Italy’s Edoardo Molinari’s tweets about slow play in golf prompted the European Tour to change its policy on the speed of play, chief executive Keith Pelley has said.
The European Tour announced a four-point plan to tackle slow play on Monday, measures that will be implemented beginning with the 2020 season.
Molinari tweeted in April to demand that the sport’s governing bodies take a harder line on golfer’s who exceed shot limit guidelines.
“[Molinari’s tweets] prompted a discussion at the next tournament committee meeting, held at the British Masters in May,” Pelley said in a statement.
“I spoke to Edoardo shortly afterwards, and while I didn’t necessarily agree with his chosen method, he was entirely right to confront the problem.”
“Thankfully, our tournament committee shared Edoardo’s belief that enough was enough, and they were prepared to make some hard decisions, accepting the need to be more punitive.”
Slow play became a point of contention amongst golfers on Twitter recently, with some professional players critising American Bryson DeChambeau for the slow speed of his play.
Under the new rules, a player will receive a one-shot penalty if he breaches the time allowances twice while being monitored or timed during a round. Additionally, the tour said, there will be significantly increased fines for players who are regularly placed “on the clock” during the season, as well as reduced times for players to play shots.