“Blah, blah, blah” – GMac reacts to Molinari’s slow play war

Graeme McDowell reckons his former Ryder Cup teammate Edoardo Molinari is wasting his time trying to speed up golf.

Molinari, 38, has been extremely outspoken about the pace of play on golf’s professional tours.

His frustration came to a head last night when he tweeted a list of out a list of every player who has been timed, penalised and fined for slow play in European Tour, WGC and major events this season.

McDowell, though, wasn’t impressed.

After finishing his third round at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, he told the Golf Channel: “I saw his tweet this morning when he came off the course, ‘We need to play faster, blah, blah, blah.’ I get it.

“I hear where Edoardo is coming from, but he is, what shall we say, flogging a dead horse?

“It’s not a dead horse, but it’s pretty dead. What do you want to do? We can’t get around there much quicker. Is 20 minutes going to change his life? Listen, I like Edoardo, nice kid, but I think he’s just frustrated.”

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He added: “Listen, golf courses are long, golf courses are hard, we’re playing for a lot of money, it’s a big business, it is what it is. There’s just no way to speed the game up really. You can try these small percentiles, but at the end of the day it’s very hard to get around a 7,600-yard golf course with tucked pins with a three-ball in less than 4:45, 5 hours. You can’t do it.”

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McDowell also revealed that he has been put on the clock five times on the PGA Tour already this season. If that happens five more times, he’ll be hit with a $25,000 fine.

“You get in the wrong group on the wrong week and you’re going to get timed,” he added. “Henrik Stenson is on six times [according to the list]. Is Henrik a slow player? No, it’s just one of those things.”