Golfers can be criticized for a number of things. They include signing a scorecard incorrectly, possibly grounding their club, or picking up loose impediments on the green. Many times when players break a rule, it doesn’t really bother opposing golfers all that much. They are often penalized and play moves on.
However, if golfers are considered playing extremely slow, it completely irritates opposing golfers. Case in point regarding the fourth ranked player in the world lately, Patrick Cantlay of Long Beach, California.
Just how slow has Cantlay played lately? Well it took him almost five hours for his final round of the Masters, and then took an extreme amount of time in determining shot selection this past weekend at the RBC Heritage in South Carolina.
At the Masters, Brooks Koepka, voiced a complaint stating that “the group in front of us was brutally slow,” according to Max Schreiber of golfchannel.com. Koepka even stated that eventual Masters champion Jon Rahm of Spain “went to the bathroom seven times during the round, and we were still waiting.” Clearly, Cantlay’s slowness irritated Koepka more than Rahm. In the final round, Rahm shot s score of three-under-par, and was the eventual champ. Koepka meanwhile was at +3 and saw his lead evaporate.
Then at the RBC Heritage, CBS golf broadcaster Dottie Pepper reported that Cantlay’s playing partners of Jordan Spieth of the United States and eventual champion Matt Fitzpatrick of England were not satisfied with Cantlay for being indecisive on the 14th hole of the final round with his shot selection.
Jokes of Cantlay’s play are dominating Twitter at this time. Among the comments include, “Cantlay is rumoured to be very close to moving (to the LIV Tour I would suspect) and will captain a 13th team which will be named the Fairway Turtles…he started signing the agreement during the offseason, but hasn’t finished his signature yet”, and “Patrick Cantlay should teach dance lessons the way he shuffles his feet for an hour before stroking a putt.”
The bottom line is that Cantlay is not breaking any rules. Until the PGA Tour gives everyone a time clock like Major League Baseball is doing with pitchers, and the tennis world is doing with players about to serve, it is time to back off.
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