Slow play fast becoming a problem at The Players

• By Ryan Ballengee
• May 11, 2012 11:25 AM ET

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem is unsure how to address the slow-play problem plaguing the game. A number of players in the field at TPC Sawgrass, however, want something done about the weekday crawl.

Several took to Twitter on Thursday evening to complain about the pace of play in the opening round of The Players Championship.

Perhaps most affected by the crawl around the Stadium Course was Brian Harman. Placed into the field after a bizarre first-tee withdrawal by D.A. Points, Harman took 4 hours, 40 minutes to play by himself in a tee time invented to precede the afternoon wave. 

Colt Knost was in the group Harman ran into, along with Matt Every and Harris English. Knost did not blame his opening 79 on the pace, but was not happy about it.

"Love it when it take(s) 5.5 hours to play a round of golf," Knost tweeted. "So ridiculous!"

Joe Ogilvie has a red line struck through the words "slow play" as the avatar for his Twitter account. Needless to say, he was not happy with his Thursday time. Responding to Knost, Ogilvie sarcastically tweeted, "We flew around in 5:15."

Wells Fargo Championship winner Rickie Fowler barely outpaced Knost in his three-ball with Hunter Mahan and Tiger Woods. 

"Beat ya," Fowler replied. "5 hours 20 mins...morning wave...boom!! #waitedeveryshot"