The first slow-play penalty in LIV Golf was handed out Saturday in Spain.
Richard Bland was assessed a one-stroke penalty during the second round of LIV Golf Andalucia at Valderrama after he took 84 seconds to play his tee shot on the par-3 15th hole. Seven holes earlier, Bland and his playing competitors, Sergio Garcia and Dean Burmester, were given a warning that they were out of position. A rules official began timing the group on No. 13.
Bland’s bogey on No. 15 was changed to a double bogey after the penalty. Garcia and Burmester avoided penalties.
LIV’s pace-of-play guidelines state that players have 40 seconds to play a shot, 50 seconds if playing first in the group.
LIV also released an official statement afterwards:
“In round two, the group of Dean Burmester, Sergio Garcia and Richard Bland were officially warned by a rules official after their 4th hole of the day (hole 8) where the group was out of position on the golf course as well as behind in relation to time par.
“After their 9th hole of the day (hole 13) the group, who had further lost position on the course, was officially timed by a rules official. In accordance with the LIV Golf League Pace of Play Policy, ‘A player has 40 seconds to play each stroke, with an additional 10 seconds if they are the first to play any stroke in the group.’
“On the tee of the 15th hole, Richard Bland, who was first to play, received a time of 84 seconds for his first stroke. This exceeded the allotted time per the policy. Bland was immediately notified by an official and assessed a one-stroke penalty. With the one-stroke penalty, Bland’s score of 4 on the par-3 15th hole resulted in a score of 5.”
The last slow-play penalty handed out on the PGA Tour came at the 2017 Zurich Classic, when the team of Brian Campbell and Miguel Angel Carballo was docked a shot. That was the first such penalty on Tour since 1995. Two more slow-play penalties have been assessed at major championships in the past decade – Tianlang Guan at the 2013 Masters and John Catlin at the 2021 PGA Championship.
LIV member Brooks Koepka has been perhaps the most outspoken player about slow play in pro golf, sounding off on the subject at both the Masters and PGA Championship, which he won.
“Honestly, I would start stroking guys,” Koepka said at this year’s PGA. “If you are going to take that long, you have to get stroked. There are certain circumstances where the wind switches, something like that, it’s understandable, but taking a while is, I just think, unnecessary.”