The aforementioned McArthur said that they were having to get tougher because of the effect slow play is having on the club game. “It’s killing club membership because of the time it takes to play,” said the official.
Rory McIlroy, who had a miserable final three rounds after getting off to a bright start, had a different take on the situation. After a slow Thursday round, he said that he was more concerned about spectators. “They don’t want to look at the golfers standing around. They want to see players hitting shots and they want to see a flow to the game.”
Gary Player piled in at the weekend. Only half in jest, he declared that the kind of five-hour rounds which were becoming the norm for club golfers were contributing to the rise in divorce figures.
Player, who won the third of his three Opens at Lytham in 1974, also spoke out against USGA and R&A policy when he said that officialdom should stop pretending that professionals and amateurs are playing the same game. He says they are poles apart – and that he wants the professionals to use a different ball, one which goes 50 yards shorter.
