Golfer J.B. Holmes ices his competition and enrages fans with four-minute shot
Golf is a very deliberate game. Every shot requires careful thought, club selection and adjustment to the environment. But how long is too long when it comes to making a shot? We’ve just found out.
J.B. Holmes, who participated in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course over the weekend, ruffled everyone’s feathers with his very, uh, deliberate style on the final hole. On Sunday, while he was paired with co-leader Alexander Noren, Holmes took four minutes and ten seconds to choose a club and make a shot at the 72nd hole. In golf time, that’s a long time. A long, long time. It’s so long that people watching him at the tournament noticed and started calling for him to make his shot. It’s so long that the announcers and the viewers at home noticed.
[Your chance to win on football’s biggest day. Sign up for Squares Pick’em]
Here’s a little context: on the final hole of the entire tournament, Holmes was two shots out of the lead and needed an eagle on the par-5 hole to win. With 239 yards to the hole and only two more strokes to achieve an eagle, he wanted to be very deliberate and careful when he chose his club and lined up the shot. And making Noren, who held the lead, wait so long to hit his second shot was just an added bonus.
The context didn’t really matter to fans, though. They spoke out about Holmes’ lengthy shot time (and icing Noren) on Twitter, and they were not happy!
JB Holmes just took fourteen hours to hit the worst layup I have ever seen.
— CamInTaunton (@CamInTaunton) January 28, 2018
JB Holmes: my new most hated golfer. What a joke.
— Scotty Kwas (@ScottKwas) January 28, 2018
JB Holmes, good grief #FarmersInsuranceOpen pic.twitter.com/PDdxpFPCVv
— Golf Digest Ireland Weekly (@GDI_Weekly) January 28, 2018
I'm cool if Alex Noren pushes JB Holmes into the lake
— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) January 28, 2018
That performance by JB Holmes and his caddy on that second shot was one of the weakest, most bizarre things I've seen in a PGA Event in a while. And it was totally unfair to Noren. #FarmersInsuranceOpen
— Alan Gerard (@Wxmanms1) January 28, 2018
JB Holmes about to single handedly usher in the shot clock era to the PGA.
— Dan Dibley (@dandibley) January 28, 2018
Even some of Holmes’ fellow golfers couldn’t defend his four-minute shot.
Last group was over a hole behind, we can all blame JB…and yes the player should take responsibility for their pace of play, but if they don’t that’s why we have Tour officials – they needed to step in a while ago IMO.
— Luke Donald (@LukeDonald) January 28, 2018
Most tour players aren’t slow but because of a handful of slow ones we all get a bad rep
— Daniel Berger (@DanielBerger59) January 28, 2018
1. JB needs to be fined or better yet given 2 shots
2 Needs eagle to tie. After all that lays up? Really???
3 Horrendous sportsmanship to Noren and Palmer
4 wow— Mark Calcavecchia (@MarkCalc) January 28, 2018
The result of Holmes’ big time four-minute shot? No eagle. He shot the ball into the rough, about 60 yards from the hole. He did end up getting a birdie, though, and finished fourth. And Holmes had no regrets.
Asked JB Holmes if he regretted taking so much time to play his second shot on 18, while icing Alex Noren: “No, I was still trying to win. So that’s part of it.”
— Ryan Lavner (@RyanLavnerGC) January 29, 2018
Holmes might be fine with what he did, but it doesn’t seem like fans are going to forget that agonizing four-minute wait anytime soon.
– – – – – –
Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher
More from Yahoo Sports:
• Brady ends interview over criticism of his daughter
• The winner of the ‘Madden’ Super Bowl is …
• Eric Adelson: Former mascot’s bittersweet Super Bowl week
• Magic calls for firings in MSU sex assault scandal
