At Hilly Kapalua, PGA Doesn’t Mind Putting the Cart Before the Course

Next week, the PGA Tour will argue before the U.S. Supreme Court that walking is an integral part of the game, the backbone of its case against Casey Martin.

This week in the Mercedes Championships, there appear to be mixed signals.

For the second consecutive year, the 33 players are provided carts after they hit their tee shots on the 382-yard fourth hole because of a steep hill for the first 220 yards. Once they reach the crest, they walk the rest of the way to their ball.

Why not walk the whole way? The tour says it is a pace-of-play issue.

“This is one of the slower-playing golf courses by our standards,” said Ben Nelson, a senior PGA Tour tournament director. “This helps keep them in the position they should be in. We didn’t do it in ‘99, and we thought we’d try it last year.”

But it raises questions about the importance of stamina.

“I think it takes away from a guy who’s in good shape as opposed to someone who’s not, like me,” David Toms said. “It puts that hill into play. I don’t know what their reasoning is, other than speeding up play.”

When asked if the tour was sending a mixed message by arguing about the importance of walking and allowing a cart up the fourth fairway, Justin Leonard said, “I’d prefer not to get in the middle of that one.”