Tensions Rise in PGA Tour as Tom Kim’s Colleague Makes a Brutal Demand After Calling Him Out for ‘Slow’ Play

It looked like the television screen had frozen. But it had not; Tom Kim simply played that slow. It was the final round of the 2025 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and things were heating up until one shot completely slowed the pace. On the par-5 sixth hole, Kim took over a minute to line up his second shot. By the time he finally pulled the trigger, his shot sailed out of bounds.

It all started with a bomb of a drive—301 yards down the left side of the fairway, putting him in a perfect position to reach the green in two. But after Justin Rose had already hit his approach, the camera cut to Kim, who was still deep in his pre-shot routine, long after Rose’s ball had come to rest.

Watching Kim waggling over the ball even left analysts Jim Gallagher Jr. and Frank Nobilo impatient.

“One less waggle would have helped,” said Gallagher Jr.
“It wasn’t worth the wait,” Nobilo opined.
“For us, or him,” added Gallager Jr.

Talk about a slow burn! Even Michael S Kim took to Tom Kim’s trolling and wrote, “He’s slow. Everyone knows that haha what else is there?” on his official X account. Well, Kim’s slow play came just a week after CBS on-course analyst Dottie Pepper criticized the final group at Torrey Pines for its pace. “I think we’re starting to need a new word to talk about this pace of play issue, and it’s respect,” Pepper said. “For your fellow competitors, for the fans, for broadcasts, for all of it. It’s just gotta get better.”

Well, it seems Michael S Kim has a solution for this issue. He took to X to set up a Q&A while facing a delay at the airport. When asked how to speed up the pace of play, he stated, “Publish the top 10 slowest players each week”. Imagine the humiliation they would have to face! 

But well, as it turns out, the PGA Tour is indeed putting in efforts, or at least trying to inculcate measures to get rid of the issue. But we must remember Rome was not built in a day. So, it will take some time.

PGA Tour suggests ways to omit slow play!

From January 29, the PGA Tour has started implementing changes focused on reducing slow play. Ahead of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a small group of reporters previewed them in hopes of helping improve the broadcasting. First, the Tour is experimenting with distance-measuring devices—rangefinders—to help players and caddies get quick shot distances during tournaments.

While the specific events where these devices will be used haven’t been revealed yet, Gary Young, the PGA Tour’s senior vice president of rules and competitions, mentioned they hope to test them across various events and field sizes.

And well, the Tour was way ahead of Michael S. Kim. They have also added a point of publicizing pace-of-play data for players using the ‘average stroke time’. This is the average time a player takes to make a stroke. Also, the much-needed penalties and fines for players violating slow play rules are finally in line, although not implemented in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

These changes are the result of a 50,000-fan survey that began last summer and player input has also been taken into consideration. And hence, for the first time, the Tour will have a close look at its pace-of-play policy, which could possibly include public reporting of players’ average stroke time. The best thing is that players are leading the charge.

“I think there’s a real moment now for that all to be looked at,” said Tyler Dennis, the Tour’s chief competitions officer. “I think change is in the air.”

But let’s see how it works out for the rest of the season. What do you think?