Dottie Pepper said the slow pace of play in golf has “been gnawing at me for a while,” and added that she hopes her on-air complaint last weekend serves as a springboard for serious change.
Pace of play once again became a hot topic last Saturday during the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, where Pepper was CBS Sports’ on-course analyst walking with the final group.
Pepper told The Associated Press that she was notified via text message by CBS Sports colleague Frank Nobilo that the final group made the turn in nearly three hours, prompting her message that has since gone viral.
“You know, Frank,” Pepper said during the broadcast. “I think we’re starting to need a new word to talk about this pace-of-play issue, and it’s ‘respect’ — for your fellow competitors, for the fans, for broadcasts, for all of it. It’s just got to get better.”
Pepper clarified her remarks Sunday during an interview with the AP, saying that she was not directing her comments specifically at the final group.
“It’s been gnawing at me and a lot of people for a while,” Pepper said. “It was not a comment targeted at the final group of a PGA Tour event that CBS was carrying. It was at the general state of the game, down to club play — private or municipal — junior golf, amateur golf, collegiate golf.
“It’s taking away from the opportunity we have for this game. It’s on fire post-COVID, and it’s our darn fault if we don’t do better.”
Saturday’s final group included tournament winner Harris English, Aldrich Potgieter and Andrew Novak, who gave the viewing public a good look at his no-nonsense pace.
But the final round at Torrey Pines took 5 hours, 29 minutes, which was a 10-minute improvement from the previous week at the American Express.
The USGA has a recommendation — not a rule — on how long it should take to play a shot: 40 seconds, with an extra 10 seconds if a player is first to hit that shot. It’s a policy on the PGA Tour, which has plans for a working group of players to study pace of play.
The text from Nobilo apparently struck a chord with Pepper, whose role in golf goes beyond her 17 LPGA victories and two majors, her Solheim Cup legacy and her two decades in broadcasting. She also spent three years on the PGA of America board of directors.
“I love the game too much,” she said. “Let’s take advantage of the heat we have. People are more engaged than they’ve been in a long time. We have TGL. We have influencers. Golf has a little bigger profile than it did before. Let’s not mess it up.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.