Fitzpatrick Bemoans Embarrassing Wentworth Slow Play

The Englishman wasn't happy with a near-five hour round on day one of the BMW PGA Championship

Fitzpatrick Bemoans Embarrassing Wentworth Slow Play

The European Tour is trialling new pace of play initiatives this week at the BMW PGA Championship as part of its 'four point plan'.

GPS systems have been placed in players' golf bags and timings of groups have been displayed on five tees throughout the course.

However, Matt Fitzpatrick says that there is a long way to go to fix the problem after an "embarrassing" pace of play during round one at Wentworth.

The Englishman said that his group were two minutes ahead of time despite waiting on most shots.

"Oh and pace of play," he tweeted.

"Waiting on the majority of shots on the front 9 yet somehow were 2 mins ahead of time. Work that one out, long way to go to fix this problem."

He also revealed that his group played in just under five hours, calling it "embarrassing".

Related: European Tour Pace of Play Four Point Plan revealed

Earlier in the week, Rory McIlroy bemoaned the pace of play at the recent Solheim Cup where rounds were taking close to six hours.

He also likened tennis to golf where Rafa Nadal received a slow play penalty during the US Open final.

"Yeah, I think it's a start. Yeah, I mean, look, it's not a great thing for our game," McIlroy said.

"I watched ‑‑ and I don't want to single out particular people, but I watched a lot of the Solheim Cup at the weekend, and it was really slow. As much as you want to sit there and watch and support the European girls, like it's just hard not to get frustrated with it.

"I am a fan of golf, and I want the best for the game, it just ‑‑ something has to be done. And it's not ‑‑ look, it's hard because there's different scenarios where you have to take your time. It was tough conditions up there. It was windy. It was tough.

"But you know, something has to be done, and you know, if you look at the US Open final, Rafa got a time clock violation on a really big serve like at the end of the final of the US Open, so if they can do it then, there's no reason why we can't do it in our tournaments, either. So it's just a matter of enforcing it and being consistent with it."

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