Justin Thomas' Group Was Put On The Clock At The PGA Championship... He Wasn't Happy

The first two rounds of the PGA Championship have proved considerably more challenging than many expected with players not only up against blustery conditions but also a demanding Aronimink layout with thick rough and undulating greens.

As a result, rounds have routinely taken six hours, with Justin Thomas’ group even put on the clock during the second round.

However, the two-time PGA Champion, who was paired with Cameron Young and Keegan Bradley on Friday, didn’t think that should have happened.

Following his second-round 69, which moved him to two under and kept him near the top of the leaderboard, Thomas confirmed his group was put on the clock, but they weren't happy about it.

He said: “We were, yeah. We just didn't really agree with it. It's hard because it's kind of the whole time par thing."

Time par determines the time allocated to groups to play sections of the course, and Thomas elaborated on his displeasure with it, asking: “What is time par?

"How can time par on this course be the same when it's blowing 25 and the pins are tough than if it's not? And does time par change every day? There's just so many factors that go into it.”

To add to Thomas’ frustration, he insisted that the group’s pace of play wasn’t impacting the one behind, comprising defending champion Scottie Scheffler, Matt Fitzpatrick and Justin Rose.

He added: “We were behind. I'm not - I think that wasn't our issue or being annoyed by it, it's just the fact that we weren't holding up the group behind us. They were about - it seemed like every time we were on the green, they were on the tee and so on and so forth.”

Thomas also pointed out that it is not always easy to simply speed up with so many factors to consider.

“The hard part to me with the whole pace of play thing is that you, there's so much that goes into golf," he explained.

“There’s so much that goes into hole to hole in terms of, are you hitting it close, are you able to tap it in, or you have to mark it, stuff like that, to where, are you holding the group up or are you not, to where it's very hard to make that call. And we just didn't agree with it, to be honest.

“We got taken off, and a hole later we were caught up. So it kind of goes to our point of why we didn't think we should have, but it is what it is. It's a part of it."

Despite being put on the clock, Thomas wasn't prepared to hurry even with the threat of a penalty. Asked if he rushed while on the clock, he responded: “No. I backed off on my first shot being on the clock even.

“It's just, it's so hard out here, and that's the last thing I'm going to do is make a mistake because I feel like I'm rushing.

“If we were, for some reason, to get in a position where I was getting, we were getting bad times and we were continuing to be on, I would have had more discussions with the rules officials to kind of plead my case. But that was - it's hard enough - I'm not going to sit out there and take two minutes, like that's disrespectful to the field and everybody.

“But at the same time, I'm not going to - you know, I'm not going to rush and hit a shot that isn't right. So just kind of went about my business and just was ready to play when it was my turn, like I feel like I do normally.”