gillis. He can’t keep getting away with this!” They alluded to Louisville Officer Bryan Gillis, who had previously arrested Scottie Scheffler at Valhalla for breaking the law and order before the PGA Championship. Hinting at how the slow pace that is being adopted by Schauffele and Scheffler in this event needs to have consequences.

One other fan wrote, “Should get a total amount of time they can use for the round and the clock counts down for each shot like competitive chess.” They suggested that if a rule like chess is indeed applied where the golfers need to abide by a clock after each of their shoots, then the pace controversies will not arise for any golfers.

Someone else stated, “We need to start publicizing the fines so they can be properly bullied into keeping pace.” Xander Schauffele has previously argued that his playing pace does not need to be changed or configured because the tournaments do not pose fines or restrictions against it. The fans are quite adamant with their opinion, saying they know the only way to stop golfers like Schauffele is by putting it up as a rule that charges fines.

What are your thoughts on the slow play matter? Who do you think will win this year’s US Open?