Dottie Pepper explains the pace in the LEG Complaint – ‘Has Rubbed on Me’

Dottie Pepper said that the slow pace of the game in golf has “gnawed at me for a while,” adding that she hopes her complaints in the air last weekend will act as a stepping stone of serious change.

Pace of Play again became a hot topic last Saturday during the final round of Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, where Pepper was CBS Sports’ analyst who went with the last group.

Pepper told Associated Press that she was notified via SMS by CBS Sports colleague Frank Nobilo that the final group turned in almost three hours, which got her message that has since become viral.

“You know, Frank,” Pepper said during the broadcast. “I think we’re starting to need a new word to talk about this tempo-of-play problem, and it’s ‘respect’ for your fellow competitors, for fans, for broadcasts, for it all to stay better.

Pepper clarified her comments on Sunday during an interview with the AP and said she did not direct her comments specifically in the final group.

“It’s been rubbing on me and many people for a while,” Pepper said. “It wasn’t a comment that was targeting the last group of a PGA Tour event that CBS bar..

“It takes away from the opportunity we have for this game. It’s on fire after Kovid, and it’s our Darn debt if we’re not doing better.”

Saturday’s last group included tournament winner Harris English, Aldrich Potgieter and Andrew Novak, who gave the prospect of looking at his pace, which was not nonense.

But the final round of Torrey Pines took 5 hours, 29 minutes, which was a 10-minute improvement from the previous week at American Express.

Rory McIlroy repeated some of Pepper’s feelings and said that the pace of the play problem “has existed forever.”

“I don’t know what the answer is,” McIlroy said Tuesday ahead of AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. “There are many different answers but not all answers go to – won’t make everyone happy. I could say smaller fields. Smaller fields would help pace in the game but it removes to play opportunities from people and it goes to pee some people of.

USGA has a recommendation – not a rule – how long it should take to play a shot: 40 seconds, with another 10 seconds, if a player is first hit that shot. It is a policy on PGA Tour that plans for a working group of players to study pace in the game.

McIlroy mentioned Major League Baseball’s recent addition of a pitchur that has made significantly faster pace in his games.

“Obviously, MLB was introducing a pitchur at the start of last season, and it seemed to work pretty well,” he said. “You can try to introduce it, but how is it controlled – it’s a very tough thing to do for every single group on the golf course.”

Pepper’s role in golf goes beyond her 17 LPGA victories and two majors, her Solheim Cup Legacy and her two decades in television spread. She also spent three years in the PGA of America Board.

“I love the game too much,” she said. “Let’s take advantage of the warmth we have. People are more engaged than they have been for a long time. We have tgl. We have influenced. Golf has a slightly larger profile than it did before. Let’s not mess it up. “

Associated Press contributed to this report.