Rory McIlroy wants new measures to combat slow play

Rory McIlroy has called for slow players to receive a solitary warning before receiving shot penalties.

The issue of slow play came to the fore again during the final round of the Open Championship at Royal Portrush, where world number one Brooks Koepka tapped his wrist in the direction of officials to signal his displeasure with the time taken by playing partner JB Holmes.

Holmes was not penalised and also famously escaped punishment despite taking four minutes to hit a single shot on the final hole of the Farmers Insurance Open last year.

“The guys that are slow are the guys that get too many chances before they are penalised,” McIlroy told a pre-tournament press conference ahead of The Northern Trust in New Jersey.

“It should be a warning and then a [penalty] shot. It should be you’re put on the clock and that is your warning, and then if you get a bad time while on the clock, it’s a shot. That will stamp it out right away.

“We are not children that need to be told five or six times what to do. OK, you’re on the clock. OK, I know if I play slowly here, I’m going to get penalised, and I think that’s the way forward.”

Under current European Tour regulations, “a stroke(s) penalty may only be imposed if the same player has two or more ‘Bad Times’ while having been officially timed during the same round.”