Patrick Cantlay has admitted that he’s slower than the average player as the controversy over the pace of play in the final round of The Masters continues.
During the Sunday at Augusta National, Cantlay was in a group with Viktor Hovland, and directly behind them were leaders Brooks Koeopka and Jon Rahm. After the tournament, Koepka was critical of the pace of play, saying: “The group in front of us were brutally slow. Jon [Rahm] went to the bathroom like seven times during the round and we were still waiting."
Many considered the American, rather than the Norwegian, had been mainly at fault, and, as Cantlay prepares to defend his trophy in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, he admitted he is slower than most. He said: “Yeah, I’m definitely slower than average, have been my whole career. I definitely take my time. And when I hit my ball on a bulkhead, I’m definitely going to take my time to make sure I make the right decision and try to get the ball back into the right spot."
Before last week’s RBC Heritage, Cantlay was also asked about the issue, and remarked that his position on the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council offered him a unique insight into the pace of play, and he reiterated the findings this week. He said: "I mean, like I said, being on the PAC’S been interesting because the times that it’s taken to play rounds has been pretty much the same for the last ten or even longer years. So trying to speed it up, I’d be curious to know how they’d want to do that."
He also explained that he hadn’t received any warnings about slow play during either The Masters or at Harbour Town. He said: “I played the last two tournaments, and my group hasn’t been warned at all. So we’ve been in position the entire time.“
Last week, Cantlay also suggested that the group in front of him had been holding play up during The Masters, and he again stressed that can be an issue during tournaments, saying: “I don’t know how you would want even the groups that I’ve been in to play faster when our groups are in position and can’t go faster because the group in front of us is right in front of us."
Cantlay teams up with Xander Schauffele this week, and his partner also weighed in on the debate, saying: “We’re not playing like the local muni that sort of the average Joe compares our time par to. We’re playing for a couple million - you know, $3.6 million. If you’re going to spend an extra minute to make sure you put yourself in the right spot, we’re going to do it.”
