“It was slow for everyone” - Patrick Cantlay responds to Brooks Koepka’s comments on slow play at Masters
Patrick Cantlay was criticized at The Masters for slowing down play in the final round. Fellow golfers and golf enthusiasts equally slammed the player for making others wait by playing extremely slow. Brooks Koepka, who was leading most parts of the tournament, also came out frustrated by Cantlay's ‘brutally slow’ game.
Following the harsh criticism, Cantlay has now come out to respond to comments accusing him of causing the slow game. On Tuesday, Cantlay deflected Koepka’s remarks claiming the slowed pace of The Masters round was his fault. He said that the round was “slow for everyone.” Turning the comments around, the World No. 4 golfer stated that he too “waited all day on pretty much every shot.”
Speaking at the RBC Heritage’s pre-tournament interview, Patrick Cantlay said:
“(When) 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. We waited in 15 fairway, we waited in 18 fairway. I imagine it was slow for everyone.”
#NEW: Patrick Cantlay has responded to Brooks Koepka slow play comments: “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. We waited in 15 fairway,… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…🚨#NEW: Patrick Cantlay has responded to Brooks Koepka slow play comments: “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. We waited in 15 fairway,… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Patrick Cantlay deflects 'slow pace' accusations
It is pertinent to note that Patrick Cantlay was clubbed with Viktor Hovland in the penultimate group during Sunday’s Masters final round. The golfer’s game allegedly made eventual winner Jon Rahm and runner-up Brooks Koepka wait for their turns. Both Rahm and Koepka played their rounds quickly and later came out to slam Cantlay's match pace for making them wait on the greens.
Interestingly, even Hovland was reportedly annoyed by Cantlay’s putting pace.
Responding to another question on the pace of play issue on the PGA Tour, Cantlay said:
“One thing that’s interesting sitting on the PAC (Player Advisory Council) is you get all the numbers and the data, and rounds have taken about the same length of time for the last 10 or 20 years that they currently take. 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 just going to take longer and longer to hole out.
"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 that’s just the nature of playing professional golf, where every shot matters so much.”
Patrick Cantlay, who has three top-four finishes this season, seems unconcerned about the match pace conversations. It’s safe to say that the golfer is currently focused on the weekend's RBC Heritage outing at Harbour Town, after losing the trophy to Jordan Spieth in a playoff last year.