“It is glacial, to be kind.”
That was how NBC on-course reporter John Wood described the pace of play of Adrien Dumont de Chassart, who was paired with Matt Fitzpatrick, in the final round of the Valspar Championship.
A few minutes before Wood uttered those words on the 11th hole, Fitzpatrick, who went on to win the tournament, expressed his disappointment to a PGA Tour rules official about the pace of play. Fitzpatrick had hit approach first, even though he was closer to the hole, and walked up to the green before waiting nearly 3 minutes for Dumont de Chassart to hit his second shot. That led to the Tour giving Dumont de Chassart a warning.
After the round, Fitzpatrick explained why he raised the issue with an official.
“That was really frustrating,” the 31-year-old Englishman said. “It was slow today. I felt like there was a lot of stop/start. Yeah, just, you know, just not ready. When you’re not ready to play a golf shot, it gets frustrating after a while. Particularly when you’re playing well yourself, or you’re in contention or whatever it is. There’s definitely, you know, it definitely knocks you out of your rhythm. Because you hit, you walk to it, you kind of think about it, you hit again, and you go.
“There [on No. 11] in particular … you’re around a stretch there that can get a little bit quirky with different shots and stuff, so you have to be on it. It definitely knocked me out of rhythm I felt like for the next two, three holes. I was kind of chasing my tail, because I’m trying to speed up and trying to keep us, or get back in position, and at the same time you’re obviously trying to win a golf tournament. So it’s like at that point in the week it’s kind of a hard balance, yeah.”
The pace of play didn’t seem to rattle Fitzpatrick too much. With a birdie on No. 15 and another on the last, he claimed a one-stroke victory, his first on Tour since 2023.
As for Dumont de Chassart, the 26-year-old Belgian battled all day, shooting 3-over 74. Perhaps that led to his “glacial” pace of play.
Slow play has been one of golf’s hottest topics, and this year, the PGA Tour increased its measures to speed up the pace of play.
According to the 2026 PGA Tour player handbook, a player is permitted 40 seconds to play a shot, and there are a few exceptions where 50 seconds is allowed. Excessive shot times apply when a player exceeds “120 seconds for the first player in a group to play a stroke; 100 seconds for subsequent players in the group to play a stroke.” The accumulation of excessive stroke times can lead to fines, and if a player or group is put on the clock by the rules officials, it can lead to a one, two, three or even four-stroke penalty and a possible disqualification.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Matt Fitzpatrick Expresses Frustration With ‘Glacial’ Slow Play at Valspar.
