Rory McIlroy: Golf must follow tennis’ example in punishing Rafael Nadal to solve pace of play problem

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Rory McIlroy pensive at The Open

Rory McIlroy has urged golf to follow the example of tennis to speed up their play, saying that punishing a star like Rafael Nadal in a major final sends out a hugely positive message.

Shot-clock is, in many ways, still in its infancy in tennis, with most major tournaments now adopting the rule that allows a server 25 seconds to begin his motion.

Nadal was given code violations for exceeding that limit earlier this month in the US Open final, and punished with the surrender of his first serve.

That, says McIlroy, should give golf a great template to follow.

“If you look at the US Open final, Rafa [Nadal] got a time clock violation on a really big serve – at the end of the final of the US Open.

“So if they can do it then there’s no reason why we can’t. It’s just a matter of enforcing it and being consistent with it.”

Pace of play rows have been engulfed golf of late, and have even crept into the women’s game now too.

McIlroy added: “It’s not a great thing for our game.

“I don’t want to single out particular people but I watched a lot of the Solheim Cup at the weekend and it was really slow.

“As much as you want to sit there and watch and support the European girls, it’s just hard not to get frustrated with it.

“I am a fan of golf and I want the best for the game, something has to be done.”

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Rory McIlroy

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