Stacy Lewis calls for crackdown on slow play

Stacy Lewis has urged the game’s governing bodies to introduce harsher measures to speed up the pace of play.

At last year’s Women’s Scottish Open, the American, despite winning the event, ranted about how the slow play at the event prevented her from finding her rhythm and called out her playing partners Azahara Munoz and Jennifer Song.

Lewis, 36, is back at Dumbarnie Links this week in an attempt to defend her title, but her feelings on slow play haven’t died down.

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“What I would like to see is more kind of spot-timing,” explained 13-time LPGA winner Lewis. “They have implemented a policy this year where you can be timed when you’re not out of position if an official happens to be there, and if you’re over, it’s just a fine right now.

“But I would like to see if an official is there and you take too long, you should get shots. I mean, I would honestly like to see that.

“I think as a tour, we need to make this game more enjoyable, make it more fun to watch. You know, it’s just I think we could potentially be losing people coming to tournaments, losing eyeballs watching us, and I would like to see us be on the forefront of making the game faster and making it more fun.”

After raising her concerns about slow play last year, Lewis admitted she was initially worried about the potential repercussions.

“A lot of times when you say things like that, people are going to say you’re complaining and this and that,” added Lewis. “But the response was actually great. People are saying that I’m so happy I talked about it.”

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“Azahara [Munoz] actually came up to me and talked to me and asked how she could get better and just kind of asked how she could kind of speed herself up, which I thought that was pretty cool.”