Molinari names and shames slow players
Trophée Hassan II report: What happened at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam?
Jorge Campillo claimed a long overdue maiden victory on the European Tour as he soared to a two-shot victory at the Trophée Hassan II in Morocco.
A back-nine flurry of birdies helped him open up a gap at the top above the likes of Julian Suri and Erik van Rooyen.
The Spaniard had back-to-back bogeys on the front nine but he was able to continue grinding and carded four birdies in his last 11 holes.
A two-under-par 71 on Sunday was enough to seal the victory and after an impressive 18 top 10s on the European Tour without a top place finish.
228 Events
6 Runner Ups
10 Top 3s
17 Top 5s
28 Top 10s
150 Made CutsThe wait is over, @jcampillogolf is a European Tour winner ? pic.twitter.com/fZTcll91AA
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) April 28, 2019
Campillo drew on his considerable experience of being at the top end of the leaderboard and, despite a lengthy wait on the 18th tee, closed it out in style.
Worth waiting for ???@jcampillogolf wins the #TropheeHassanII! pic.twitter.com/VWtmOYffYE
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) April 28, 2019
Trophée Hassan II report: Talking point
On Friday European Tour player Edoardo Molinari triggered a social media debate with a post about slow play.
The tweet was around the fact that his second round at the Trophée Hassan II took five and a half hours to complete, which, as we’re sure you’ll agree, he believed to be far too long.
It’s time that professional golf does something serious for slow play…5h30min to play 18 holes on a golf course without rough is just too long…way too long! #stopslowplay
— Edoardo Molinari (@DodoMolinari) April 26, 2019
The thread rolled into Saturday as many people had their say on the matter, some agreeing with the Italian and other not…
I agree slow play is annoying but today we had…
-tons of leaves all over the greens
-20-25mph wind
-Long, tight golf course
-Crazy sloping greens
-Average score way over parIf ever a day was going to be slow it was today!
— Chris Paisley (@ChrisPaisley86) April 26, 2019
Thanks to the response to the tweet, Molinari decided that he would post the list of players to have been timed and fined by the European Tour this year for slow play.
I didn’t think I was going to cause such a debate with this tweet, however…if the above tweet about slow play gets 1,000 retweets I’ll post the updated list of players being timed and fined on the @EuropeanTour in 2019 as of last Monday!#stopslowplay
— Edoardo Molinari (@DodoMolinari) April 27, 2019
Of course the original tweet surpasses the 1,000 retweets requested and we got our list.
Molinari tweeted:
As promised…list of timings as of April 22nd. Next updates list will come out at the end of June! There are a few usual suspects and a few surprises. Please retweet and share to speed things up!
#stopslowplay
And here is the list:
A few eyebrows to be raised at this list.
Adrian Otaegui leads the way in terms of being put on the clock, with six, followed by Henrik Stenson on four and a host of players on three.
Otaegui, Louis Oosthuizen and Erik Van Rooyen have also received €3,000 fines.
Molinari promises to update again in June, so we’ll look forward to that. Perhaps players will speed up as they aim to stay in the Italian’s good books…
Slow play and what actually happens on the European Tour
What do club golfers think of slow play?
Five things your club can do to end slow play
Joe Hughes
Tour editor covering men's golf, women's golf and anything else that involves the word golf, really. The talk is far better than the game, but the work has begun to change that.
