Matt Fitzpatrick has become the latest to hit out at his fellow professional golfers over their pace of play.
It was one of the big sideshows of the US Masters recently when Patrick Cantlay, in particular, came under scrutiny for his deliberate routines.
“The group in front of us was brutally slow,” said Brooks Koepka after his final round at Augusta.
“Jon (Rahm) went to the bathroom like seven times during the round, and we were still waiting,” he added.
Fast forward a fortnight and, with Cantlay again finding himself high up the leaderboard, this time at the RBC Heritage tournament, the play was again slow.
Cantlay played the final round of the RBC Heritage with Jordan Spieth and Matt Fitzpatrick, who went onto contest a play-off, and Fitzpatrick has since hit out at the pace of play.
“It’s a disgrace… it’s truly appalling… It’s like hitting your head against a brick wall,” said the Englishman, who eventually beat Spieth in the play-off.
“If you’re in a three-ball, in my opinion, you should be round in four hours, four-and-a-half absolute maximum,” added the 2022 US Open Champ.
🗣️ "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/ZmlADRaT5U
— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) April 19, 2023
“It’s a disgrace to get anywhere near that, you’re talking five hours and 15 minutes, five-and-a-half hours at some venues, and its truly appalling.
“The problem is this conversation has gone on for years and years and years, and no one has ever done anything, so I feel it’s almost a waste of time talking about it. I have strong opinions, but no one’s going to do anything about it,” he added in an interview on Sky Sports.
“The thing is I really like referees over here, they are great people, but I did not see a single ref all day,” added Fitzpatrick, who would be one of the faster players on tour.
“There were a few shots we were waiting, and I don’t understand where they are all hiding. It does become frustrating when you are waiting so long.”
Patrick Cantlay would appear to be one of the targets of Fitzpatrick’s comments and the American was measured in his response.
“I haven’t had anybody come up to me or talk to me,” he said, “but I’d be perfectly happy to talk to them about it.”
“The times that it’s taken to play rounds has been pretty much the same for the last 10 or even longer years, so trying to speed it up, I’d be curious to know how they’d want to do that,” he said.
Playing faster! @RBC_Heritage @PGATOUR pic.twitter.com/mDxo2yarAB
— Patrick Cantlay (@patrick_cantlay) April 14, 2023
He did, however, admit that, over his ‘whole career,’ he has been ‘slower than average’ and does take his time.
“I’m definitely slower than average, have been my whole career, and I definitely take my time to try and get the ball back into the right spot.
“But I played the last two tournaments, and my group hasn’t been warned at all. So, we’ve been in position the entire time.
“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.”
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