J.B. Holmes: "I don’t understand what the big hoopla is all about."

Golf Channel's Tim Rosaforte caught up with J.B. Holmes following the Farmers Insurance Open fiasco that saw the Kentucky-native set up shot on the last hole of regulation.

Besides not realizing how long he was taking even as fans were lightly heckling, this assertion that Alex Noren could have just gone ahead and played suggests J.B. may be unfamiliar with how things work. This isn't the line at Starbucks when you can't decide between a latte and an Americano and just tell the person behind you to go ahead.

“If it bothered Alex, he could have said something and he could have hit,” Holmes said. “If I messed him up, I apologize. He still made a good swing. He smoked it. (Hitting 3-wood over the green and through the tunnel, next to the CBS booth.) I don’t understand what the big hoopla is all about. I was just trying to give myself the best chance to win the tournament. I didn’t want to mess anybody up.”

Another lay-up in the rough.

Video of Rosaforte's full Morning Drive report,

Holmes talked to Golf Channel's Chantel McCabe and reiterated most of the comments above, especially the surprise at the reaction. He reiterated that he would not do anything differently. Note that he was aware he had not been put on the clock during the round, freeing himself to pitch a tent in the fairway since he had no previous bad time (a second bad time would have resulted in a penalty stroke).

The two most disturbing quotes arrive at the end: "it's not like it took a half hour to hit the shot" and "this happens on tour, it's just not always on camera."

Matt Adams and I debated on Golf Central and you know how I feel, nothing here that can't be fixed by a few penalty strokes for a second bad time.

Comments

[Rob S]

JB Moron. Selfish twat.

[True Dat]

There’s no question people are piling on Holmes. It wasn’t even a fraction as egregious as what Spieth did to Kuchar. Frankly, I don’t think either guy was trying to disrupt their opponent, but I have zero doubt Spieth took loads of extra time to re set himself after his wheels were clearly coming off. An obvious double standard for the “Golden Child.”

[Sari]

Spieth was getting a ruling though.

[Greg]

What JB did on Sunday was inexcusable. He's either completely tone deaf or incredibly selfish to not own up to his poor sportsmanship. However, let's not forget the role the PGA tour plays in this embarrassing display. For years, they've tolerated slow play and refused to enforce their own rules on the practice. So, it should come as no surprise that JB sees nothing wrong in taking more than four minutes to hit his shot. To it's credit, the European Tour appears to understand pace of play and is set to implement a shot clock to address the issue. Hopefully, Sunday's incident will be the event that forces the PGA tour to actually do something about the chronic problem.

[In the grip of the game]

Both Noren and Kuchar were still very much in contention in their separate incidences and I can understand why both of them waited.

If the other guy was out of contention, do pros never play up? Or is it a boys club rule like allowing backstopping?

[BDF]

"I don't understand what the big hoopla is all about..." - 'nuff said. These slow players are so tone deaf, the only thing that will wake them up is a shot in the wallet.

[Paul]

Feel he's getting a bit roasted while there are far more perpetual slow pokes than him. Like he said, any other hole than 18 and it would've been a non issue.

This is more on the Tour. Just do it already. Penalize slow play.

[jimbo]

Keep digging JB.

[munihack]

This is what you get when you do not enforce the rules you have. The reason JB sees no issue is because he was not penalized. He is a symptom not the disease. It is no different than getting a free drop vs a penalty drop in his eyes. Why did he behave like this? Because he could. If the tour enforced all rules like the pace rule almost no one would ever get a penalty for anything. What other rules get 2 mulligans before a stroke is assessed?

[John]

I saw something from a guy who had brain surgery similar to JB's and said that it affected his decision-making at times under stress. Any chance that could be in play here? Just sayin', even if he was in a fog and hesitated for an extra 60-90 seconds, that's the difference between "he's a little slow here" to "OMG this is an outrage and a huge breach of etiquette and he should be penalized and this is why no one watches golf anymore!"

[Animal Kingdom]

Have to agree with J.B. here. Last hole of tournament, chance to win, facing a difficult choice on going for the green or laying up; taking a few minutes to decide is not a big deal under those circumstances.

[Zokol]

JB Holmes, like most slow players on Tour don’t think they’re slow. The interview is evident that he’s oblivious to the situation and he’s conditioned to think he’s entitled to take as much time as he likes. The same thinking and expression came from Jason Day’s last year.

Tour by-laws need to be amending.

Firstly, Holmes’ group was not “on the clock” when Holmes took over 4-minutes to hit his 2nd shot on the last hole. So, Tour officials have no issue with him. The Tour needs to amend their slow play rules to include that all players are “on the clock” at all times, not only when the group gets out of position and the group gets an official warning.

