{"id":582839,"date":"2026-04-03T12:13:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T12:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/582839\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T12:13:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T12:13:15","slug":"bailey-shoemaker-defends-herself-after-augusta-slow-play-video-goes-viral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/582839\/","title":{"rendered":"Bailey Shoemaker Defends Herself After Augusta Slow Play Video Goes Viral"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bailey Shoemaker went viral for the wrong reason at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur<\/a>, but she’s hit back as she explained the reasons behind that 75-second clip.<\/p>\n

Slow play alarms were triggered when a social media clip of shoemaker taking well over a minute<\/a> to hit a shot at Champions Retreat surfaced after the first round of the ANWA.<\/p>\n

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Plenty of critics piled on, while commentators claiming it was “part of her pre-shot routine” hardly helped matters – as clearly from the aborted backswings it was something deeper.<\/p>\n

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Painfully aware of the criticism she’s had, Shoemaker hit back when speaking to Golf.com’s Claire Rogers<\/a> in Augusta, saying: “You think I want to do it intentionally? Of course not.\u201d<\/p>\n

It turns out the 21-year-old University of Southern California junior has had surgery recently on a nerve problem in her elbow, and after playing through pain for seven months there’s still some mental hurdles in completing a swing that surface at times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been battling injury for over a year now, and so I\u2019ve got some things bugging me,\u201d she told to Golf.com.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBut when you have nerve surgery, you aren\u2019t in control.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what my brain says or does – you think I want to do it intentionally? Of course not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shoemaker was described by her USC coach Justin Silverstein – who Golf Monthly spoke to last year<\/a> – as \u201cone of the fastest players I\u2019ve ever coached\u201d before her injury.<\/p>\n

And she insisted that she was much better in the second round than the first – and that naturally enough the clip that went viral captured her worst moment of the day.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was better today,” Shoemaker added. “And, I mean, that was the worst one yesterday, of course it went viral.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou clearly don\u2019t see the rest of the round. You don\u2019t see me at home working out five hours a day, going to rehab, waking up before practice to go to rehab. You don\u2019t see what\u2019s behind the scenes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is part of her routine\u201d I would have already been on the green waiting before she pulled the trigger. pic.twitter.com\/U7txlQZQRPApril 1, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Shoemaker, who says she feared she’d never play golf competitively again due to the injury, has not taken the social media furore to heart despite the obvious frustration at just one bad swing being highlighted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anything it was fuel,” she insisted. “I mean, my dad has trained me right, to use that as fuel to ignite me a little bit. But I didn\u2019t pay too much mind to it.<\/p>\n

“I mean, I\u2019m happy where I am, and I\u2019m making leaps and bounds in my health, and that\u2019s all I really care about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is part of her routine\u201d I would have already been on the green waiting before she pulled the trigger. pic.twitter.com\/U7txlQZQRPApril 1, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Plenty of comments online jumped the gun about Shoemaker, claiming it was unfair on her playing partners and could ruin the tournament.<\/p>\n

But as Beth Ann Nichols of Golfweek reported from Augusta, while Shoemaker didn’t make the cut, her two playing partners did with a combined 10 under and their group was never put on the clock – even having to wait for the group in front which was.<\/p>\n

Overall there’s a huge lesson in context and fact checking to be learned here for some.<\/p>\n