The rate at which professional golfers complete 18 holes in competition has long been a cause of furious anger among fans.
But be sure, the referees on the DP World Tour are on the case. Take it from Miguel Vidaor, one of the most experienced referees and general figures who has graced the offices of Wentworth HQ and the fairways of Europe’s best golf courses.
Vidaor isn’t just passionate about the rules of golf, but the game itself. Since the day the late, great tour referee John Paramor interviewed him for the job of tournament administrator in 1992, Vidaor has become integral to the succinct organisation of everything inside the ropes in events across the continent.
“Refereeing, you just need to be alert,” he told NCG ahead of the Genesis Scottish Open. Together with player-turned-referee Mats Lanner, Vidaor has ownership of the back nine this week at the Renaissance Club while the PGA Tour, due to the event’s co-sanctioned nature, have the front nine to look after.
“Nothing happens for a long time then suddenly bang, you get this bloody difficult rule, and you have the cameras on you and it can be stressful, but pace of play is a huge thing,” Vidaor explained.
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“Pace of play – we are like traffic police, that’s what we do over time, it’s just making sure the guys are playing with the allowances and in the starting intervals and all of that. It is time-consuming, but it’s what we do, we are used to it.
“We have to use common sense. If it’s blowing 30 mph, the last thing we want to do is time people. If the group in front is a hole and a half in front of you, and the guys behind are waiting for you, it’s the same for everybody, you just get on with it.
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“Wind is not a mitigating circumstance when it comes to shot allowances. You have 50 seconds if you’re first to play, then you have 40 if you’re second or third to play. Common sense has to be used.”
Top golf referee of the DP World Tour: ‘Common sense has to be used’ with slow play
The age-old slow play debate reared its head during Final Open Qualifying at the start of this month when Sergio Garcia and his three-ball were given an official warning for their time. They were four minutes behind schedule and showed no sign of recovering ground.
Earlier this year, two-time DP World Tour winner Eddie Pepperell revealed in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that a player paid “over £100,000” in fines for slow play. Former European Ryder Cupper David Howell chimed in too replying, “If you are ignorant enough to ignore all the slow play rules you can rack up a two-shot penalty this year on the DP World Tour. We do take slow play seriously.”
Despite his vast experience and expertise, Vidaor is not immune to being caught off guard and challenged by a ruling that he didn’t see coming. The Spaniard was called upon to a situation involving Sam Burns at this very event 12 months ago when the American PGA Tour star’s ball was suspended on the stacked face of a bunker.
“Most of the time nothing happens and suddenly, I’m not sure if you saw it happened last year with Sam Burns on 10, there was a ruling,” Vidaor said.
“Basically, a ball was embedded on the bunker face, the stacked bunker face, which was defying gravity. And that’s just not possible but it happened. It wasn’t in his pitchmark, even if it was on his pitchmark, he wasn’t entitled to relief because with the stacked turf, you don’t get embedded ball relief from that.
“So, it was an interesting rule because the PGA Tour got involved and then we have the stacked turf, the newly turfed areas rule, which if you’re on the fairway and your ball is on new turf, then you get relief, but it’s just a bunker face, so we can’t give relief.
“The PGA Tour guys got clarification and Sam was claiming relief. He had a shot, and he was going to catch the top of the turf, but if we were giving him relief, we’re basically taking all of the stacked bunker faces out of play, so we couldn’t do that. The week before The Open, that would’ve been absolutely devastating. It’s one of those.”
Say a prayer for Miguel and his team of merry men on the east coast of Scotland this week…
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Genesis is the title sponsor of the Genesis Scottish Open, the first-ever co-sanctioned event by DP World Tour and the PGA Tour. For more information visit www.genesis.com
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