Scottie Scheffler has been warned! No, he didn’t destroy the fairway again. The 2025 Open champion hasn’t quite looked like his dominant self at Caves Valley. While Robert MacIntyre currently leads as the favorite, Scheffler still has a chance to close the gap as he aims for what would be his 13th consecutive top-eight finish and fifth PGA Tour title of the season. However, before the 29-year-old plays the final round on August 17, Scheffler became the victim of the pace of play in the third round.

The world #1 was approached by the tournament officials at Caves Valley over a pace of play issue in the third round of the 2025 BMW Championship. He and MacIntyre were first notified about it on the 9th hole. They seemed to play faster for the next few holes. However, their group finally incurred a warning on the 12th hole as they weren’t able to keep up pace with the group ahead of them. In a video posted by Golf on CBS, you could see that Scheffler was visibly frustrated with the decision and arguing it as they walked the fairway.

After the conclusion of the round, Scottie was asked if the warning affected the remainder of his round. He said, “Yeah. I mean, it’s frustrating. I didn’t really feel like I did anything to put us behind on time. Bob and I got warned on No. 9, and I felt like we did some pretty good stuff on 9, 10, and 11, and we somehow didn’t gain a single second on pace of play. I’m not really sure how that’s possible.”

Confirming what everyone witnessed on the course and television, Scheffler and MacIntyre tried to play faster through the 9th, 10th, and 11th holes. However, their efforts went in vain as the rules officials informed them that they hadn’t gained a single second for it. The world #1 found it quite unbelievable, as he was confident that they had definitely played fast enough to get much closer to the group ahead of them. However, Scheffler was surprised to learn that the group ahead of them, Ludvig Aberg and Hideki Matsuyama, were also playing on the clock.

During the Post Round Interview, Scottie said, “They got put on the clock as well today. So I don’t know how quick he was today. It’s just one of those things where all of a sudden now I’m punished for a rules decision I did not totally agree with, and then I can feel it gusting on 12, I can feel it gusting on 13, and there was nothing I can do about it; you’ve got to get up there and hit the shot. Overall, I did what I could to keep us on pace, and hopefully we don’t run into that situation tomorrow.”

Based on Scheffler’s interaction with the rules officials, Aberg and Matsuyama were also pushing the clock throughout the round. This comes as a surprise since the Swedish pro is known to be a fast player on the course. Scheffler himself has never had troubles with the pace of play that often, either. However, there were complaints of Robert MacIntyre taking too long on the green by the fans. In the end, both groups completed their rounds with identical times, 4 hours and 6 minutes.

While Scheffler may feel he was treated harshly, it was nothing compared to what Patrick Cantlay and Shane Lowry’s group suffered. Learn about the technology NBC implemented to display the slowest players of the round.

Scottie Scheffler should feel grateful he didn’t get the Cantlay-Lowry treatment

All Scottie Scheffler got from the rules officials was a warning for slightly deviating from the expected pace of play. However, Shane Lowry and Patrick Cantlay were playing at turtle pace in the middle of the day. Their slow play caused a lot of chaos and delays as everyone who was grouped after them suffered as they waited for the two to complete their holes. The two were warned multiple times for going over the clock; however, that didn’t change their approach to the game.

However, that gave NBC Golf the opportunity to utilize a new technology that they had integrated into their broadcast. Famed reporter Claire Rodgers shared a glimpse of it on her X account, which showed how much time the group wasted after every hole. And just looking at the minutes Lowry and Cantlay had lost in 6 holes shocked everyone. From the 6th to the 11th hole, they went from 3.29 minutes to 7:00 minutes over the clock. Titled ‘Pace Chart’, this graphic was enough to publicly shame the miserable pace of play displayed by the two pros. In the end, they played their 18 holes on Saturday for 2 hours and 19 minutes. It will be interesting to see what the PGA Tour does about this.