New rules need to be amended for Tour official to work with. That state something to the effect, that at all times, players must play with undue delay. Time par for each shot revolves around 40-seconds. If at anytime a player takes an exorbitant amount of time, that is considered excessive, consider all circumstances they will be subject to penalty shots on the spot.

Then Tour official need to be given the directive from the Commissioner to enforce the rules.

[Madeline Morgan]

Holmes is a notorious slowpoke but the guy who won the tournament is just as bad or worse. This is a far more on the tour than on individual players. Simply enforce the existing slow play policy and the problem goes disappears.

[Tom]

Rule 6-7, "The player must play without undue delay and in accordance with any pace of play guidelines that the Committee may establish. Between completion of a hole and playing from the next teeing ground, the player must not unduly delay play." So, it is irrelevant that he was not on the clock. He had an obligation to play without undue delay. Note the "and". You both have to act in accordance with pace of play guidelines AND you have to play without undue delay.

Not that the Tour will enforce the Rules of Golf, though.

[Melvyn's Inner Demons]

Kick him off the Tour, Doug!

[Zokol]

Tom, the Tour often incorporates their own local rules from time to time, such as the "lift, clean and place", same as their slow play guidelines that states players only get timed individually once their group is out of position, have been warned officially and then "put on the clock". If they are not "on the clock" the officials have no issue with them. Holmes was not "on the clock" in this situation.

In order for the Tour to change, amendments to the Tour's policies need to happen first.

[Professor]

Keep it positive fellas. There's no need for name calling. Money or fining these guys for slow play will have absolutely no effect. That's the equivalent of a parking ticket for most of us mere mortals. Jason Day has already told us he doesn't care and that he's going to take as much time as he feels he needs to in order to hit the shot that's required. JB was essentially just following the then world #1's lead. As an aside, you should see how slow the college kids are. Slow play and slow players are clearly a problem but I really see this as a management issue. This falls squarely on the PGA Tour and their officials. The only thing that's going to speed things up is to penalize these guys a stroke for slow play. The PGA Tour need to just say, starting day one of the 2018-2019 season we're going penalize slow play. The first player has 1 minute 15 seconds to hit the ball and each player thereafter has 1 minute. The first instance gets you a warning, the second instance gets you on the clock, and third and each subsequent instance gets you a one stroke penalty. But that would be too easy wouldn't it. The only potential problem I see would be how they handle things that happen beyond the players control that interfere with his time like a spectator yelling "mashed potatoes" or a gust of wind.

Btw, Geoff, love that horsehead tie you were sporting on the Morning Drive segment with Matty. Drake's right?

[The Reality]

Much ado about nothing.

[rgw]

The problem isn't as much as Holmes taking 4+ minutes to hit a shot as it is the PGA Tour completely ignoring pace of play. No one's ever hinted to Holmes and his colleagues that there's anything wrong taking as much time as you want, so why is anyone surprised when players do it? This whole situation doesn't really bother me since I only watch televised golf three times a year, but since golfers everywhere emulate what they see on TV, eventually this taints the game on every level.

Slow play is the work of the devil.

[Belowpar]

To those that say cut him slack because it was coming down the stretch, at what point will you cry foul?
When the raincloud passes by?
When the grass has grown a nice cushion under the ball?
When he waits for it to get dark, so he can come back tomorrow?


It’s a sport and should be played as such. Athleticism implies movement and as long as everyone has to stick to the same clock, its fair. It’s manifestly not fair if the player coming in on the leaderborad has effectively granted more time than the player who finished well back. But come the end of season the amount they both earnt that day, can have a big effect on their future.


4 minutes to think about what he practices daily for a living , is beyond a joke.

[Soro B]

Every time I see J.B. on TV I'm reminded of Geoff calling him "J.B.O." for his lack of hygiene. That joke never gets old.

I would love to see the Tour implement a shot-clock for an entire season, whether it's 40 seconds or something else. Give the players five 1-minute timeouts, and five 2-minute timeouts during the the round to account for wind, bad lies, hazards, etc. This could have the added benefit of controlling the distance explosion. Maybe you don't want to pull driver out of your bag when you've been missing right all day and you're out of timeouts. Then, at the end of the season, the Tour and talking heads can evaluate whether the risk-reward element of the game has been compromised. I think it would be enhanced.

