GULLANE, Scotland - GULLANE - Hideki Matsuyama became the second player this year to get a one-shot penalty for the slow play in a major. It nearly cost Guan Tianlang a weekend at the Masters. It was far more costly to Matsuyama on Saturday in the British Open, where he was only three shots out of the lead when he was assessed the penalty on the 17th hole at Muirfield. His par turned into a bogey, and the 21-year-old Japanese star made a bogey on the 18th for a 1-over 72. The Royal & Ancient said Matsuyama and Johnson Wagner were 15 minutes behind schedule and out of position on the golf course, meaning they were being timed. Matsuyama took more than a minute on a putt at the 15th hole for a warning. The R&A said he took two minutes, 12 second to play his second shot out of deep grass on the 17th, leading to the penalty. Wagner said he supports penalties for slow play - just not in this case. "Given his position in the tournament, and given the shot he faced on 17 - laying it up out of the fescue over the gorse and pot bunkers - I don't think he took too long," said Wagner, who had a 73. I think he executed a really good shot and under the situation, I think it's tragic. And I think the R&A should use better judgment. Guan, the 14-year-old from China, also was given two bad times in the second round of the Masters and assessed a one-shot penalty. He still became the youngest player to make the cut in a major. Slow play has been criticized so much over the years that the U.S. Golf Association launched a campaign last month, including a series of commercials with the theme, "While We're Young" from the movie "Caddyshack." The two slow-play penalties in the majors this year have been assessed to players who were 14 and 21. Matsuyama already has three wins on the Japan Golf Tour - one of them as an amateur - and at No. 44 is the highest-ranked player from Japan. He played the first two days with Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson and opened with rounds of 71-73. He ran off three straight birdies around the turn as he climbed up the leaderboard, and despite a pair of bogeys, was still within range. The penalty didn't help. Wagner said he argued on behalf of Matsuyama in the scoring trailer to no avail. Wagner said if it he had received the penalty, "I'd have gone ballistic." "They said they gave him extra time," Wagner said. But his caddie had to pace all the way to the fairway, 100 yards to get his carry number. I'm as against slow play as anybody, and I respect everything everybody is doing. But man, the kid was playing great today ... and I think it's terrible that he got penalized. Matsuyama wasn't the only one to run afoul of the time police on Saturday. Graeme McDowell was annoyed to be put on the clock with his French playing partner Gregory Bourdy early in the round and he also said he did not think the bunkers around Muirfield were totally fair. "They told us on the fourth tee that we were two and a half minutes behind schedule," McDowell said. All right. Fine, we got off to a slow start. We were cutting it very close. As they walked on to the fifth tee the pair were told they were four and a half minutes out of position and were going to be put on the clock. "Surely we're allowed to get off to a bad start?," the former U.S. Open champion said. There's a difference between slow play and bad play. So they put us on the clock for one hole. And we got to the next tee and they said you're off the clock now. So it's like make up your minds, guys. That's not really slow play regulations. It was a tough start. And on the clock on the fifth hole is a bit out of order really. Sergio Garcia and Padraig Harrington experienced mixed fortunes after twice being put on the clock for slow play on Saturday. Garcia said he "finally felt like I knew what I was doing out there" after firing a three-under 68 that gave the 33-year-old Spaniard a three-over aggregate of 216. Harrington, though, was unable to arrest his recent form slide as he plunged to a 77 for 225. Asked by reporters what it felt like to be put on the clock by officials, Garcia replied: "I felt like I was rushing quite a lot. I even played out of position when it wasn't my turn, probably two or three times, to try to catch up. "But it's difficult when it's this breezy," he said of winds that were gusting up to 15 mph. If you're not hitting the ball well you have to think of so many things. McDowell spoke to the referee after his round and expressed his frustration which bubbled up again when the subject of the Muirfield bunkers was brought up. "The sand is very soft and there's lots of it," he said. They're a real hazard this week. I think bunkers should be penal at times. But there's no doubt these bunkers have been created for the balls to stick around the lips. They're not particularly deep in places so they've decided to make them hazards in a different way. McDowell believes it is a lottery which way the ball goes into the bunkers. "For such a fair golf course like this one, it brings an element of chance into it which I don't love," he said. McDowell, who finished at six over par, was aware that his comments might be construed as sour grapes because he did not play well. "It's really just an observation," he said. I've probably had about 10 trap shots in three rounds and I'd say two of them have been normal. There's no doubt there's an argument for how much of a hazard should a bunker be. Files from Reuters were also used in this report