Tour News

Guan receives slow-play penalty, on cut line

Published

13 years ago

Apr 12, 2013

Tianlang Guan only took 74 strokes on Friday, but his score said 75 because of a slow play penalty he was accessed on the 17th hole of his second round.

According to ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski, Guan was asked by a rules official to speed up play on the 13th hole. Wojciechowski also reported that Guan was given a “free pass” on No. 16 by rules officials, where he violated the the 40-second rule, the maximum amount of time a player has to go through their routine and hit a shot.

On No. 17, Guan was approached in the fairway by a rules official who notified him that he had received the one-shot penalty. He went on to make a bogey (with the penalty) on the hole, but closed with a par for a two-day score of four-over.

According to the Associated Press, the last time a player was penalized for slow play in a major was in 2004, when Steve Lowery received a one shot penalty at Whistling Straits. Lowery shot rounds of 80-74 to miss the cut by nine shots.

Slow play is one of the biggest problems on the PGA Tour every week, and certainly needs to be addressed at times. But the decision to penalize Guan will be extremely unpopular if he goes on to miss the cut.

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14 Comments

Athens

Apr 13, 2013 at 2:13 pm

WHy are they bullying a kid?

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David

Apr 13, 2013 at 9:02 am

The issue I have with the penalty is the guys on tour know how to play around the rule , so they bomb it on a 14 year old playing with a guy that is 12 over. The Master’s mystique, I have started to loose a little respect for Augusta National, they own it and are entitled to do how they please, but they are not untouchable and I do not have to support it. Sad to see the tradition of this tournament tarnished because they choose who to penalize. Wonder what Big Guy would have said if kid would have said Kiss it. After Bubba’s comments about greens he will be banned next. That old fashioned mystic is getting a little old to me.

Reply Report comment
Mateo

Apr 13, 2013 at 2:57 am

Great call. Doesn’t matter who he is or how old he is. He was warned. Then given a free pass. Then penalized.
It is the perfect message to send to all players to hurry up. Especially juniors. High School golfers might be the slowest on the planet.
And for those defending Guan’s pace of play here…………. obviously you didm’t watch him play the last 2 days.
He is BRUTALLY slow. Almost unwatchable.

PS……….. we’ll see how he does without the cheat stick in the future.

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Brian

Apr 12, 2013 at 11:42 pm

BS indeed. Of all the slow players in the field, they pick the one that doesn’t have major sponsors or handlers that the tournament has to worry about. Lets see them do that to the leaders on Sunday when they ponder over a shot!

Reply Report comment
- whids
  
  Apr 13, 2013 at 1:48 am
  
  I’m sorry, this smells of a massive conspiracy to keep a very young boy from China from making the cut at The Masters. Is it too far fetched to think that “The Powers of Augusta” predicted a the leader to finish at -7 and thus keeping Guan outside the 10 shot rule by assessing him a penalty on 17.
  
  Was the group still “out of position” on 17 when the penalty was called? I mean he missed his time by 10 seconds, big deal. And don’t give me “a rule is a rule”. This rule has a ton of ambiguity. This whole scenario just stinks of a big pile of crap.
  
  Reply Report comment
golf4u22

Apr 12, 2013 at 9:47 pm

How bogus!! Lots of guts to penalize 14 yr. old Lets see the slow play rule applied to one of the multi millionaire tour players. Enjoy your 15 secs. of fame Gino.

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2putttom

Apr 12, 2013 at 7:50 pm

It seems a lot of people have a problem with the rule, except the one person who received the penalty stroke. Tianlang Guan himself stated a rule is a rule…

Reply Report comment
Chris

Apr 12, 2013 at 6:04 pm

Poor form by the Masters.

Slow play hasn’t been called in forever and they decide to pull the trigger on the best story line in the entire field. For the sake of golf I hope it doesn’t cost the kid the weekend.

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llamont

Apr 12, 2013 at 6:00 pm

I’m calling BS on that decision.

Reply Report comment
Anthony

Apr 12, 2013 at 5:11 pm

They’ve got to be kidding!!

Slow play is a massive problem in golf and at worst, even as a golf fan, makes it boring to watch.

However giving a one shot penalty to a 14 year old, on the 17th hole, who was around the cut line?

Let’s see the multi millionaire tour players get a one shot penalty when they go over 40 seconds per shot. Although hold on, don’t they get monetary fines instead?

Reply Report comment
Mitch

Apr 12, 2013 at 4:14 pm

he was playing with ben crenshaw who was 12 over today! give him a penalty for slow (terrible) play.

Reply Report comment
ABgolfer2

Apr 12, 2013 at 3:57 pm

Pure genious!!!

The Masters is not run by the PGA Tour or the USGA, but now both organizations have officially been called out for not enforcing this.

Reply Report comment
Joel

Apr 12, 2013 at 3:52 pm

Good. I want to see the Tour do this more often.

It’s the only way to speed up players.

Reply Report comment
- Jon
  
  Apr 12, 2013 at 3:58 pm
  
  You’ve got to be kidding! Slow play is a huge problem, but according to ESPN the last time a penalty was actually assessed was 1995. You’re telling me in the last 18 years this 14 year old kid is the only person to break the rule?
  
  This reeks of the official trying to upstage a kid. I hope he gets blasted for it as he rightfully should.
  
  Reply Report comment

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