Matt Fitzpatrick wants his fellow golfers to hustle more.
Fresh off his win at the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage tournament this past weekend, Fitzpatrick sounded off about the general slow pace of play in an interview with Sky Sports.
“I think they give us way too much leeway to get round,” Fitzpatrick said. “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.”
While Fitzpatrick has raised the issue with various authorities a number of times, he lamented that “no one’s ever done anything,” and that his efforts have been far from fruitful.
“I feel like it’s almost a waste of time talking about it every time,” he said.
“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.”
At the epicenter of the debate right now has been Patrick Cantlay, who was heavily criticized for his slow play at The Masters.
Cantlay defended himself against the gripes from Brooks Koepka and others.
“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,” the 31-year-old Cantlay told reporters before the RBC Heritage Open last week.
“We waited all day on pretty much every shot. We waited in 15 fairway, we waited in 18 fairway. I imagine it was slow for everyone.”
Matt Fitzpatrick called the slow place of play in golf ‘appalling’ in an interview with Sky Sports. Getty Images
Koepka had complained after The Masters about how slow Cantlay was playing in front of Jon Rahm and him.
“Yeah, the group in front of us was brutally slow. Jon went to the bathroom like seven times during the round, and we were still waiting,” Koepka said.
Cantlay explained that the course conditions dictated his pace of play.
Patrick Cantlay has been criticized for his slow play. Getty Images
“When you play a golf course like Augusta National where all the hole locations are on lots of slope and the greens are really fast, it’s going to take longer and longer to hole out,” he said.
“I think that may have been what attributed to some of the slow play on Sunday, and then also when the wind is gusting and the wind is blowing maybe inconsistently, that’s when guys will take a long time, too. I think it’s just the nature of playing professional golf, where every shot matters so much.”
Golf has ‘truly appalling’ pace of play issue
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