Tiger complained about the pace of play on the PGA Tour

The focus last week at the TPC Sawgrass eventually returned to the guy holding the trophy, as it should. The PGA Tour had reason to celebrate for a couple of reasons. It had a worthy champion in Matt Kuchar, who won the money title two years ago and has an infectious smile that makes him a fan favorite. The tournament also finished on Sunday.

In fact, the topic came up on the eve of The Players Championship when commissioner Tim Finchem was taylormade burner superfast 2.0 fairway wood asked if the PGA Tour felt a sense of urgency to play faster and an obligation to set an example for golfers everywhere. His answer included this nugget that made little sense.

"We elect not to do that," Finchem said. "Because as much as we like to see a stronger pace of play, the playing opportunities for the number of players we have had are more important. We'll generate the playing opportunities first, and take our lumps second. It's as simple as that."

with penalty shots," Finchem said. "But I don't think penalty shots make a difference, to be honest with you."

Donald said what annoys him most is when a player does not starting thinking about his next shot until it's his turn. The way it has gone for the last 20 years, why hurry when on one else does?

Stewart Cink was asked about progress with the pace of play. A few years ago, he was fined $20,000 for getting put on the clock 10 times in a season, and he has worked to improve.

When he finished The Players Championship on Sunday, Woods measured progress with one word.

Ask almost any rules officials and they would say the size of fields make it nearly impossible to get around in a reasonable time. Can anyone remember the last time the cut was made on a Ping G15 Fairway Wood Friday at Riviera? That's why the Masters gets nervous when its field size approaches 100 players.

Sure, it's easy to pick on Na. He is changing his swing and fighting some demons to get comfortable over the ball. He became a sympathetic figure to some in the media for his honesty and his pledge to try harder, though it should be pointed out that Na has been slow ever since he joined the PGA Tour. Not so sympathetic were some in the gallery who shouted out, "Pull the trigger!" and "Hit it!" to reverse effect. He had to back off shots and wound up taking even longer.

This week at the Byron Nelson Championship marks the 20-year anniversary of the last time a PGA Tour was assessed a one-shot penalty for taking too much time. That was Dillard Pruitt, now a rules official who carries a stopwatch. That one stroke wound up costing him $9,600 - when $9,600 actually meant something. He was fined $1,000 and relegated to play in the last group for the next two weeks.

Luke Donald was on holiday in Barbados when he was watching the final round of the season opener in Hawaii, which featured Na, Jonathan Byrd, Ben Crane and Webb Simpson in the last four groups. He took to Twitter and ended one plea by saying, "Slow play is killing our sport."

"We know when they drive up and tell us to hurry up, it means nothing," Geoff Ogilvy said. "When I first came out and someone told me to hurry up, I got all flustered and was rushing. Now, it's a laugh. Yeah, we'll try. But some guys don't even try because they don't do anything.

Solutions are not that easy to find or this would have been fixed years ago. And it's not fair to compare the pace discount golf clubs on tour with how long it takes to play golf at your local club. In recreational golf, the pins aren't four paces from the edge of the green, tucked behind bunkers. The greens aren't as firm as a hardwood floor. A putt isn't worth $399,000, which is what it cost Rickie Fowler when he missed an 8-footer on his last hole.