GOLF.AI • Jul 21, 2026

Jon Rahm's War on Slow Play

Fresh off a code-of-conduct warning for a club slam at The Open Championship, Jon Rahm is targeting what he sees as a bigger problem in professional golf: slow play. The LIV Golf star has proposed a significant overhaul of pace-of-play rules, arguing the current system is illogical and unfairly targets emotional reactions over the chronic pace offenders who bog down the sport.

Rahm’s core idea is simple yet revolutionary: make pace-of-play warnings cumulative throughout a tournament, just like conduct warnings. He highlights the glaring inconsistency in the current rules, where a conduct warning stays with a player all week, but slow-play penalties reset every single day. This daily reset, he argues, allows repeat offenders to game the system without facing serious consequences.

“If you get a warning for code of conduct on Thursday, that warning stays for the whole week,” Rahm explained. “You can be slow on Thursday; your group gets warned... you get three possible bad times... and then when you tee off on Friday, you start from zero again. That doesn't seem very fair to me.”

Rahm's timely proposal, fueled by his own recent run-in with officials at Royal Birkdale, elevates the conversation from general complaints to a concrete, player-driven solution. By calling for stricter and more logical enforcement, one of the world's most influential golfers is attempting to catalyze real change for one of golf's most persistent issues.