They Penalize Slow Play On The LPGA Tour!

If I wasn't out at Riviera watching PGA Tour pros take their sweet time I would have caught Bill Kwon's excellent summary of Angela Park's expensive two-shot penalty last week at Turtle Bay.

Park was only one stroke behind winner Annika Sorenstam at one time, but a triple-bogey 7 at 10 gave her a final-round 69 — 209 and a tie for fifth with Japan's Momoko Ueda. They finished one shot behind Russy Gulyanamitta, Laura Diaz and Jane Park, who shared second at 208.

So instead of getting $100,458 for being second alone, Park got $40,872.

Let the whining begin...

"I didn't think it was fair at all," said Park, the only one in her threesome to be penalized after being put on the clock at the 10th tee.

"It was kinda really unfair for penalizing me on that one hole when I was playing quick throughout the whole day," she said.

Uh huh... 

"It's especially unfair for the last four, five groups of the day. I've seen many, many occasions last year when the last group was a hole behind, but I respected that because they're trying to play to win. When he (rules official Doug Brecht) came up to me and penalized me, I was like, you know where I am on this leaderboard? You have any idea?

"I have nothing against him, I have nothing mean to say about him. He said he was going by the rules, which I understand, which is his job. But then I told him, if it was Paula (Creamer), if it was Annika, would you have penalized them? He didn't say anything. I was crying my eyes out, I couldn't help it. It was an embarrassing thing to say, but I was almost bawling.

Almost...

"I told him, well, that's for TV isn't it? It would have looked bad for you on TV if you penalized Paula or Annika. He didn't say anything. I was, like, I would have respect (for) you if you would have penalized them, too. Then I would have been OK, that's fine. That's your job. I respect you for that. But he didn't say anything.

"I was, like, you know, that's just not fair. That's how life is and I've just got to move on from it."

Brecht told Park on the 10th tee that she was on the clock. "She violated our pace-of-play policy and was penalized two shots," he said.

As for Park asking if he would do the same to Creamer and Sorenstam in that same situation, Brecht said, "She never asked me that question. If she did, I didn't hear her ask me that question."

Brent Kelly offers this primer on the LPGA's policy and also this comparison with the PGA Tour's policy.