Klara Spilkova won’t be around for the weekend of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, missing the cut by 1 shot after a rare 2-stroke penalty was assessed for slow play. While players are put on the clock often in professional golf — with the threat of a penalty if they don’t pick up the pace — it’s not often they actually get docked strokes.
But it happened to Spilkova as she walked off the 15th hole Friday at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. That helped turn her round into a 3-over 73 and a two-day score of 7 over, putting her 11 shots behind leader Sei Young Kim and 1 shot outside the cut. The top 75 players advanced to the weekend in the LPGA’s third major of the year.
Players on the LPGA have been outspoken about slow play, most notable Stacy Lewis, who went on Twitter to complain about the pace earlier this year at the Ladies Scottish Open.
I will never understand 5 hours and 50 minutes to play a round of golf! It’s not fun for us as players, can’t be fun to watch!
— Stacy Lewis (@Stacy_Lewis) July 26, 2019
When asked about her position the next day, Lewis said she wanted to see more done.
“I would like to see it be penalties instead of fines,” Lewis said then. “I think we need to be aggressive.”
On Friday, the penalty came. It has been a tough year for Spilkova, who has now missed the cut in seven of 11 events. She also withdrew from one event, last month’s ANA Inspiration.