The playing times for professional golf rounds have been a topic of discussion for a long time. An 18-hole round for a three-ball can take up to six hours in the worst case – despite the fact that it's the world elite who are playing.
But with the start of this week, the PGA tour is testing to allow professionals to use distance measuring devices to speed up the game.
"Don't care"
I trust that Ted (Scott, his caddie) does what he thinks is best. I don't really care. It's him who handles the distances, says world number one Scottie Scheffler ahead of the major tournament in South Carolina.
He doesn't think that the rangefinder will lead to a revolution in shortening playing times.
Will it affect the pace of play? Maybe a few minutes. Will it play a decisive role? No, says the 28-year-old, who won the tournament last year.
What's more important is whether professionals play in two- or three-balls, he believes.
We're playing two-balls all week, so it will shorten the rounds from five hours to maybe four hours, or even shorter, says the American.
"The debate a bit funny"
He thinks the debate about playing times is "a bit funny".
I think people mainly want to see exciting golf. If we make all possible changes and get the playing times down by 20 minutes – will it really lead to someone sitting on the couch on Sunday and thinking: I don't have five hours to watch golf, but I have four hours and 40 minutes to spare, says Scheffler.
Only the absolute best on the PGA tour get to play this week's RBC Heritage – including Swedish world number five Ludvig Åberg – and that means the starting field only consists of 72 players. This makes it possible to let players go in two-balls.
During a normal tour tournament with 156 players, three-balls apply for the first two playing days.
The experiment with rangefinders will be tested on six tournaments this spring. Players are only allowed to measure distances.
Since 2021, male professionals have been allowed to use distance measuring devices during the major tournament PGA Championship. On the women's LPGA tour, rangefinders are allowed on most tournaments, according to Golf Digest.