[Brandon]

@ Sari and Melvyn +1

Spieth did the same thing at the Masters the year he sunk two in the water on 12 on Sunday. It was the Friday round I believe. Kept waiting for the wind to die down on 11. Hit a shot and then started bitching how he can't believe he was put on the clock. These guys set a horrible example for local courses, especially in California where the weather is getting into the 70s in most spots not in southern California. Every Tom, Dick and Harry are coming to the golf course, and will be for the next two to four months. Most of them combine poor etiquette with extremely poor play and lack of respect for fellow golfers. Geeze, that looked like the 18th on Sunday at Torrey now didn't it?

[FC]

Throw a headcover at him.

[rgw]

Animal Kingdom: Do you really want to go there? If you're good with J.B. because it's the last hole, then you're OK if this had been the 71st hole since whatever happened there could be equally as important, right? Now where do you stop?

[chico]

Its generally accepted that you don't time a group on the final hole when there is a chance of them winning. Having said that 4 mins plus is completely taking the piss! The players will just never accept they are at fault though.They complain the officials aren't doing their job if they get held up and then whinge like hell if they ever get a warning, Paul Casey recently went ballistic at a ref for warning him in a Euro event- his group were out of position after a ruling and then lost 2 1/2 mins on the next hole-when their requirement is to do their best to catch up. He thought that was most unfair!

[FC]

Rules, rules amendments? Tough to do when the inmates run the asylum.

[Soro B]

@chico, solution is a shot-clock. It takes the subjectivity out of the official's hands. It would be fun to watch the panic in Greller's eyes as the clock winds down and Spieth is dithering with his yardage book and asking for the hand towel. I like the idea of a loud buzzer like in basketball. BAAANT!!!

[Tom]

Zokol, the local rules can't modify a rule of golf without USGA approval. Yes, he may have have not breached the local rule on pace of play, but he still did not adhere to the Rule of Golf which requres you to play without undue delay.

[Ivan Morris]

If he was penalised a stroke. He'd understand.

[Don]

It's a good thing these guys don't have to think about what shot to hit very often.

[Mike Dunkle]

Agree with post saying Spieth delay at The Open was much more egregious and press gave him a pass. The delay was not caused by waiting for an official to arrive for the ruling - the delay was due to taking an inordinate amount of time to discuss options and make a decision.
So what was so different about Holmes? Also agree this is "Much ado about nothing" as it relates to JB Holmes. Noren was free to ask JB to give him the ok to go ahead and hit if he preferred to do so.
The problem here is with the ruling bodies. Where is the outrage from the press with the Royal and Ancient and the PGA Tour??

[Hod]

Calcavecchia tweeted that Holmes should have been hit with a 2-stroke penalty. If that were done, Holmes would have made $100,000 less. Would those guys pay attention for $100,000?

Not sure.

[Zokol]

Tom, I agree with the principle of what you’re saying, but PGA Tour rules officials often work differently than USGA officials … PGA Tour Rules Committee guidelines, on slow play, only focus on players times per shot once the player is “on the clock”.

Standing in the 18th fairway on Sunday, Holmes was not on the clock.

I am saying … the Tour’s Rules Committee needs to amend their guidelines to be able to make situational judgment calls to assess any player stroke penalties in situations like we witness with Holmes.

[panco]

How long can a player wait for a ball hanging on the lip of the cup to drop? Why is there a limit?

[jimbo]

On the other end of the $$$ spectrum, while slow playing the shot ( and his fellow competitors) if he makes birdie and Noren makes bogey JB finishes T 3 instead of T4 for a difference of + 30K.

[the Q]

Four minutes to a golfer endlessly going over his options is 15 minutes to the viewer who has to put up with this nonsense. Even the homer Jim Nance was clearly frustrated by the delay. I was flipping between the golf and the Laker game. I thought there must be some moron running naked across the fairway or some other reason for the dela and couldn't believe it was the golfer causing the problem

As Nick said, "all that for a badly played layup???!!!!"

[Original AG]

Best run muni I ever played. Williston, VT Country Club on a crowded Sunday. Turtles in front of us. Marshall radioed ahead, "Tell that group to skip the next hole". Might work on Tour. ;)

[Marmooskapaul]

I agree it's aggravating to watch JB in that situation. I don't like the options though...of officials messing with the leaders at the end of the tournament.
Remember when Harrington was coming down the stretch against Tiger at the Honda?? I think...and they gave him a slow play warning on the 71 or 72 hole. That even made Tiger mad...at the timing of it.

When they ask Phil and Rickie if it was ok to let Rory and ?? to play on up in the PGA. To beat darkness. Was a horrible intrusion to end of tournament.
I guess I would rather officials not get involved at thispoint in the tournament.

[DrBunsenHoneydew]

Anytime someone's neck is as thick as their skull there are issues

[ol Harv]

The modern day apology: "I'm sorry if I messed up Alex...but" Always the but.