Graeme McDowell: There’s no way to speed up play

Doug Mattushek

Former US Open champion Graeme McDowell believes there is no use complaining about slow play because it won’t change.

The Northern Irishman indicated the the length of the modern course and difficult greens are part of the problem.

“Listen, golf courses are long, golf courses are hard, we’re playing for a lot of money, it’s a big business, it is what it is,” he told Golf Monthly.

“There’s just no way to speed the game up really. You can try these small percentiles, but at the end of the day it’s very hard to get around a 7600 yard golf course with tucked pins with a three-ball in less than 4:45, 5 hours. You can’t do it.”

European Tour compatriot Edoardo Molinari took to twitter last week to complain about slow play, referring to some golfers who took over five and half hours to get around the Red Course at Royal Golf Dar Es-Salam in the Trophee Hassan II.

“I saw his tweet this morning when he came off the course, ‘We need to play faster, blah, blah, blah.’ I get it,” continued McDowell.

“I hear where Edoardo is coming from, but he is, what shall we say, flogging a dead horse? It’s not a dead horse, but it’s pretty dead.

“What do you want to do? We can’t get around there much quicker. Is 20 minutes going to change his life? Listen, I like Edoardo, nice kid, but I think he’s just frustrated.”