European, PGA Tour take steps to single out slow players

The European Tour and PGA Tour are trying to crack down on slow play with revamped policies that allow for swifter penalty shots and for officials to target players who are taking too long to play.

The policies, while slightly different, are similar in that the objective is to encourage players to change their habits.

The European Tour policy starts this week at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. The PGA Tour is introducing its policy, which was approved in November, this week at The American Express. It does not begin until the week after the Masters.

Previously, the PGA Tour did not time a player unless his group was out of position or lagging behind a scheduled time for them to play, known as time par. That stays in effect.

Additionally, any player taking 120 seconds for a shot, without a valid reason, will be given an "excessive shot time."
If a player exceeds the limit while the group is in position, he would get a "monitoring penalty."