Though thrilling, the final round of the Texas Children’s Houston Open felt like it was taking forever.
Well, on golf time, it did. The final group of Min Woo Lee, Alejandro Tosti and Ryan Fox needed over five hours to complete their round.
And Tosti was apparently not having it.
On Memorial Park’s par-5 8th hole, Lee, who went on to win, hit a wayward tee shot into a bush, and reluctantly took an unplayable. It ended up being over 30 minutes before the threesome completed the hole.
Amid the saga, NBC on-course reporter Jim “Bones” Mackay reported that Tosti complained to a rules official about how long it took Lee to decide if he needed a drop.
"I just don't think that's ever the shot" 😅@MinWoo27Lee made par (after reluctantly taking an unplayable)
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 30, 2025
📺 NBC pic.twitter.com/4phFaCLy3T
It was the second time on Sunday that Tosti, a 28-year-old from Argentina who hasn't won on Tour, expressed his frustrations. Mackay also said that earlier in the round, Tosti was unhappy with how long it took Fox to take a drop.
Then, things escalated on the 12th hole.
“So Alejandro Tosti is way back there in the fairway—he just reached the fairway. Bones, what’s going on down there?” NBC’s Steve Burkowski asked on the broadcast.
“Steve, I don’t know what’s going on, but Tosti’s playing at his own pace,” Mackay said. “At times it’s normal and at times it’s glacially slow, and he’s decided on this particular hole to really take his time. He’s holding up play in this particular group.”
Play-by-play Dan Hicks added: “Remember the discussion that Tosti had—for background here—with the PGA Tour official. He was upset with the time that Min Woo Lee was taking at the par-5 8th, so we’ve got a … little thing going on there with the last group.”
So yes, it seems Tosti was staging a protest on the slow play of his playing partners.
Was Mackay, who formerly caddied for Phil Mickelson and Justin Thomas, just turning nothing into something?
“Bones has seen a few things happen out there on the fairways through the years,” Hicks said. “he’s not gonna bring anything up unless he feels it has some validity to it.”
Tosti, meanwhile, placed T5 with a final-round 68. It’s his best finish of the season, but he might have wanted it to take a little faster.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as PGA Tour Pro Appears to Stage Slow-Play Protest in Houston Open Final Round.
