“I mean, she’s got to take the point and speed up, right?” Pettersen said. “She’s obviously not one of the fastest players to start. She had a couple of incidents in the Evian. She disagreed with what the rules official had to say and that’s on her. But I guess speeding up would solve that issue.”
Ciganda is simply not having it. “Some players, they play quicker and some players, they are slower,” she said after a fine and, in the circumstances, gutsy morning’s work featuring three birdies and one bogey. “I mean, of course, I can be quicker, but a lot of them can be quicker too.
“I know I’m not quick, like I know that there are a lot of quicker players out there. I think there are a lot of slow players and they don’t get penalised and they don’t get timed as much as I do.”
Many golf fans will no doubt exclaim “hallelujah!” to the fact that in the women’s game sanctions are being applied to the snails. In the male game, the PGA Tour has failed to impose a slow-play penalty in an individual event for almost 30 years, while one of the few punishments dished out in the majors was to the 14-year-old Tianlang Guan from China.
The scourge of 5hr 30min rounds has become increasingly prevalent but the mitigation presented is that the rule itself is too vague. Ciganda criticised the regulation and, in truth, it is not even a “rule” but a “recommendation”.
Rule 5.6b says: “It is recommended that the player make the stroke in no more than 40 seconds after he or she is (or should be) able to play without interference or distraction.”
Ciganda claims the Evian penalty arrived after she took 52 seconds. “They always say the time starts when it’s your turn to play, but when is that?” Ciganda, the world No 31, said. “It’s just so subjective. If they put a referee in every group, a lot of girls will be penalised and I think sometimes it’s not fair. It’s not something that I can control so I don’t want to think too much.”
Ewing is one clear of a group in second including Denmark’s Emily Kristine Pedersen and France’s Perrine Delacour, with Charley Hull the best-placed Englishwoman on one-under. Korda and Ireland’s Leona Maguire are one further back.
