One-Shot Penalty Handed Out for Slow Play in LIV Golf Event in Spain

Richard Bland was dinged on Saturday after previously being warned during the round; stroke penalties for slow play on the PGA Tour are extremely rare.

Rules officials have been reluctant to issue penalties for slow play in men’s professional golf, but Richard Bland got dinged on Saturday during the second round of the LIV Golf Andalucia event in Spain.

The Englishman, who was a long-time member of the DP World Tour, was assessed a one-stroke penalty five holes after a slow-play warning.

According to a LIV Golf statement, Bland, who was playing with Sergio Garcia and Dean Burmester at the Valderrama course in Spain, was assessed the penalty on the 13th hole after taking 84 seconds to play a shot from the tee.

Under LIV’s rules, a player has 40 seconds to play a shot and 50 seconds if he is the first in the group to play.

The group had been warned after their fourth hole of play (the 8th hole) that their group was out of position as well as behind in relation to time par. The group fell further behind by the 13th hole.

Bland was informed after completion of the hole and his score on the par-3 was changed from a 4 to a 5. He shot 2-over-par 73 and is tied for 21st place in the 54-hole event. Bryson DeChambeau leads.

The last stroke penalty for slow play on the PGA Tour occurred in 2021 at the PGA Championship where John Catlin was penalized a stroke during the first round. Prior to that, the last stroke penalty in an individual event was given to 14-year-old Tianlang Guan at the 2013 Masters.

Players are routinely fined following slow-play warnings on the PGA Tour but it takes a series of slow timings in order to invoke a one-stroke penalty.