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You might as well start bringing picnic baskets to the PGA Tours 2025 because slow play has turned rounds into full-day outings. Let us go back to the final round of the 2025 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. On the par-5 sixth hole, Tom Kim took a long time to line up his second shot and when he finally hit, his shot went out of bounds. Watching the golfer waggling over the ball for more than a minute left analysts Jim Gallagher Jr. and Frank Nobilo with no other option other than roasting the golfer!

“One less waggle would have helped,” said Gallagher Jr., while Nobilo shared, “It wasn’t worth the wait.” One would have thought Kim understood their sentiments regarding slow play, right? Wrong!

Cut to the Phoenix Open, and not much has changed. As the camera panned to Kim’s approach shot into the par-4 1st during the third round of the WM Phoenix Open, Foster, who caddies for Matt Fitzpatrick, didn’t hold back on his thoughts. While speaking to ‘Sky Sports’, he stated: “Yeah, I’ve fallen asleep on my head covers leaning on the bag waiting for him to hit a shot now and again yeah.”

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“He’s as slow as it comes, get on with it will you.”

Tom Kim, who had been weighing up his second shot from the rough on the par-five third, ruined his approach and so, the veteran caddie was quick to add, “Ooooh Tom, see if he played it quickly he would have been alright.”

Further, Tron Carter, also known as Todd Schuster (a golfer and co-founder of ‘No Laying Up’—a golf media outlet), took to X to share his thoughts. He wrote: “Tom Kim’s group (playing w/ Harman & Matsuyama) has been falling behind already today. Hope there are officials w/ stopwatches ready to pounce. Get real about enforcing pace of play. Those “on the list” should be treated on a “pre-crime” basis. consistently slow play = cheating.”

Top Comment by Michael Robertson

Bob Scott

Come on Davis Charlie and the rest of you,you know what you have to do. So sort it now. If not, the...more

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Golf fans weren’t going to let go of the opportunity to join in and share their opinions on slow play. What did they say?

Fans can’t handle Tom Kim’s slow play anymore!

Slow play has been dragging its feet on the PGA Tour, frustrating players and fans alike. While rules exist, the PGA Tour seems to prefer a gentle tap over a heavy hand. After the high expectations set by AT&T Pebble Beach, fans are again witnessing slow play and have weaved a fresh comment thread of frustrations. One fan wrote:

  • “What a nightmare group.”

Tom Kim was paired with Harman and Matsuyama in the second round. Out of the three, two players are already accused of being the slow players. Harman was accused of his pre-shot wiggle, which earlier was seen counted by fans. Another fan joined in by writing:

  • “No joke, I’ve thought my TV had frozen on numerous occasions with Tomorrow Kim over the ball.”

But here is the real issue. The PGA Tour has rules for slow play, but actual penalties and enforcement of the rules are rare. While players are put on the clock, applying rules is inconsistent, where even repeat offenders simply receive a warning.

In fact, just a week ago, former major champion Lucas Glover took digs at AimPoint, which is a popular green-reading ritual to measure the slope and aim for a putt. “AimPoint, statistically, hasn’t helped anybody make more putts since its inception on the PGA Tour. Statistics have beared that out,” he stated. He wanted it banned because it encouraged a slow-putting routine (players take multiple readings before putting). Regardless, fans have had enough of slow plays.

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USA Today via Reuters

  • “I love watching Tom Kim take 5 minutes to hit it OB too.”
  • “What’s interesting about Kim and Harman. Both terribly slow. Harman with 15 waggles. Kim just stands still for 30 seconds.”

Similarly, a week ago, Charley Hoffman penned a letter to his fellow PGA Tour players discussing the exact issue. “We’ve taken a lot of heat over the past few weeks about slow play,” he wrote. “And yeah, it’s an issue — for our fans, for us as players. Cutting down field sizes will help, but only by a few minutes a day.”

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  • “Kim and Harman together should be a no no.”

Surely, this seems like an issue everyone is talking about, but things are yet to change. And fans are taking notice. The PGA Tour must make amends before ratings dip further. What do you think?

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Is slow play in golf a form of cheating, or are fans overreacting to the delays?

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