Rangefinders All The Rage For Those At The PGA Championship

Webb Simpson

By PETE IACOBELLI, Associated Press

KIAWAH ISLAND, South Carolina — Webb Simpson was dead set against rangefinders at the PGA Championship, until he used them at the Ocean Course.

“We have seen how there’s a lot of situations where it it helps,” he said.

The PGA of America allowed the devices on Kiawah Island to maintain a steady pace of play. Players and their caddies are only to use rangefinders for distance, not for elevation changes or other features that such devices may have.

Simpson discovered their usefulness in the second round. He was in the right rough on No. 10, planning his approach. “It’s a funky angle to that back left pin and my rangefinder got about 6 yards different than what we had come with,” he said. Simpson made par.

Jordan Spieth has used his rangefinder, mostly when he’s off line and needs information not in available yardage books.

Spieth doesn’t think they helped pace of play. “We had a really hard golf course and 20 mile-an-hour winds with 156 players the last two days,” he said. “Doesn’t matter what you do, it’s going to be really slow, rangefinders or not.”

Simpson’s unsure if the PGA TOUR might one day consent to full-on rangefinders during tournaments. All he knows, though, is his view changed as he used that view-finder.

“The more we did it each round, the more I like it,” he said.