PGA Championship: Justin Thomas hits back at pace of play ruling as Scottie Scheffler questions ‘absurd’ Aronimink pins | Golf News

Justin Thomas questioned the decision for his group to be warned over their pace of play during a challenging second round at the PGA Championship.

A combination of gusting winds, tough greens and difficult shots left for a slow Friday morning at Aronimink Golf Club, where most of the morning wave took over five and a half hours to complete their second rounds.

Thomas’ threeball were warned about slow play by a rules official during their round, with the two-time major and playing partner Keegan Bradley involved in a discussion with a referee on a buggy.

The group – also containing The Players champion Cameron Young – were put ‘on the clock’, meaning a player or group has been put under official observation for slow play, only to be removed soon after as Thomas closed out a second-round 69.

“We just didn’t really agree with it [warning],” Thomas said. “What is time par? How can time par on this course be the same, when it’s blowing 25 and the pins are tough? And does time par change every day? There are just so many factors that go into it.

“We were behind. That wasn’t our issue or being annoyed by it, it’s just the fact that we weren’t holding up the group behind us. It seemed like every time we were on the green, they were on the tee and so on and so forth.

“The hard part to me with the whole pace-of-play thing is that there’s so much that goes into golf and there’s so much that goes into hole to hole.

“Are you hitting it close, are you able to tap it in, or do you have to mark it, stuff like that, to are you holding the group up or are you not, to where it’s very hard to make that call. We just didn’t agree with it, to be honest.”

Thomas and Young both head into the weekend on two under, while morning clubhouse leader Alex Smalley – and his group – were also put on the clock during their second round.

“I don’t know if it really affected me a whole lot,” Smalley admitted. “This isn’t my first time being on the clock. 17 and 18 are tough holes; we had a couple of bad breaks on 18, so I probably knew that we were going to be timed because we had been warned earlier in the round.

“It’s always a little disconcerting when you feel like you kind of have to rush a little bit, so I tried not to feel like I was rushed. I really don’t attribute those things [three bogeys] to being on the clock, just kind of comes with playing out here.”

Scheffler questions ‘absurd’ Aronimink pins

Defending champion Scottie Scheffler lost his share of the overnight lead after struggling off the tee and on the greens during a one-over 71, where he missed six consecutive fairways at the start of his round and made less than 50 feet of putts.

“There’s some times, especially around a golf course like this, where you’re going to hit some good shots that aren’t quite good enough and you get punished pretty severely for it,” Scheffler said. “I guess a lot of it is you have to be a little careful.

“There’s also just some things that are out of your control. You just got to continue to try to hit good shots, and most of the pins today were, I mean, kind of absurd. They were just so far into the areas where we thought the pins were going to be.”

Scheffler added: “I truly believe they [PGA of America] could have the winning score be whatever they want it to be. It could be over par if they want it to be, just based purely upon pin locations. Is that the best test? Who knows. It’s a different test.”

Genesis Scottish Open champion Chris Gotterup who finished a second-round 65 with three consecutive birdies, said: “I don’t think it [course set-up] is unfair, but I do think for pace of play and certain aspects, there have been a couple [of holes] — you know, 14 today is probably aggressive, I will say.

“You’re hitting a four-iron to a 10-foot circle and if it doesn’t go there, it’s off the green. If you hit it 40 feet left, you have a very hard two-putt. Bob [MacIntyre] made birdie in my group and he hit a great shot, so is it unfair? Probably not, but is it going to make the round slow? Yeah.

“Yesterday I think hole eight was probably pushing it a little bit. I hit five-wood yesterday and I hit seven-iron today. Granted, I don’t know if they were expecting 30-mile-an-hour winds yesterday, but I also did shoot five under today.

“I don’t think it [Aronimink] is unfair by any stretch of the imagination, but you’re not going to get any four-and-a-half-hour rounds out here if that’s what is going to happen. Unfair? No, but tough to make birdies.

“This is the hardest set of pin locations that I’ve seen since I’ve been on tour, and that includes US Opens, that includes Oakmont. It’s difficult to get the ball close to the hole. It’s difficult to hole putts, especially when you have big slopes and wind and I think that’s why you see the scores so close to par.”

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