You have to ask the question. Why no Shotgun start?

THE PLAYERS Championship faces Monday finish. But why?

16 March 2025 - SHANK Media, by Matt Hooper:

72 players made the cut at THE PLAYERS Championship, which just happens to be a perfect 18 groups of 4, which could have each teed off simultaneously on Sunday.

LIV Golf has been ridiculed by many for its use of the shotgun start, but yet again the PGA TOUR could have utilised it to save a Monday finish. A Monday finish is bad for everyone.

It is bad for the Championship. Less people will watch the winner crowned on Television, which is bad for the sponsors and for the Tour. It is why the USGA got rid of its Monday 18-hole playoff. It is bad for the spectators, who may not get to attend the conclusion of the championship, and it is bad for the players themselves, extending the championship into a second week. And it is all unnecessary.

There is absolutely no valid argument against using the shotgun start, when required.

It has been used twice at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, in 2018 and 2023, to ensure the championship doesn't extend into Monday, or Tuesday as it was in 2023. Yes, the Dunhill is not THE PLAYERS Championship, but it certainly is a prestigious tournament, played at the home of golf.

The total refusal to look at using that format has cost us a dramatic, energetic finish in front of a packed arena of 16, 17 and 18. It has cost the TOUR a global audience watching its premier event finish in dramatic circumstances, and it has meant Rory McIlroy, JJ Spaun, their caddies, the media and hundreds of volunteers and staff coming back on Monday morning for potentially as few as 3 holes.

Yet again golf shoots itself in the foot. All week at LIV Golf Singapore the use of a shotgun start showed its benefits, enabling the organisers to tee off at 9am every day to avoid the afternoon storms, which they regularly have in that part of the world. The tournament finished on time, but even if their had been delays, it still would have been able to be concluded on Sunday because of the flexibility which a reduced playing window gives you.

If the shotgun start had been employed today, with an 8am start, play would have finished, at the very worst case by 1.15pm, around the time of the suspension of play. If Rory and Spaun would have tied for the lead, the playoff would have taken place upon the resumption of play, and barring something truly remarkable, would have concluded this evening.

Absolutely nobody would have complained about that.