Former Open vice-champion Colin Montgomerie is unhappy with one issue at Royal Birkdale…
The scourge of slow play wears off in this 154th Open Championship. Just ask Colin Montgomery.
The European Tour legend and one-time World Open finalist is fascinated by the challenge facing the world’s best players at the burnt-out Royal Birkdale.
But he’s also irritated by how long it takes for a team of 156 players to complete a round. Some played nearly six hours on Thursday, with two reachable par-fives in the final stretch, adding even more time to tough rounds.
“Jesus almighty, was it 5:40 last night?” says Montgomery.
“How did it get to this point? How did it get to this? TV hates it, audiences hate it.”
Tyrrell Hatton was at the Thursday morning event along with Bryson DeChambeau and Scotty Scheffler and was asked about the issue.
“It seemed slow,” he said. “To be honest, the conditions we played in today were perfect, weren’t they? So in that sense I don’t know if the golf course can, I don’t want to say it’s easier to play, it’s still challenging.”
Montgomery has several reasons for the glacial pace, but he worries that the site lacks deterrents for the worst offenders.
“It’s a long conversation between the caddy and the player,” Montgomery added. “Oh my God, this goes on forever. The book comes out. How many times have they taken out that damn book? Once the ball is on the grass, you can’t mark it again to get a line on the ball.
“Then this story is about the aiming point. Oh my god, don’t talk to me about that. Oh god, this is blowing my mind. Lee Trevino here in 1971. He finished 14 under and made it three shots in less than four hours. How do we get back to that? Yeah, they say there’s a deterrent to slow play, they say there’s a huge deterrent to slow play. Was anyone, was anyone punished yesterday? No.
“We have to do something.”
Colin Montgomery spoke to TG as an ambassador for Loch Lomond Whiskies.