Tour Pro Narrowly Misses Cut After Being Assessed Slow Play Penalty

Tournaments can be decided by various moments and, at the Black Desert Championship on the LPGA Tour, one player missed the weekend in a costly fashion.

Firing a two-under-par first round of 70 on Thursday, Chisato Iwai needed another solid round on Friday to make the cut and, through 16 holes, the 22-year-old found herself at three-under-par for the tournament and on the cutline number.

However, playing the par 3 eighth, her penultimate hole of the day, the Japanese player was assessed a two-stroke penalty for slow play, with her score of par being bumped up to a double bogey.

To add further damage, it meant Iwai's three-under-par tournament score moved to one-under-par, meaning she missed the cut by two strokes, which was consequently down to the penalty she received.

In a statement to Golf Monthly from the LPGA Tour, it read: "Group 40 was given an official warning on No. 13, their fourth hole of the second round, and was able to get back into position with the group in front of them.

"Group 40 once again fell out of position on No. 7 and they were informed that they were officially being timed. Chisato Iwai failed to play No. 8 in her allotted time and a two-stroke penalty was assessed for slow play, in accordance with the LPGA Tour’s Pace of Play Policy."

A rookie on the LPGA Tour, it's the second missed cut of Iwai's career on the circuit, with the eight-time LPGA of Japan Tour winner previously claiming four consecutive top 30s.

What's more,it proves that the LPGA Tour is enforcing penalties after the circuit announced stricter slow play measures to combat the issue.

In February, the LPGA Tour revealed that fines and shot penalties will be enforced if players were unable to follow the new guidance.

Within the memo sent to players, it was explained that the new measures include fines for pros who take 1-5 seconds over their allotted time to take a shot, a one-stroke penalty for 6-15 seconds over time and a two-stroke penalty for 16 seconds or more over time.

Being enforced at the Ford Championship in March, the LPGA Tour also added a further update to the Pace of Play Policy, with a season-long slow play tracker being brought in.

It means that players will be tracked all season and face sanctions if they exceed a certain number of holes with bad times throughout the campaign.