Colin Montgomerie is arguably the best golfer in the history of the game to have never won a major championship.
In spite of that, though, he still enjoyed an incredibly successful career, with 31 DP World Tour wins to his name, as well as three PGA Tour Champions majors.
The 63-year-old is also one of the true stalwarts of the European Ryder Cup team.
Colin Montgomerie appeared on eight Ryder Cup teams and successfully captained the European side at Celtic Manor in 2010.
Montgomerie always drew plenty of attention wherever he played, and not just because of his exceptional golf.
He was one of the most outspoken players in professional golf during his heyday.
And since the Scot’s playing schedule has slowed down, he has become a fiercely outspoken critic of one particular issue in professional golf today.
After watching The Open Championship last week at Royal Birkdale, Montgomerie vented his anger at the slow play that was on display throughout the tournament.
Colin Montgomerie calls for two rule changes after watching The Open
The Scot was seriously unhappy with one thing in particular at Royal Birkdale last week.
When speaking to Today’s Golfer, Montgomerie urged golf’s governing bodies to make some much-needed changes.
“Five hours 40 minutes, was anybody penalized? No,“ Montgomerie exclaimed.
“Christ Almighty, five hours 40 minutes. Trevino here, right? 1971, he finished 14-under and won the championship.
“And he did it in less than four hours in a three ball.
“That wasn’t a two ball, that was a three ball.
“How has it gone from less than four hours, or just about on four hours for the three ball to five hours 40 minutes? How has it got to that stage?
“TV companies hate it, spectators hate it. It’s too long. The chat between the caddie and the player, my God, it goes on forever. The book comes out, how many times have they got the book out?
“Once a ball is placed on the green, it should not be marked again. To get the line on the ball, and then this business about this, what do you call it, this AimPoint?
“Oh, my God, don’t talk to me about that. It does my head in.
“And they say there is a deterrent for slow play, don’t they? They say there’s a huge deterrent for slow play.
“Five hours, 40 at The Open, was anybody penalized? No.
“Something’s got to be done, because it’s too slow. Far too slow. If I had a bee in the bonnet, that is it, you know? Slow play.“
Urgent action required to address slow play problem
Montgomerie is absolutely right about slow play.
It has plagued professional golf for years now and the problem only seems to be getting worse.
These are the best golfers in the world, remember. How on earth is it possible for them to take nearly six hours to play 18 holes?
Banning AimPoint and prohibiting players from replacing their balls on the greens more than once would unquestionably speed up the pace of play.
Other ways to move things along quicker would be having a designated bunker raker on each hole to save caddies the time that job takes and implementing a strict time limit for every shot.
A 30 second time limit would ensure that players don’t take too long from when they arrive at their ball to when they hit it.
Perhaps they would be allowed two or three time limit extensions when they are faced with particularly difficult shots.
Slow play in professional golf has reached a point now where something has to be done, and the more that big-names like Colin Montgomerie come out and speak about it, the more chance there is that the game’s governing bodies will effect change.
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