Field size keeps pace of play moving at Masters

Debate on the pace of play on the PGA Tour exploded again in January when J.B. Holmes took nearly four minutes to decide how to hit his second shot on the par-5 18th hole at Torrey Pines — then laid up, despite needing eagle to tie the leader and eventual winner, Jason Day.

Issues of slow play rarely arise at the Masters Tournament, aside from the incident in 2013 when 14-year-old Tianlang Guan was handed a one-stroke penalty by European PGA Tour rules official John Paramor during the second round.

Did that incident scare a lot of players straight? Or is there a modicum of respect for the season's first major that puts a bit more zip in the step of even the most notorious slowpokes?

The prevailing theory is neither. 

A typical Masters field isn't much larger than a weekend field at a PGA Tour event following the cut. And with the field chopped to the low 50 plus ties and anyone within 10 shots of the lead, it's not hard to keep the threesomes on Thursdays and Fridays and the twosomes on Saturdays and Sundays moving along.

"They have the ability to stay on you more here because there's less players," said Charley Hoffman, one of the quicker players on the tour. "On Thursday and Friday, they only have 90-something players (87 this year) instead of 144 (the usual PGA Tour field size)."

Day, who is deliberate, agreed that the Masters has rare issues with slow play because of field size. But he did hint that the respect the Masters and Augusta National has in the golf world matters.

"I don't think there is a huge emphasis (by the club) on the pace of play because I think everyone understands ... you're playing a golf tournament and you're trying to respect not only the rules of golf but respect the other players as well," he said. "Usually when there's a smaller field, things move pretty quickly."

In the past two Masters, the Thursday and Friday threesomes have toured the course in an average of five hours, 17 minutes. The weekend twosomes are averaging 4:09.

If the golf does slow up a bit at Augusta, it can be attributed mostly to the difficulty of the course, with multiple decisions available to players on almost every shot and three-putts lurking on each green.

"We have to recognize that playing tournament golf under the conditions that we ask the players to play under, very difficult conditions, is hard, and the pressure that's involved certainly weighs on the time it takes to play a round," Chairman Fred Ridley said Wednesday during his news conference. "Augusta National can be a very difficult golf course under certain circumstances."

Two-time champion Bernhard Langer gave an example.

"You can't just (say), 'OK, it's a 6-iron distance, give me a 6-iron,'" Langer said. "The wind swirls all the time. You have to consider downhill, uphill. And then when you have putts, you can't just go, 'OK, it's a straightforward, uphill putt.' It's just that hard of a golf course."

Hoffman said the five-hour rounds on Thursdays and Fridays could also be the result of having amateurs sprinkled throughout the field.

"They're not used to playing in this competition and they're not sure what to do," he said. "The greens can get funky and it takes a while to play."

Cameron Smith, playing in his second Masters, said all championship courses, regardless of the tour or the event, are getting more difficult all the time, with faster greens and tougher hole placements that require longer discussions between players and caddies.

"I think the slow play thing is not one or two players," he said. "It's 100 percent the conditions that are present, where they're putting the pins, how fast the greens are ... it all adds up."

Like other majors and The Players Championship, the Masters invites rules officials from the world's major tours and governing bodies to assist with the tournament. About a dozen Augusta National members also serve on the rules committee and get involved in issues on the course.

Players appreciate the body of knowledge in those officials — and the low profile they keep during play, unless an issue arises.

"I think it's a great concept, to have the best, most knowledgeable people on rules," Marc Leishman said. "It's an important week, a major."

Ridley said there is always room for improvement but said he's satisfied with the club's pace of play policy and how the fields as a whole observe it.

"I would point out that the last two days are twosomes (and) typically get around in right around four hours and five minutes," he said. "We think that's a really good pace for that twosome play."