Hot mics pick up Rory McIlroy joke to legendary commentator about PGA Tour problem

Rory McIlroy joked to CBS commentator Jim Nantz about the PGA Tour's pace of play problem after landing his 27th title. 

McIlroy made the wisecrack as Nantz greeted the Northern Irishman on the 18th green at Pebble Beach before the trophy presentation. 

The moment was captured in a video by the PGA Tour's social media team which was uploaded on 4 February. 

Said video shows McIlroy talking to various media outlets after his win, thanking tournament officials and volunteers and even FaceTiming his wife Erica and daughter Poppy. 

"What a performance, man," hot mics picked up Nantz saying to McIlroy. 

"Thanks very much," came the reply. 

Nantz added: "Thanks for waiting. We had 20 minutes to fill."

"No problem," said McIlroy, before beaming: "So we don't have a pace of play problem!"

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"This isn't a new problem"

Pace of play has been put under the microscope early in the PGA Tour season. 

Groups in the final round of The American Express and Farmers Insurance Open were taking in excess of five-and-a-half hours to complete 18 holes. 

CBS' on-course commentator and LPGA hall-of-famer Dottie Pepper broke ranks as she watched Harris English win at Torrey Pines. 

She implored golfers to have more respect and get a move on. 

"It's just got to be better," she sighed. 

The slow coaches prompted Tour veteran Charley Hoffman to call out players directly no sooner than did McIlroy's final putt drop at the iconic California venue. 

As for McIlroy, he has already outlined his solution. Although he has conceded that it likely would 'p--- people off'. 

"This isn't a new problem," he told reporters last week. 

"This has been around forever, but slow play was also around when people seemingly loved golf. I don't know what the answer is. 

"There's a lot of different answers, but not every answer is going to — is not going to make everyone happy. I could say smaller fields. 

"Smaller fields, smaller fields would help pace of play, but that takes away playing opportunities from people, and that's going to p--- some people off."

He added: "The other thing is when we play in this time of the year, the tee times have to be a little bit tighter together so that they can get everyone through with daylight and everything. 

"If you could be able to space the tee times out a little bit more, that would hopefully make things flow a little bit better. 

"Nowadays, most people go for par 5s in two, so you've got to wait on that. You've got longer par 3s. There's a lot of different things that go into it."

McIlroy said those changes could result in an improvement between 15-20 minutes.

But he questioned whether it was worth it.  

PGA Tour executives met with a group of reporters last week where they claimed they are taking the pace of play issue seriously. 

They outlined four key changes that are coming. 

The Tour intends to make more 'virtual rulings' or at least get officials on the scene faster. 

They are going to test out the use of rangefinders in competition. 

Elsewhere, they are going to get people off the golf course that don't really need to be there. 

And, interestingly enough, they are considering naming and shaming the repeat offenders. 

Such a proposition may spark some urgency in Tom Kim, who held up McIlroy's group last weekend. 

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