Comment: The slow play debate continues after the Olympics

Don’t worry this isn’t going to be another chapter and verse on where to leave your bag or how you should always mark the scorecard on the next tee. I’m actually going to retell a recent story where a 61-year-old man in Utah, who was playing with his wife on a Saturday night, took the general annoyance and irritation of slow play to a completely new level.

Lee Johnson and his wife were stuck behind a fourball, who weren’t letting anyone through. They asked but were told no. A fight broke out and only after a call to the clubhouse was some sort of order was resumed. That is odd enough but what was to come was even stranger.

Around the turn they asked again and were again denied, at which point Johnson took out a pocket knife and stabbed one of the golfers. Thankfully he was taken to a nearby hospital with only minor injuries while Johnson, who had been wrestled to the ground, was taken to Utah County Jail. He was charged with aggravated assault.

On a brighter note the Olympics have been and gone, the sun shone and we came home with more medals than we won in London. In this issue we speak to our cover superstar and columnist Charley Hull, who came so close to adding to that haul, and Jamie Spence, GB’s team captain, who led Justin Rose to his gold.

Reportedly 10 million people watched him do it. In Korea three networks covered Inbee Park’s victory live and it finished at two in the morning. It seems, despite its slow start, that Olympic golf might catch on.