PGA Tour chief Jay Monahan reveals circuit's stance on pace of play amid slow play criticism

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has said that they are committed to addressing the pace of play issue. In his latest press conference, he shared several steps the Tour was planning to take to tackle slow play.

On Tuesday, March 12, the PGA Tour chief Jay Monahan held the annual press conference at TPC Sawgrass ahead of the Players Championship. During the presser, he faced several questions, including those about the ongoing slow play issue.

In response, Monahan revealed several steps that the PGA Tour was going to take to manage slow play.

"We've committed to addressing the speed of play," he said. "To that end, I'm excited to formally announce these recommendations from our player-led speed-of-play working group: We will begin publishing speed-of-play-related statistics later this season. We will also begin testing a new speed-of-play policy on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas, beginning next month on April 14th specifically, which will include assessing penalty strokes for slow play."

"We will be testing range finders at the six Tour events between the Masters and PGA Championship. We're excited to learn more about the impact of increased transparency and accountability through these efforts," he added.

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"It's easy to identify the problem" - PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan on the slow pace of play

Jay Monahan was later asked about the process for the new pace-of-play initiatives. In reply, he explained that he had met with the Player Advisory Council and that the Tour was also listening to fans' grievances. He added that players across the board were committed to improving the PGA Tour and that these steps were just the beginning.

"You know, it's easy to identify the problem," he added. "It's a little bit harder to find the solution, just given the depth and breadth of everything that goes into pace of play. But we are committed to finding the right solutions and making progress on that front."

Slow play has been a subject of debate for the last few months. Many experts feel that viewers are increasingly preferring the fast-paced YouTube golf content over PGA Tour rounds, which take multiple hours to complete. It will be interesting to see how the Tour tackles these issues in the coming months.

The PGA Tour is in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, for the Players Championship 2025, which will take place from March 13 to March 16. Ahead of that, the second season of the Creator Classic will be held on Wednesday, March 12, featuring several prominent golf creators.