LONDON — Chief executive Keith Pelley is pleased at the early response to his new European Tour Pace of Play policy and has again said that slow rounds of golf are simply unacceptable.
Referees are now allowed to combat slow play with a 'monitoring penalty' that began at last month's Abu Dhabi Championship and continued at the Qatar Masters and the Dubai Desert Classic.
In Abu Dhabi the time for an average round was cut by five minutes compared to 2015 and in Qatar it was reduced by 10 minutes in round one and four minutes in round two compared to 2012, the last time that event had similarly windy conditions.