The Muñoz & Pressel Slow Play Debacle on the LPGA Tour

Here are the facts: Morgan Pressel was hit with a tough 2 hole penalty after both she and Muñoz were put on the clock by LPGA officials. The LPGA says Pressel had taken 2:09 to play three shots and that was 39 seconds over the 30-second limit per shot. 

This makes me wonder what Muñoz' timing had been during the same period. Beyond that, had the LPGA simply set their sights on Pressel?

The facts behind the facts are that Muñoz and Pressel had been dueling turtles. After the match, Muñoz said, "I know I was slow and I really apologized for that and I told her, but I do feel both of us were slow and she was the only one getting penalized, and that was not fair and I know that. I would never make her lose a hole." 

Later, Muñoz was a little less diplomatic: "You know, I didn't do anything wrong. She lost the hole because she was slow, I wasn't. I was slow before, but not when the clock was on and that's when you can't be slow." A touch of guilt? Perhaps.

Slow play is evil.

The question is how to address the problem on the professional tours? The PGA tour clearly has no idea or they would be adding strokes to players' scorecards every week. Instead, there has been exactly one PGA tour player who is believed to have suffered a penalty in more than 15 years. That would be the sleep-inducing Glen "All" Day way back in 1995.

The LPGA is doing far better. They nailed five offenders in 2011 alone. The problem with going after Muñoz and Pressel is the Sybase is a match play event. There have to be two elements to the enforcement of any good rule. The first is adherence to the the letter of the law and the second is adherence to the spirit of the rule.

Rules on slow play are intended to protect the field. That's not as big a concern in match play, especially when the field has been reduced to little more than a handful of players. By dinging Pressel, with such harsh effect, the LPGA stayed too doggedly tied to the letter of Rule 6-7, but missed its spirit.