Discussion: Should Pressel have been penalized for slow play?

• By Golf Channel Digital
• May 20, 2012 4:50 PM ET

Slow play has been a hot topic in golf recently, mostly thanks to Kevin Na and the waggle of doom. Many fans have called for the PGA Tour to get tough on slow players and start imposing stroke penalties, since fines don't seem to have any effect.

On Sunday, the slow-play hammer finally came down on a player. An LPGA player. In the Sybase Match Play Championship, Morgan Pressel was docked a loss-of-hole penalty for slow play on the 12th hole of her semifinal match against Azahara Munoz. Instead of taking a 3-up advantage, Pressel, who apparently had won the hole with a par against Munoz's bogey, found herself only 1 up. She went on to lose the match, 2 and 1.

Pressel and Munoz had been put on the clock on the 12th tee because they had fallen eight minutes behind the LPGA's required pace of play. A player is allowed 30 seconds for each shot. According to reports, Pressel took a combined 129 seconds to play her three shots on No. 12, including 57 seconds for her tee shot.

Was the penalty, which was meted out according to the rules, appropriate, or should allowances have been made because there were only two groups on the course?

Discussion: Should Morgan Pressel have been penalized for slow play?