Slow play rules hit home on European Tour

Chief executive Keith Pelley has hailed the European Tour’s new pace of play policy a success after rounds during the recent ‘Desert Swing’ were completed up to 19 minutes quicker.

Effective from the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in January, players were subjected to sustained monitoring as soon as a group was seen to be out of position on course.

Any player who then exceeded the time allowed for a shot — 50 seconds if first to play and 40 seconds thereafter — was issued a “monitoring penalty”, with world No.1 Jordan Spieth the first recipient in his opening round in Abu Dhabi.