Francesco Molinari took issue with a bad time he received during Thursday’s first round of the WGC-Mexico Championship. Although Molinari acknowledged that he took too long to play a shot, he felt others around him didn’t get the same treatment despite playing slower.
Molinari didn’t receive a penalty and shot an even-par 71 to place him in the middle of the 65-man field after Day 1 at Club de Golf Chapultepec. After his round, he said this about the situation:
Today I got the second bad time of my career 13 years after the first one! Incredible how 62 seconds when you have 50 to hit the shot cost you a bad time and then people taking 2 minutes over a shot are ok 👍🏻 🤪🤬😵
— Francesco Molinari (@F_Molinari) March 2, 2018
The four-time European Tour winner further clarified his position with a series of tweets on Friday morning.
No reason to appeal the bad time. The rules are clear and I took too long.
The problems is:
players dramatically changing their routine when the referee is timing them (I clearly didn’t as I don’t feel I need to)
Let’s time players with no warning and see what happens https://t.co/oBJbG3oATl— Francesco Molinari (@F_Molinari) March 2, 2018
First bad time is only a warning. Second bad time in the same round is a shot penalty. 2nd bad time in the season is a monetary fine https://t.co/mIAZo9bf9C
— Francesco Molinari (@F_Molinari) March 2, 2018
Not my point. I know I took too long. Happened twice in 14 years. I have been on the clock a lot of times in between these bad times. Never seen a slow player take a bad time 🤔 https://t.co/BbFuhYDxv3
— Francesco Molinari (@F_Molinari) March 2, 2018
As Molinari explains, a player only incurs a one-shot penalty if he gets two bad times in the same round. But a second bad time at any point during the season means a fine.
Enforcing slow play has been inconsistent and penalties for such have been rare to say the least. The US PGA Tour handed out its first slow-play penalty since 1995 at last year’s Zurich Classic when Miguel Angel Carballo and Brian Campbell, a pair of alternates playing in the team event were docked a stroke after both received bad times during the first round.
Slow play has continued to be a hot topic on tour with J.B. Holmes, Kevin Na and Patrick Cantlay among those drawing criticism –but not penalties – for their pace in recent weeks.
