After some research, I determined that JB’s glacier-like pace in the quarterfinals of the Accenture Match Play Championship was not simply a failed attempt at gamesmanship. As I looked for material on the Tour’s Slow Play rules online, I found more than a few articles or blogs that singled out JB Holmes as a culprit. It was mentioned in the telecast that he is know for his “deliberate” pace but I think that he single-handedly forced the change in the format from the usual 36 holes to an 18-hole final. Bad weather was the stated reason but I believe the decision was made when JB was 5-up on Bubba Watson after 10 holes and the Tour realized that, should he make the finals, 18 holes would require the normal time allotted for 36.
If you did not see it, JB Holmes could do nothing wrong and was killing Bubba Watson – 5 up after 10 holes. Match over right? Not so fast – Ha Ha. JB hit an errant drive on the 10th hole and slowed down dramatically. Peter Jacobson quipped: “He’s gone into a 4 corner stall.” In spite of it, JB won the 10th and it only got worse.
As I watched, thankfully on DVR, I thought that he was purposely stalling in an attempt to alter Bubba’s tempo and charge. I know I have run into more than my share of opponents that have this strategy in their competitive arsenal – I loath it AND them and have learned how important it is to ignore it and rise above it. Thankfully, Bubba was undaunted and I believe spurred on by it to win. Further, JB’s unusual slow play, and the apparent lack of confidence and focus, had to play a large part in his undoing.
How slow was he?
For perspective, the PGA Tour allows 40 seconds per shot and the LPGA Tour has recently stepped that up to 30 seconds per shot. It is a bit more complicated than that but those numbers set the standard for how long it should take from the time it is determined to be a player’s turn for him/her to hit the shot. Obviously, it behooves players to have their “homework” done and be ready to play before it actually becomes their turn. If so, 40 seconds is more than enough time, or is it?
JB’s abuse of EVERYONE’s time was so much the story that I put a stopwatch on him and Bubba. Thanks to my DVR, I was able to time eight of JB’s normal shots. To be fair, I selected only those that were not “trouble” shots but were either tee shots, shots from the fairway following good drives and one approach shot from the rough in a JB-described “good lie.” I also needed to be able to capture the start time when it was clearly JB’s turn to play, which further limited the number. For these eight, JB averaged an abysmal 70 seconds including the quickest at 58 and worst 154 seconds. Remember, these were not the really demanding ones. I’m not counting the 8:13 it took to take two drops on the 18th hole or the 8:42 to drop on the play-off 10th. Incidentally, the time to execute his shot following both of these drops exceeded 60 seconds.
On the other hand, Bubba Watson is anything but a dawdler. A typical tee shot took 20 seconds from the time he pulled the club from his bag. One of his slowest times involved a trouble shot through a bush on the play off hole that took 29 seconds from when it was determined to be his turn.
Finally, to my amazement, on the 19th tee and after Bubba had hit a drive into trouble, JB altered his routine and let fly in only 36 seconds? Unfortunately, the result was terrible and cost him an unplayable penalty and the match. JB, please get your routine under control and in much less time! You, the game and those of us that enjoy it will be better for it.
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