Slow play is back in the golf news cycle following The Masters where two balls on the final day took nearly five hours to complete their rounds.
Brooks Koepka, playing in the final twosome, called the group ahead "brutally slow" after his round and Patrick Cantlay has come under the spotlight for his pace of play. The American was in the group ahead of Koepka at Augusta and playing partner Viktor Hovland was seen playing shots with Cantlay still behind him in what looked like a sign that he was indeed holding up play.
Cantlay defended the criticism ahead of last week's RBC Heritage, though, saying that he was waiting on the group ahead numerous times throughout the round. “Yeah, I mean, we finished the first hole, and the group in front of us was on the second tee when we walked up to the second tee, and we waited all day on pretty much every shot," he said. "We waited in 15 fairway, we waited in 18 fairway. I imagine it was slow for everyone.”
Cantlay was again criticised at the RBC Heritage, where he played in the final group with Matt Fitzpatrick and Jordan Spieth. Fitzpatrick, speaking to Sky Sports News, said that pace of play on tour is "a disgrace" and "appalling" but also admitted that nothing will be done about it.
"For me the times need to be changed," the Englishman said. "I think that times to need to be much less and then that way, you know, when you're not within those times, then you could be penalized and properly punished for being slow.
"I think they give us way too much leeway to get round. If you're in a three ball in my opinion you should be round in four hours, four-and-a-half absolute maximum, it's a disgrace to get anywhere near that. You're talking five-fifteen, five-and-a-half at some venues and it's truly appalling.
"The problem is though, you know this conversation has gone on for years and years and years and no one's ever done anything. So I feel like it's almost a waste of time talking about it every time.
"I've got my opinions, they're probably strong opinions but you know, PGA Tour, DP World Tour, no one's going to do anything about it. It's just the way it's going to be"
🗣️ "It's truly appalling. No one's going to do anything about it."Matt Fitzpatrick thinks slow play is getting out of hand on the PGA Tour ⏱ pic.twitter.com/o5vDN2ncwfApril 19, 2023
Fitzpatrick plays with his younger brother Alex in this week's Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
He defeated Jordan Spieth in a playoff at Harbour Town last week to win his second PGA Tour title and move up to a career-high of 8th in the world.
