J.B. Holmes missed the Farmers Insurance Open playoff by a shot, but his seemingly undue delay in the final fairway made him the center of attention for more than four minutes Sunday at Torrey Pines.
Holmes was two shots out of the lead playing the final hole when he debated between several clubs before ultimately laying up and pulling his shot into the left rough. The delay came while Alex Noren stood in the 18th fairway, facing a 230-yard approach when birdie would have won the tournament in regulation.
Instead, he was forced to wait while Holmes vacillated, and Noren ultimately missed the green and made par. Golf Channel analyst Frank Nobilo clocked Holmes’ wait to play his second shot at four minutes, 10 seconds.
Holmes’ indecision came on an already slow day when the final threesome needed more than six hours to play their round on the difficult South Course, and it drew plenty of feedback on social media from some of Holmes’ fellow pros:
Most tour players aren’t slow but because of a handful of slow ones we all get a bad rep
— Daniel Berger (@DanielBerger59) January 28, 2018
Anytime today JB…
— Luke Donald (@LukeDonald) January 28, 2018
Last group was over a hole behind, we can all blame JB…and yes the player should take responsibility for their pace of play, but if they don’t that’s why we have Tour officials – they needed to step in a while ago IMO.
— Luke Donald (@LukeDonald) January 28, 2018
1. JB needs to be fined or better yet given 2 shots
2 Needs eagle to tie. After all that lays up? Really???
3 Horrendous sportsmanship to Noren and Palmer
4 wow— Mark Calcavecchia (@MarkCalc) January 28, 2018
Just to make everyone complaining about how long JB took to hit that shot on 18, 4 min and 10 sec to be exact, he could have taken 6 minutes and nothing would have been done. Last hole, last group. Something should have been said way earlier.
— InTheFlesch (@Steve_Flesch) January 29, 2018
I guess rules only apply for some players. That was ridiculous how long it took him to play that shot. The rules officials need to change your policy on slow play and be more active on slow players and you won't have these 5 1/2 six hour round. @PGATOURmedia @GolfChannel #fines
— Ken Duke (@DukePGA) January 29, 2018
Source: Internet
