"They think we’re stupid"- PGA Star Lucas Glover slams new rule changes and smaller field sizes

US golfer Lucas Glover has chosen to take a stand opposing the rule changes for the future PGA Tour seasons. His opinion came ahead of the PGA Tour policy meeting that confirmed the rules on Monday (Nov. 25).

The meeting is being held to take a vote on the rule changes such as reducing field sizes and curbing the number of fully exempt players to 100 for the 2026 PGA Tour season among others. However, these changes haven't sat well with the 2009 US Open winner. Glover didn't mince his words when criticizing the league. He said (via Golf Week):

"I think it’s terrible. And then hiding behind pace of play, I think challenges our intelligence. They think we’re stupid."

Reducing the field for tournaments has been looked upon as the solution to pace of play issues that have been marring golf tournaments. However, Glover believed that when he was starting 20 years back, there weren't many slow players as there are currently and reducing the field would negatively impact many professional golfers.

"We have 50 (slow players presently). So don’t cut fields because it’s a pace of play issue. Tell us to play faster, or just say you’re trying to appease six guys and make them happy so they don’t go somewhere else and play golf."

He further added:

"There’s 200 guys that this is their life and their job."

Slow play issues are not exclusive to the PGA Tour. Even the LPGA Tour has been tackling similar problems and had introduced weekend cuts to quicken pace of play on the last 36 holes. However, that tactic hasn't yet brought in favorable results.

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Lucas Glover suggests what the PGA Tour "need to be doing" to resolve slow play

Lucas Glover (Source: Imagn)

Slow play has been of the biggest sources of frustration for both players and viewers. While discussions and suggestions have been rife as to what can be done, leagues have mostly settled on introducing cuts or reducing field sizes.

The PGA Tour has been looking to decrease the fields for tournaments. However, Lucas Glover has a different opinion on what can be done to resolve the issues. He said (via Golf Week):

"You get a better pace of play policy or enforce the one you have better. If I’m in a slow twosome and an official came up and said, 'You guys are behind, this is not a warning, y’all are on the clock and if you get a bad time, that’s a shot penalty,' guess who’s running to their ball? That’s what we need to be doing."

While there are policies in place that enable officials to put sanctions or fines on players for slow play, they are rarely applied in elite tournaments.