{"id":395051,"date":"2025-09-03T17:08:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T17:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/395051\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T17:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T17:08:10","slug":"tiger-woods-former-coach-wants-tougher-penalties-for-slow-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/395051\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiger Woods’ former coach wants tougher penalties for slow play"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tiger Woods\u2019 former coach Butch Harmon has revealed his simple idea to crack down on the scourge of slow play in professional golf.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The debate over the pace of play reared up again during the Tour Championship last month, with Patrick Cantlay<\/a> drawing the bulk of criticism for taking too long to hit throughout the final round in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

Cantlay was paired with Tommy Fleetwood<\/a>, who defied the antics of his playing partner to claim his long-awaited breakthrough victory on the PGA Tour<\/a>, winning by three shots to be crowned FedExCup champion.<\/p>\n

Fleetwood, who may have to face Cantlay at the Ryder Cup<\/a> later this month, has recently been working with legendary coach Harmon, who combined with Woods<\/a> for eight major championship titles before they parted company in 2004.<\/p>\n

Harmon, who also coached Phil Mickelson<\/a> for eight years, believes fines are no incentive to speed up play on the main Tours, and he has urged golf\u2019s authorities to hit frequent offenders with two-shot penalties.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThese guys don\u2019t care about money,\u201d said the 82-year-old on the Son of a Butch<\/a> podcast, hosted by his son, Claude Harmon III.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re all multi-millionaires. You\u2019re not going to get them to speed up. But if you put two shots on them, it could cost them making a cut, it could cost them winning a tournament, it could cost them keeping their card.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCould cost them getting in a Ryder Cup,\u201d added his son, who is also a renowned coach having worked with the likes of Dustin Johnson<\/a>, Brooks Koepka<\/a> and Rickie Fowler<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what the hell is going on? I mean, I watched Cantlay down on the 8th hole. He made seven looks at the hole.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI blame the Tour. I 100 percent blame all the Tours because if they wanted to stomp out slow play, they could.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harmon Snr continued: \u201cBut if you put two shots on these guys, first of all, they would go crazy. They\u2019d say \u2018I can\u2019t believe you\u2019re going to penalise me two shots.\u2019 Well, then hurry the hell up, damn it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Harmon revealed that Fleetwood was apparently unfazed by Cantlay\u2019s appalling pace of play at East Lake, adding: \u201cI said to Tommy, \u2018does it bother you how slow it is? I know you were on the clock on the 11th hole, I saw them come to get you,\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Tommy just said \u2018you know, the guy\u2019s slow, but I wouldn\u2019t let him bother me. I\u2019m just in my world and he could get in his world to be as slow as he wanted because I was still going to whip his butt!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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