'Those Two Don't Go Together' - Justin Thomas Points Out What Fans Might Have To Give Up If They Want Faster Play On Tour

As a decade-long member of the PGA Tour's Player Advisory Council (PAC), Justin Thomas is very much used to fielding questions on what to do about the sport's pace of play issue, which is particularly prevalent at pro level.

An amateur round might rarely exceed 4.5 hours while 18 holes on the PGA Tour or DP World Tour seem to seldom be completed within the five-hour mark. The obvious and unavoidable difference there is that one group is competing for their livelihood and the other simply bragging rights or a lower handicap.

For years, the subject of a shot clock has been mooted as the potential answer to the problem on tour. But even then, how would it be policed? What should the limit be? Should it change based on different factors?

The brand new TGL has introduced a 40-second shot clock for every player on every stroke, and that has gone down well with fans. But, as Thomas correctly pointed out after leading his Atlanta Drive team to a 4-0 victory over New York on Tuesday night, there are far fewer variables within indoor golf.

The turf is the same, the ball's reaction to the green is often similar, and there is no wind. Plus, golfers don't have to check their yardage book to calculate distance as the information is provided for them on-screen.

Quizzed on the possibility of speeding up play by introducing a shot clock to the PGA Tour - similar to the one used by TGL - Thomas replied: "You know, it's tough. Look, this is my 10th year on tour. I've been on the PAC a lot of years. We've talked about pace of play all 10 years.

"The thing is you have to make such drastic changes for it to be noticeable. Pretty much a lot of the conversations end the same way; it's like what are we trying to accomplish here? Are rounds going to be 12 minutes faster? Are they going to be 20 minutes faster?

"It's hard to realistically make a big enough difference where people are like, 'wow, this is great.' Rounds are only three hours now or three and a half hours instead of five. You know what I mean? It's really hard to make that big of a change."

While the Louisville-born pro understands fan frustration on the subject, he also felt compelled to defend the quality of play on show every week.

Thomas agreed with the notion that people still want good golf, they just want it to be slightly quicker. Yet, he went on to point out that faster play and the fans' wishes for more brutal golf courses really don't go hand-in-hand with so much money on the line.

Thomas continued: "Look, there definitely could be some things here and there that are done, but it's also -- I think there's, like, a Fan Forward survey that the Tour does with fans.

"They like harder golf courses, they like watching us play difficult places, but they want us to play faster, so those two don't go together. You've kind of got to pick and choose your battles.

"But, yeah, I guess we'll see. I'm sure we're all hopeful, but at the end of the day it's like, what are we trying to accomplish? You know what I'm saying?"