Brooks Koepka is well known for being one of the quickest players in the professional game while the exact opposite can be said of Patrick Cantlay.
Koepka has a history of complaining about slow play, so it’s no surprise that he was perturbed by Cantlay‘s actions during the 2023 Masters.
Cantlay is widely regarded as one of the slowest players on the PGA Tour, if not the slowest.
It was actually painful to watch the 33-year-old American at times during the Tour Championship last week.
Interestingly, Koepka was embroiled in a slow-play controversy of his own last week during the LIV Team Championship in Michigan.
Koepka was accused of purposely playing slowly during his match against Anirban Lahiri in Michigan, in order to get put on the clock so that theoretically, the man from Pune, India, would have to speed up to the American’s pace.
The five-time major champion denied those claims and in fairness to him, given his pace of play, he doesn’t have anything to answer for.
Brooks Koepka complained after playing behind Patrick Cantlay at the 2023 Masters
Cantlay often causes issues with his slow play.
His tedious pre-shot routine is hugely frustrating to watch, and his fellow pros have often been adversely affected by his pace of play.
Koepka was one of those players at Augusta back in 2023.
The 35-year-old held a two-shot lead over Jon Rahm heading into the final round of The Masters, and many believed he would win his first green jacket.
However, having to play behind Cantlay and Viktor Hovland did him no favours whatsoever.
Koepka was hugely frustrated throughout his final round at Augusta, after being made to wait on almost every single shot with the snail-like pace of Cantlay causing huge hold-ups all day.
He eventually slumped to a 75 while Rahm shot a three-under par 69 to win by four.
After his final round, Koepka responded when asked about Cantlay’s slow play.
He said: “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.“
Butch Harmon wants PGA Tour rule change after Patrick Cantlay’s antics
Cantlay was pulled apart by the media and fans alike for his slow play at East Lake last week.
And renowned golf coach Butch Harmon wants the PGA Tour to make a rule change to combat the 33-year-old’s antics.
“They’ve got to grow a pair (The PGA Tour), because fining people is ridiculous. These guys don’t care about money, they’re all multi-millionaires. You’re not going to speed them up by doing that. But if you put two shots on them it could cost them making a cut or winning a tournament.“
Harmon is spot on there. Fining multi-millionaires tens of thousands of pounds is a pointless exercise in the extreme.
Cantlay’s slow play needs to be addressed urgently. The really worrying thing about his pace of play is that he has seemingly become even slower over the past two years.
And that simply cannot continue.
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